SkyHouse Dallas Opens Luxury Victory Apartments With an Open Heart & Checkbook

I had the good fortune to attend the opening of SkyHouse, a brand spanking new 24-story, 336 luxury rental tower at 2320 N. Houston St. in Victory Park, pretty much across from the House. The tower is owned by an Atlanta-based developer, Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Co. This is their first venture in the area. Novare and Batson handled their Dallas debut with a unique twist: giving back to the homeless in Dallas. There was a fun rooftop cocktail party around the pool in the community rec room, but there was also a live auction for some great lifestyle packages, all benefitting The Bridge, a downtown shelter for the homeless. Party peeps bid on about five packages, one of which was dinner for four and show of your choice at House of Blues — by the time I zoned in on what a great deal this way, bidding was over! SkyHouse raised a total of $1,025.00 for the Bridge on their opening night. They also created a program where rental application fees are donated to The Bridge, a shelter for the homeless at 1818 Corsicana Street. I thought it a particularly touching way for a luxury developer to launch a high rise in a new market.

Rents at SkyHouse run about $2.67 per square foot, depending on floor and view. That’s pretty pricey for Dallas, but you can nab a studio for as little as $1529 and get a larger three bedroom sky house for about $3770. The kitchens have granite counters, dark wood cabinets, gas coooktops (not Wolf or Viking) dishwashers, microwaves and nice fridges. Each home has a laundry closet too, with a full size washer and dryer stacked. There are floor-to-ceiling windows including solar shades, and the baths are nifty: the master baths have granite, both a shower and large, deep oval tub — acrylic, not a $30,000 vessel, but dang nice for a rental unit, I mean, dang nice!

I LOVED the efficiency apartments, aka studios. Running about 573 square feet, they are three times the size of my first apartment in NYC. There’s room enough for a king bed, a sofa/sitting area, and the kitchen runs across one wall with all the appliances plus cabinets. I want one of these to hang in when I don’t want to drive to Preston Hollow — it’s SUCH a long drive!

The majority of the leases right now are for the one-bedroom apartments, so saith Jennifer Roberts, marketing director at Simpson Property Group. Simpson is is managing the property. Next most popular is the three-bedroom unit, mostly because there are so few of those in town. Both Roberts and Sebastian Sanchez, a leasing agent, told me that the tenants are out of towners moving into Dallas who want to be downtown but don’t want to buy yet. Mitchell Schurnman at the Dallas Morning News tells us that of all 50 U.S. states, California is the one sending us the most new residents.

In the last two decades, Texas has had a net gain of almost half a million people from California, far more than from any other state. Several thousand more are expected to follow as Toyota relocates its North American headquarters from Torrance to Plano. Jobs are usually the No. 1 lure, but Texas has a big edge in living costs, too. Home prices are much lower than in California, and there’s no state income tax. Those two generate significant savings, especially to well-paid workers.

As long as they immunize their kids! Some tenants plan to lease as long as they are here, because they don’t want to be tied to owning a home or condo. The one-bedroom units are flying off the shelves.

“The studio apartments are slower to catch up than our one-bedroom apartments,” Roberts said. “Our one-bedrooms have been most popular and we’ve had a lot of interest in our three-bedroom apartments because not many of our competitors have them.”

SkyHouse, so named because every single window has a dramatic view of Dallas, also has ground-floor retail space, which will include the popular Seattle-based  Top Pot, a doughnut and coffee shop, as well as restaurant space on Houston Street. Novare Group also wants to build another rental tower in Victory Park, but nothing has been finalized. Might we see a SkyHouse II?

SkyHouse is loaded with amenities, almost rivalling those at The House. The 24th floor includes a heated outdoor swimming pool, a plaza, a large fitness area with state of the art equipment, and a clubroom. No need to join a gym.

The outdoor plaza contains two outdoor grilling areas and kitchens with outdoor fire place, tables and chairs. A portion of the rental proceeds from the opening night went to The Bridge, which gives shelter to the homeless.

SkyHouse is a luxury apartment, with rents at about $2.67 per square foot, which gives the tower a monthly rate of $1,530 to upwards of $3,770. The prices fluctuate every day depending on the market, Roberts said.

New apartments in downtown Dallas run about $1200 to $2600 a month for a one-bedroom. I am starting to worry that we are building too many apartments, but agents tell me to hush:

“We have more than enough demand,” said _______. “In fact, we need more units. Young people today like the freedom of renting, of having other people handle the maintenance. It’s all part of the shared economy.”

Well, if you say so. I’m still thinking we are overbuilding apartments. Of course, there’s nothing that will bring rents down faster than a whole bunch of empty apartments!