Luxury Condo Among Houston’s Top Home Sales for March

One of the most expensive homes sold in Houston last week was a condo at the Hawthorne, further proving the Bayou City’s appetite for luxury vertical living.

The 67-unit building at 5656 San Felipe Street is in Houston’s affluent Tanglewood neighborhood. Unit 1703 features three bedrooms, three full bathrooms and one half-bath. It’s unclear how much the 3,500-square-foot unit sold for, but it was listed at $3.98 million or $1,130 per square foot, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.

Douglas Elliman’s Nicole Calderon had the listing.

The Hawthorne was developed by a joint venture between Pelican Builders and Ember Group. The 17-story building opened in March of last year with half of the units pre-sold. Construction on the upper floors was still ongoing at the time of the opening.

The developers landed a $111 million loan about a year ago to refinance their existing debt on the property. They leveraged the unsold inventory as collateral for the loan, which was provided by New York City-based real estate private equity firm Northwind Group.

The property was designed by Houston-based Kirksey Architecture and features a 67-foot lap pool, fitness center and 24-hour concierge service.

The market for luxury condos is largely untapped in Texas, where luxury buyers have long favored the ranch over vertical living.

Part of the reason for the market’s newness is that it’s hard to get condo projects financed in the Lone Star State. Texas is one of about a dozen states that does not allow developers to use deposits from condo pre-sales on construction. In states without those restrictions, deposits can finance up to 30 percent of construction costs, said DC Partners’ Roberto Contreras IV.

Even so, condo projects in major Texas cities have recently been proving the existence of demand for vertical living.

In Houston, Randall Davis Company’s London House opened earlier this month in River Oaks with all but two units pre-sold. Meanwhile, Satya added a floor to its St. Regis condo tower plans due to buyer demand for the product.