Southeastern Co Turns Houston's “Disco Kroger” to Apartments

Southeastern Company is starting construction on a $100 million apartment project on an empty lot in Montrose once home to Houston’s famous “Disco Kroger” grocery store.

Dubbed Artis Montrose — a play on the phrase “Art is Montrose” — the seven-story apartment complex is expected to open in late 2027, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The development site, at 3300 Montrose Boulevard, has sat empty since Kroger closed and the store was demolished in 2021.

The project will add 300 more housing units to a historic neighborhood where mixed-use and multifamily development has sprung up in recent years.

Georgia-based Southeastern postponed construction on the project by about two years as interest rates spiked and also to wait out slack in the Houston market. Apartment construction ramped up in the broader Montrose-River Oaks area during the pandemic but has since slowed, with no new multifamily projects starting in the district this year, a first since 2009, according to CoStar data.

That surge in supply suppressed rent growth in the submarket, leaving the average rent of $2,024 in Montrose flat for three consecutive years, according to CoStar.

Southeastern hasn’t set rents for its project, at the intersection of Lovett Boulevard and Montrose Boulevard. The options will vary from studios to two-bedroom units, ranging from 550 square feet to 1,600 square feet, with 14,000 square feet of interior amenity spaces and a 20,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard with a pool, garden, event lawn and fire pit.

The apartments will turn a chapter on the location while breathing life back into it. The “Disco Kroger” was open 24/7 and earned that nickname from the colorful late-night crowds that would flood the grocery store after closing time for neighborhood bars and clubs. The store was considered a hub of Houston’s Pride celebrations.

— Eric Weilbacher