Live, work and stay

A first for Houston? Developers vow to save oak trees at Greenway Plaza mixeduse complex

The site is remarkable for its heritage oak trees along its property lines thatborder both Buffalo Speedway and Richmond Avenue.

Cushman & Wakefield
An 18-story office building and adjoining garage will comprise the first phaseof the 3333 Richmond Avenue project.

Rendering courtesy of PM Realty Group

More development is on the way in the Greenway Plaza area with recent news that PM Realty Group (PMRG) has acquired the property at 3333 Richmond Avenue. The commercial real estate firm has plans for a two-phase development of the 4.97-acre site.

Though the promise of an 18-story, LEED-certified office building and a high-rise hotel with luxury apartments certainly entices, the foremost thought on our minds is the line of heritage oaks that defines the property and lends a green haven to the otherwise heavily-concreted area.

"The plan is in place to keep all of those trees against the northwest side of the street," Roger Gregory, PMRG's EVP and CFO, assured CultureMap during a phone interview, explaining that this plan to preserve the trees helped the company to win its bid for the property.

The 3333 Richmond development will be like an urban village that focuses on "live, work and stay" rather than "live, work and play."

Dan Leverett, EVP and managing director of development, added that some of the trees along the back property line will be retained as well, though transplanted closer to the 400,000 square food office building and adjoining seven-level parking garage on the north end of the property.

Expected amenities include a first-floor restaurant and a green roof over the garage that will serve as a terrace for office tenants. The design team includes Elkus Manfredi, landscape architect Sasaki and locally-based Kendall/Heaton Associates, and construction is slated to begin in late 2013 for a late 2014 or early 2015 completion.

Phase II involves demolishing the existing building and replacing it with a high-rise hotel tower, capped with 250 high-end apartment units. PMRG representatives were hesitant to go into the features of that mixed-use development, which won't begin construction until Phase I is complete, but acknowledged that research conducted for the firm's nearby high-rise at 2929 Weslayan gave them confidence that a market exists in the area.

The 3333 Richmond development, Leverett explained, will be like an urban village that focuses on "live, work and stay" rather than "live, work and play."

"Inside the loop . . . is the area that we are very focused on," said Gregory. The Greenway Plaza area — which is centrally-located, generally walkable and situated along a planned light rail route — is attractive for mixed-use developments that serve an increasingly urban younger population.

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Bang for Buck

Surprising suburb unlocks biggest apartments in Houston for $1,500

Photo by Matt Halls on Unsplash

Pasadena has the 6th roomiest apartments on a budget in Texas.

Budget-conscious renters searching for the roomiest apartments in the region should look no further than Pasadena. According to a new study, the east Houston suburb has the biggest apartments on a budget in the metro.

In 2026, Pasadena residents can rent a 1,125-square-foot apartment for $1,500 per month. That's enough space for a two- or three-bedroom unit, and it's four square feet bigger than what renters could get with the same budget last year.

RentCafe's annual report analyzes the places where renters can find the largest apartment sizes across 200 of the most populous U.S. cities for a monthly budget of $1,500. The price per square foot was calculated using the average apartment rent and size per city based on "multifamily properties" containing 50 or more units.

Pasadena offers the 6th most spacious apartments in Texas for $1,500, and Houston ranks 11th statewide.

Renters in Houston proper will net a 976-square-foot apartment for the same price in 2026, a size that has shrunk by more than 20 square feet since 2023.

Apartment sizes across Texas
For the second year in a row, the Rio Grande Valley is the region that has the most spacious apartments for a $1,500 monthly budget, RentCafe found.

McAllen leads the nation with the biggest apartment size – at 1,378 square feet – which is large enough for a three- or four-bedroom unit.

"With rents averaging just $993 and the typical apartment measuring 912 square feet, McAllen renters get a lot more space for their money than most Americans do within that monthly budget," the report said. "Still, that figure is down slightly from last year’s 1,393 square feet — a sign that even the most affordable markets are starting to tighten."

Brownsville, another city on the border located an hour east of McAllen, ranks fourth statewide with apartments spanning 1,213 square feet for the same budget.

These are the top 10 Texas cities that offer the biggest apartments for $1,500 in 2026:

No. 1 – McAllen (1,378 square feet)
No. 2 – Amarillo (1,237 square feet)
No. 3 – Lubbock (1,217 square feet)
No. 4 – Brownsville (1,213 square feet)
No. 5 – El Paso (1,128 square feet)
No. 6 – Pasadena (1,125 square feet)
No. 7 – Corpus Christi (1,115 square feet)
No. 8 – Killeen (1,058 square feet)
No. 9 – San Antonio (1,023 square feet)
No. 10 – Mesquite (988 square feet)

real estate apartments housing rentcafe study houston pasadena