Scarlet Plans $24M Affordable Complex in Houston Area

Scarlet sets sight on Pasadena with its latest workforce housing complex, Frame on Burke.

The 765,000-square-foot multifamily development will be adjacent to the Burke Crenshaw Park on 5045 Burke Road, in the Parkland Village neighborhood.

The project is expected to include more than 200 apartment units across 12 acres. The full project has a $24 million price tag or about $120,000 per unit, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. However, estimates are subject to change.

The garden-style apartment complex will break ground next month with a completion date estimated in August 2024. Daniel Ron, Houston-based Scarlet’s co-founder, declined to comment.

Houston-based architecture firm Estudio, which has designed Scarlet’s other Frame complex series, will lead the project’s design in the southwest Houston suburb.

Average rents in the Pasadena area were about $1,029, $200 below the metro’s average of $1,250, making it one of the more affordable locations in the Greater Houston area. The city has been eager to increase affordable units as the metro’s rent growth has slowly started to revert to its pre-pandemic numbers due to inflation, rising interest rates and an influx of new developments, according to market research from Transwestern.

Workforce housing is a unique brand of affordable housing that seeks to allow mid-income public workers such as teachers, nurses and police officers the opportunity to live closer to the communities they serve via subsidizing housing for those who earn 80 percent of the area median income. Scarlet has hit the Houston market strong with a series of these housing projects in the pipeline.

The firm, started by brother duo Alexander and Daniel Ron, broke ground last month on the 336-unit Frame on Cullen workforce complex at the junction of Cullen Road and Schurmier Road five miles northwest of Brookside Village. Frame on Almeda is another workforce property Scarlet is developing near the intersection of Highway 288 and the Sam Houston Parkway in southern Houston.

The boutique firm specializes in multifamily properties, flex office developments, minimalist industrial spaces and reimagined studios. One of its top redevelopments is the Purse at 1701 Commerce Street, two blocks from Minute Maid Park.

Originally a warehouse-turned-loft-turned-coffee shop, the firm is planning to convert the century-old building again; this time into a lounge and restaurant on the ground floor and creative office spaces catering to professional artists on the second and third floors.