Wow!
Did you miss me?
Developers recently hit a key milestone in the construction of a high-rise apartment complex in Boulevard Oaks that sparked one of the fiercest land battles in Houston’s history, more than 17 years a high-rise on the site was initially proposed.
Contractors earlier this month topped out on the Langley, a 20-story tower rising in the former Ashby site at 1717 Bissonnet, meaning the tower has reached its highest point.
The Langley’s developer, Dallas-based StreetLights Residential, is interviewing real estate brokerages and management companies in preparation to launch leasing for the 134-unit apartment tower next March, said Stephen Meek, senior vice president of StreetLights Residential.
The first apartments will be available for lease in July 2025, with construction ongoing until spring 2026, Meek said. Leasing will be done by appointment only, he said.
The construction milestone marked a triumph for StreetLights and the site’s owners, El Paso-based Hunt Cos., which has fought to build a high-rise on the site since 2007. Although Hunt sat on the proposal for several years, the owner resurrected efforts to build a high-rise at the site in 2022, hiring StreetLights as the new lead developer for a revised project.
Although StreetLights still faced opposition and lawsuits, the developer eventually secured permits needed to break ground last year.
“We were just trying to come in and create something beautiful and bring life and color to a lot that had been at a place where there was just deadness. .. So we’re happy that we’re are where we are,” Meek said in an interview.
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Council Member Abbie Kamin, whose district includes Boulevard Oaks, said she was aware of some incidents surrounding parking and traffic, but generally, as far as she’s heard from residents, she said, “the company was extremely responsive when issues did arise. … This was a decade-plus battle, so the developer had to come to the table and from what I can tell, they have kept their end of the bargain.”
All I can say as someone who has followed this story for over 15 years now is that I never really thought I’d see this day. Like, the Ashby Highrise – I suppose it’s really the Langley now, but in the same way that The Summit was never the Compaq Center to me, this will always be the Ashby Highrise – always seemed mythical, even after the new project got its permits. There was another lawsuit filed last year, but that appears to have gone nowhere – there was no mention of any update to it in this story. And after all this time the neighbors seem to have mostly run out of complaints. Who knew this was even possible? I’m going to need to visit and see the inside of this place for myself when it’s fully opened. Just to make sure, you know?