Skanska’s Long-Awaited Montrose Tower Pegged at 110M

A closely watched development site in Montrose is finally inching toward construction with a price tag of nine figures.

The multifamily component of Skanska USA’s planned mixed-use project at Westheimer Road and Montrose Boulevard is expected to cost more than $110 million, according to newly filed state construction records that offer the clearest timeline yet for the long-anticipated development, as first reported by the Houston Business Journal.

Filings submitted last week to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation show the 31-story apartment tower, branded Starling, is projected to cost roughly $66.8 million for its core and shell and another $44.2 million for interior buildout. The 617,800-square-foot project at 1005 Westheimer Road is slated to break ground in October and deliver in early 2029, according to the filings.

The filings stop short of naming the Swedish construction giant directly, but the listed ownership entity, SCD Montrose Houston LLC, shares an address with Skanska’s Houston office, and the contact on the records is Matt Damborsky, Skanska USA’s executive vice president of commercial development.

The Houston office of Page, now part of Stantec, is designing the project.

The tower is poised to become one of the largest additions to the rapidly densifying Lower Westheimer corridor, where developers have spent the last several years reshaping Montrose with a mix of apartments, boutique retail and adaptive reuse projects, according to the outlet.

Skanska assembled the nearly 3-acre site in 2020 for $27 million, replacing a low-slung retail center that housed tenants including Half Price Books, Spec’s Wine and Spirits and Mattress Firm. After demolishing the property in 2021, the company activated the site with a temporary market concept operated by Houston-based Curb Coalition, though construction plans remained largely opaque for years.

That vacuum fueled constant speculation among residents about what would rise on one of the neighborhood’s most visible corners.

Skanska began peeling back the curtain last year, revealing plans for Starling alongside 30,000 square feet of retail space designed to cater to Montrose’s increasingly walkable and upscale trajectory.

Marketing materials show at least 10 retail shells ranging from roughly 1,300 square feet to 7,000 square feet, plus multiple patio areas aimed at restaurant and bar tenants. Skanska previously said it was targeting a tenant mix heavy on food, beverage and neighborhood-serving retail.

The project lands amid a broader transformation of the area surrounding Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer, where projects like Montrose Collective, the Tower Theatre redevelopment and new apartment construction on the former Disco Kroger site have accelerated land values and intensified development pressure in one of Houston’s most historically eclectic neighborhoods.

— Eric Weilbacher