going up

Twin tower retail and residential high-rises break ground in Upper Kirby

Houston’s newest mixed-use development broke ground this week, as Nashville-based Southern Land Company (SLC) launched its latest project, a new luxury mixed-use destination in Houston's prestigious Upper Kirby district.

Fashioned as two buildings on one property, 2811 Kirby Drive and The Lily River Oaks sit between West Alabama Street and Westheimer Road. In press materials, Southern describes the project as "a design-forward, complementary development that will further enhance one of Houston's most distinguished areas."

Two towers anchor the project’s 953,000 square feet, rising from a shared parking podium that will feature approximately 15,000 square feet of ground-level restaurant space.

The Lily River Oaks is a 38-story apartment tower featuring 331 rental residences, including 18 penthouses. Future residents will enjoy amenities such as a rooftop indoor and outdoor spaces and a seventh-floor garden deck. The seventh floor will also include a residential spa, guest suites, and a fitness center available to both residents and office tenants.

Meanwhile, 2811 Kirby, the project’s 10-story tower, offers four stories of Class AA office space totaling approximately 107,000 square feet. Stream Realty Partners, the firm partnering with SLC on the project, is leading leasing efforts for the office space.

"After meticulous planning and preparation, we are excited to break ground on a one-of-a-kind mixed-use community," said Tim Downey, SLC founder and CEO, in a release. "Today marks an important milestone in our mission to deliver a landmark destination where locals and visitors can live, work, and gather, and that exemplifies SLC’s hallmark standard of extraordinary placemaking."

2811 Kirby and The Lily River Oaks mark the latest expansion of SLC's growing Texas portfolio, which includes Tucker Hill, a single-family community in McKinney; Lunaroya, a single-family community in Dripping Springs; and Deco, a 27-story luxury mixed-use community in downtown Fort Worth. They’ve also developed and sold mixed-use and multifamily properties in Plano, Dallas, Keller, and Allen.

Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) is the new development’s architect and interior designer; Kimley-Horn helms its civil engineering; and DeSimone Consulting Engineering leads the structural engineering. SLC is the leading landscape architecture and horticulture for the project.

Construction is slated for completion in 2028.

Tower of 2811 Kirby and The Lily River Oaks

Photo courtesy SLC

2811 Kirby and The Lily River Oaks is a multiuse space including offices, restaurants and retail, and luxury living.

high-rises construction

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