Houston Apartment Developer Eyes More High-rises

The Dinerstein Cos. has sky-high ambitions after decades of building midrise apartments and student housing projects across the country.

Most of Dinerstein’s apartment and student housing projects so far have been four- and five-story, wood-frame construction. These include Millennium Six Pines, whichrecently held its grand opening in The Woodlands, and The Millennium Kirby, which is under construction southwest of Hermann Park.

However, Dinerstein aims higher in the future.

In January, the Houston-based developer broke ground on its first luxury apartment tower near the Texas Medical Center. The 22-story, 375-unit high-rise — dubbed The Millennium Tower — is the tallest project The Dinerstein Cos. has worked on in its more than 50-year history.

As The Dinerstein Cos. looks to the sky for its new projects, it is learning how to use concrete and steel in its buildings. Recently, the company has been ramping up its construction projects, such as The Millennium Rainey, an eight-story concrete-structure apartment project in Austin.

Although The Dinerstein Cos. is a fully integrated construction company, it hired Gilbane Inc. to be the lead general contractor on The Millennium Tower. The Providence, Rhode Island-based construction firm has experience building high-rise condominiums, apartments and office towers across the country. Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the architect.

“We wanted to see how they do it,” said Brad Dinerstein, executive vice president at The Dinerstein Cos. “We’re considering doing more of this in the future.”