Southern Land Company says it is finally ready to put shovels in the ground at 2811 Kirby Drive, with a two-acre mixed-use project in Upper Kirby that will mark the Nashville developer's first build in Houston. The plan pairs a high-rise residential tower with an office building and street-level restaurants and shops that are meant to knit together the corridor just south of River Oaks. The announcement, reported March 23, 2026, moves a long-teased project into its next phase.
Project size and program
A recent filing shows a 37-story apartment tower alongside a four-story, 77,516-square-foot office building, plus roughly 15,034 square feet of retail and restaurant space at the base of the towers. The filing, cited by Houston Business Journal, puts the site's total built area at about 460,280 square feet and lays out the mix of residential and office amenity space. According to the outlet, those are the latest figures now moving toward permits and construction.
Developer and the site
Southern Land Company brands 2811 Kirby Drive as the site of its Upper Kirby community and says the location fits its focus on walkability and high-amenity design. "We could not have found a better place to introduce an SLC community in Houston," SLC founder and CEO Tim Downey said in company materials. The developer has been steadily refreshing its project pages and newsroom posts as filings and renderings have evolved, a tell that the effort is shifting from planning into permitting. As detailed by Southern Land Company, the project has been in the firm's pipeline since 2023.
Timeline and leasing
Leasing for the office component will be handled by Stream Realty Partners, which in December 2023 announced it had won the office leasing assignment and tapped Ryan Barbles, Matt Asvestas and Matthew Seliger to lead the effort. That Stream statement also noted an earlier target to break ground in 2024 with completion in 2027, a reminder that timelines for large mixed-use work often stretch as financing and permits come together. Stream Realty Partners described the office portion as Class A space with both rooftop and street-level restaurant areas.
Why Upper Kirby
Local coverage has cast Upper Kirby as an active infill corridor where walkable retail, office space and luxury apartments are stacking up, a bet that the combination will draw both residents and tenants. The Houston Chronicle has reported that new Class A office product and mixed-use developments are attracting tenants who want amenities and walkability. According to the Houston Chronicle, several large projects are reshaping the development profile of the corridor.
What comes next is mostly procedural. Final city permits and state filings must clear before crews can move in, and the filing cited in the recent report is one of the latest public steps toward actual construction. Neighbors, prospective tenants and close followers of city development will now be watching permit logs and construction notices for firm start dates as Southern Land and its partners move ahead. As reported by Houston Business Journal, the developer's latest update signals a new phase for the long-planned Upper Kirby project.
