following nature

New upscale Galveston beachfront community primed for Texas vacation-home hunters

Few regions in America have seen the kind of explosion in demand as Galveston. Between the post-pandemic, work-from-anywhere push for quality-of-life options and a tsunami of Californian transplants seeking waterfront living, Galveston is in the midst of a boom rivaling anything in its nearly 200-year history.

Little surprise, then, that the Texas coastal city has been besieged by investors and developers from all over the globe looking to make a quick profit on buyer demand by snatching up the best parcels of waterfront property. Fortunately for Dallas buyers in the market for a vacation home on the treasured Gulf Coast, a Galveston native son has swooped in and secured some of the precious few acres left of the last prime, beachfront real estate on Galveston Island.

For Galveston, by a Galvestonian
Houston-area banking CEO and real estate developer Manny Mehos has revealed plans for Roseate Beach, a master-planned community offering full time quality-of-life amenities to residents of the 172 premium homesites — 22 of those boasting coveted beachfront lots — in Galveston's West End (FM 3005, just east of 11 Mile Road).

Currently, development plans for Roseate Beach call for two phases, with Phase One slated to break ground in late fall 2023, per press materials.

Blending a modern approach to residential planning with a timeless seaside experience, Roseate Beach is a bit of an anomaly for the area. Mehos' vision incorporates the beach, but also intentionally incorporates the area's upscale living, such as Galveston Country Club, just a short jaunt away. Another anomaly: a modern aesthetic that purposely deviates from beach cliches.

“I have never seen a beach development like what we are planning, whereby the houses have modern architectural elements,” Mehos says. “The only one I’ve seen that is truly divergent from typical beach developments is Alys Beach, which blew me away.”

Blown away by the elegant, all-white coastal community in Florida, Mehos has ensured Roseate Beach residents, like Alys Beach's, enjoy upscale lifestyle activities and options. That means a resort pool, clubhouse, pickleball courts and other gaming spaces, a fitness facility, and reservable office spaces, per press materials. A team of dedicated onsite management will oversee the development's common spaces, native landscape, and year-round access to amenities.

Design with nature in mind
Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based architectural firm Carbo has worked the area's natural habitat into the modern design. Working in the beauty of the coast and native vegetation, Roseate Beach also incorporates the site’s natural wetland and features a connected series of boardwalks and seating areas accessible from multiple trailheads. Again, the design is meant to inspire typical coastal activities such as walking and birding.

Multiple access points lead to a broad stretch of beach expanded by the continuation of the Galveston Island Beach Nourishment Project, which aims to protect and preserve the beachfront by mitigating shoreline erosion. Carbo's designers sought to foster walkability and even cycling via a network of trails and greenways that weaves through the lush coastal ecosystem.

A central promenade, community park, and wetland preserve put residents in direct contact with the area’s native landscape and perhaps, even local wildlife lounging among the native plantings. Enviable beach access means the Gulf is always at the forefront.

“Our primary goal for Roseate Beach is to connect people with nature,” Zachary Broussard of Carbo Landscape Architecture notes in press materials.

Modern style meets timeless coastal living
Roseate Beach mirrors the region's surrounding environment and works in simple, clean lines to create individual homes that ultimately create a uniform, overall community aesthetic. Design and architectural firm LRK invoked seaside living themes via large porches, elevated upper-floor balconies, expansive windows, and French doors, all meant to bring the outside coast indoors.

“The use of simple building forms will allow the homes to serve as the backdrop on which the residents, community and nature take center stage,” Chris Janson, architect and principal at LRK, adds in a statement. “The clean lines of the homes will complement the native coastal landscape and natural beauty of the island, while expansive glass and outdoor living spaces allow owners the opportunity to connect with nature.”

Roseate Spoonbill Galveston A flying V of native Roseate Spoonbills inspired the project name.Photo by Stephen Mayeaux

“Honestly, I never thought about actually doing a development until I became aware that I might be able to buy the property,” recalls Mehos, a successful CEO, entrepreneur, and CPA with Goldman Sachs credentials who founded Green Bank, Coastal Banc, and his real estate firm, Green East Realty.

“That’s when the wheels started spinning and I immediately concluded that a more evolved concept was due for Galveston. It’s always more of a financial commitment to do that, but the exponential growth in island visitations and culture shifting within the island justified that kind of evolution.”

When a bird-brained idea is the best idea
But it wasn't finances, architecture, or real estate booms that ultimately sparked Mehos' decision to green light and spearhead this much-needed development. Rather, it was a bird — or specifically, a collection of birds drifting over his newly built home in 2021 — that led to the execution and even the name of his project.

“I was on my deck, it was late winter, and the wind was blowing from the north,” Mehos remembers of that crucial moment. “A perfect V formation of Roseate Spoonbills were hovering over my deck pointed into the wind and remained stationary for about 30 minutes, maintaining that perfect formation.”

“I had admired the birds for decades but had never seen them like that,” he adds. “When I decided to go forward with the development, the choice was easy — because of what I witnessed that day.”

For pricing, more information, and updates on Roseate Beach, visit the official site.

Rendering courtesy of Carbo Landscape Architecture/LRK/Green East Realty

Roseate Beach boasts 172 luxe beach homesites.

luxury texas beach home-for-sale

living single

Dallas lands among 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living alone

Getty Images

In DFW, renters can afford to live solo.

Not everyone is cut out for living with roommates, but finding an affordable place to live alone can be tricky. Luckily, Dallas-Fort Worth sits among the top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living by yourself, according to a new report.

Analysts at Apartments.com discovered North Texas renters spend the seventh lowest share of their monthly income on single-bedroom rent out of the 50 biggest metros in the U.S.

The study used a 30 percent "common budgeting guideline" to calculate the share of median renter household income spent on one-bedroom asking rents across the 50 largest U.S. metros, and determined renters can only afford to live alone in 24 of the 50 metros without crossing the 30 percent threshold.

The median annual income of a DFW renter household is $63,172, and the findings show the typical asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment comes out to $1,348 per month. The study determined single renters spend 25.6 percent of their monthly income on rent based on the budgeting suggestion.

Texas' favorable rental market also extends outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: Austin surprised as the No. 1 most affordable metro for living alone, and San Antonio appeared among the top 10.

Austin renters spend the smallest share of their income on single-bedroom apartment rent, at 23.1 percent. That's based on a median renter household income of $70,008 and a $1,348 monthly one-bedroom asking rent price.

Dwindling rent prices and the prevalence of major tech employers are also attracting new renters, and the city has an 11.6 percent apartment vacancy rate.

"The average rent in Austin has decreased year over year, and construction of new housing increased by 30 percent over the past decade," the report's author wrote. "Tax incentives in Texas draw large tech corporations, like Google and Apple, to the Austin area, which has increased average wages, added more jobs to the local economy, and attracted renters in the process."

San Antonio ranked right above DFW in sixth place nationwide with solo renters spending 25.4 percent of their monthly income on single-bedroom rent, coincidentally the same share as single renters living in Raleigh, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is the income and one-bedroom rent data in San Antonio:

$51,029 – median renter household income
$1,082 – one-bedroom monthly asking rent

A separate Apartments.com survey found 39 percent of U.S. adults would never feel comfortable living with a roommate, and 16 percent of renters would rather pay more in rent to live alone than consider living with a roommate.

"Factors contributing to lower rents may include recent high levels of construction, rising vacancy rates as renter demand catches up to supply, and fewer regulations, such as flexible zoning and lower development costs compared to other parts of the country," the report said. "Living alone has become a non-negotiable for many renters, and some renters are willing to make tradeoffs to afford this lifestyle."

The top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living alone are:

No. 1 – Austin
No. 2 – Oklahoma City
No. 3 – Phoenix
No. 4 – Raleigh, North Carolina
No. 5 – Salt Lake City, Utah
No. 6 – San Antonio
No. 7 – Dallas-Fort Worth
No. 8 – Denver
No. 9 – Portland, Oregon
No. 10 – Columbus, Ohio

real estate rent rent prices apartments affordability reports