Portman Holdings is moving to plant a sizable new flag in Houston’s Washington Corridor, filing plans for a five-story, 172-unit apartment complex that would literally straddle Harvard Street. The project, made up of two midrise buildings linked by elevated pedestrian bridges, would cover roughly three acres near Center Street and add another multifamily contender to a corridor that has quietly turned into an apartment hot spot in recent years.
According to The Real Deal, Portman has filed plans with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for a 96,300-square-foot complex at 3616 Center Street. The filing pegs the price tag at about $54 million, which works out to roughly $314,000 per unit, and sets a target completion in October 2028. The paperwork covers only multifamily use and leaves out the retail space that earlier chatter suggested might be tucked into the podium.
Public property records link the site to a Portman-controlled entity and show two adjoining tracts marketed under the Portman Center Street banner, with the larger parcel coming in at about 2.02 acres. LoopNet’s listing for 3520 Center Street shows that same 2.02-acre plot and the legal label “Portman Center Street East,” lining up with county and plat records. Both pieces of land appear to be sitting vacant, which has kept them high on the list of redevelopment targets along the busy Washington Avenue and Center Street stretch.
Market math is also nudging projects like this along. Colliers pegged overall multifamily occupancy at about 88.5 percent in the first quarter of 2025, according to Colliers, and later reported that occupancy had climbed toward 90 percent as absorption strengthened in 2025, based on its third-quarter snapshot. Tighter fundamentals, a stronger leasing pulse and a construction pipeline that is no longer racing ahead are all helping convince developers to keep adding apartments in core Houston neighborhoods.
Portman’s filing has already kicked off the less glamorous side of development: the variance process. Planning materials tied to the replat show an off-street parking requirement of 374 spaces, while the current design lists 311 stalls, leaving a shortfall that pushed the request into a variance review on the city’s plat tracker. The item has been added to the city’s planning documents and placed on the Planning Commission agenda as part of the public hearing process. City of Houston materials lay out the filings.
Neighbors and local organizations are already staking out their positions. A petition opposing the variances warns that the parking gap will push overflow cars into surrounding streets and pointedly declares, “If you can afford a Skybridge, you can afford a Garage,” while groups such as the Texas Rainbow Fund argue in favor of denser, walkable housing and easing parking minimums to support transit-oriented development. See the opposition petition and a local advocacy group’s response for both sides of the debate: Change.org and Texas Rainbow Fund.
How the Parking Variances Work
Houston’s off-street parking requirements live in Chapter 26 of the city’s municipal code, which includes a table specifying how many spaces are required by unit type. When a project cannot hit those numbers, applicants can seek variances or administrative tweaks. The Planning & Development Department publishes worksheets, guidance and a variance reference guide that staff and commissioners lean on to judge whether a request is reasonable and whether any on-site or off-site mitigation is needed. If the variance is approved, Portman can move ahead with fewer parking spaces. If it is denied, the project will likely need more parking, fewer units or a reworked design. The full rules and process are spelled out in the city’s Off-Street Parking Ordinance materials at City of Houston Planning & Development.
Portman is not new to big-ticket work in Texas. The company’s portfolio includes a proposed multi-tower Dallas Gateway complex and other regional efforts, and the October 2028 timeline for the Houston plan puts it on a familiar multi-year schedule. Portman Holdings has been advancing its Dallas plans while market reports track improving fundamentals in Houston.
The Planning Commission’s agenda and plat-tracker packets are public, and residents who want to weigh in can find meeting details and comment instructions through the city’s planning pages or by emailing the commission at [email protected]. The commission’s verdict, and any conditions attached to a variance approval, will determine whether Portman’s Center Street blueprint gets built as drawn or has to bend to neighborhood feedback and safety concerns. Meeting information and documents are available from the Houston Planning Commission.
