The Westheimer Apartments

Sitting on Westheimer near Shepherd, The Westheimer Apartments occupies one of Houston’s densest retail and restaurant strips, on the seam between Montrose and River Oaks. Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation owns the five-floor building; Greystar handles day-to-day management.

Residents get a pool deck with a waterfall, an athletic club with a yoga and spin studio, a massage room, a bistro lounge with a coffee bar, an outdoor barbecue plaza, a business center and a pet run. Apartments have nine-and-a-half-foot ceilings, espresso plank floors, oversized soaking tubs, walk-in closets and private balconies or patios. The garage holds 359 spaces, which is generous for this location.

The trade-off here is traffic and street noise against a walk score in the mid-eighties. It suits renters who want to leave the car parked on weekends, with Buffalo Bayou Park a short drive north on Shepherd and Downtown about three and a half miles east.