Dallas developers step up to fill Midland’s housing crisis

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A group of Dallas-based developers have started a new $12.8 million urban loft project in downtown Midland as part of the city's overall plan to mitigate the housing shortage tied to the oil and gas shale boom.

The public-private partnership project, dubbed the Wall Street Lofts, is the west Texas city's first downtown residential housing. Midland is constructing an adjacent parking garage for public and private parking.

Shale drilling in the Permian Basin in West Texas has brought an influx of workers who need places to live. In the past, Dallas-based hotel developers have stepped up to help with housing, however, developers can't build fast enough, which means a room could rent for $150 to $200 a night, in some cases.

 

The four-story, 108-unit building, which includes 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, will help mitigate that demand. The developers say they expect the residential units to be quickly absorbed because of the severe housing shortage.

 

The development partnership includesRoger Gault, Robert Gunby and C.W. Fields. Compass Bank is providing the construction financing. Greystar Real Estate Partners will lease and manage the project.

 

Midland's unemployment rate is 3.4 percent, which is well below the state and Dallas-Fort Worth unemployment rate, which sit at 6.4 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

The project is scheduled for completion in December 2014.