A former mill complex in Houston marked as a national historic landmark has an unassuming exterior. The gray-tan brick façade blends with clouds on dreary days, making the complex easy to miss behind new shops and townhouses dotting the property’s perimeter. From some angles, the industrial-style building blocks views of the site's crown landmark: A 100-year-old, five-story clock tower that serves as a reminder of the area's roots as one of the neighborhood's first industrial structures.

Stepping inside feels like walking into a well-cared for antique. Feet shuffle on original maple wood floors where traces of oil stains from textile machinery are still visible in the open office spaces. Narrow hallways give way to high-ceiling studios with 13-inch brick walls and exposed wood beams. A tall, wooden fire-suppression door still hangs on the clean, white walls surrounding glass office doors. A slender staircase leads up the restored clock tower. Below the office suites, smells of fresh-baked bread waft from a retailer where patrons quietly tap on laptops and sip espressos in a scene reminiscent of an old-style European café.

The Houston Heights Clock Tower complex, about 15 minutes northwest of downtown Houston, reflects the character of the rest of the Heights neighborhood: Modern blends with historic craftsman-style vintage homes in a gentrifying area with a relatively small office market.

The Houston Heights Clock Tower's new owner, Houston-based developer Radom Capital, is determined to keep the clock tower’s mix of history and modernity alive after acquiring the landmark and adjacent buildings last month. Radom Capital bought the 3-acre complex of five structures built between 1894 and 1917 from a group of local families who have owned the former mill for several generations.

The families restored the former industrial tower bit by bit over the past decade, transforming it into modern office, residential and retail space spanning 80,000 square feet. The families previously resisted selling the complex, but they changed their minds last year as long as the new owner would respect the character of the buildings.

The deal came to fruition after the families met with Radom Capital "and we just hit it off," said Marc Weisselberg, principal at Radom Capital who helped spearhead the deal, in an interview. "They spent a significant portion of their time in the past 10 years working to renovate the project. They did an amazing job and they didn’t want to see it knocked down. It was just a very simpatico connection and the right time, right place.”

The sellers respected other Houston projects by Radom Capital, which has a history of restoring vintage buildings into modern boutique projects with a heavy focus on outdoor spaces that have been generating leasing activity during in the pandemic.

“We believe in outdoor spaces. The post-COVID world plays into that very nicely, and hopefully, the business plan is well received by future tenants,” Weisselberg said.

Buying an office project in the pandemic may seem like an odd move when the office industry is in the thick of a highly uncertain period for future demand. But Weisselberg notes that office space in the Heights Clock Tower is 90% leased, which is rare for vintage Houston office space. The complex’s tenants include a mix of architecture, advertising, technology and professional services firms, plus retail tenants such as Kraftsman Baking, personal trainer Shana Ross and fitness studio Facet 7.

“The real estate is so unique and tenants crave cool, unique places to work,” Weisselberg said. "It’s not your commodity office building, and we like that.”

The area's popularity represents changes the pandemic is bringing about as some tenants look to avoid elevators and dense spaces prevalent in central business districts, instead favoring low-rise offices with lots of green space.

“We think there should be more office space in the Heights because it has everything people would want,” Weisselberg said. “It’s just unique to Houston."

Office space in the Heights comprises just 1.3 million square feet and is dwarfed by larger nearby submarkets such as the 51.5 million square feet in downtown Houston, according to CoStar data. The Heights-area office market is about 10% vacant, roughly half the vacancy of downtown’s 21.3% vacancy rate and overall metropolitan Houston's 18.8% vacancy rate, according to CoStar data.

The history of the buildings at 611 W. 22nd St., plus its location in the Heights near new restaurants in the rapidly gentrifying area just a few blocks from the 610 Loop, also could drum up future demand, said Weisselberg.

The oldest section, built in 1894 along an alley, was originally a mattress factory and later became a textile mill by 1900. The building was added to the National Registry of Historic places in 1983 under the name the Oriental Textile Mill. But the property fell into disrepair over the years until extensive renovations in the decade leading up to 2015. The initial renovation project introduced a collection of live-work loft spaces that were eventually converted into office suites and one apartment space.

“I’ve admired the building since I first stepped foot in it over a decade ago,” said Steve Radom, founder and managing principal of Radom Capital, in a statement. “The simple historic factory bones of the campus, in combination with the exposed honest industrial elements, results in a destination that is both iconic and humble.”

Radom Capital does not plan to significantly alter the historic buildings, but the outdoor spaces are getting a face-lift. Between the main entrance and the west side of the building, a 6,000-square-foot courtyard is expected to be upgraded as an outdoor communal gathering space, Weisselberg said.

“When the tenant pulls up, we want there to be a real, proper sense of arrival to let people know you’ve arrived at the Heights Clock Tower campus. It’s going to be a combination of signage, wayfinding, lighting, hopefully some paint and art murals,” Weisselberg said.

The new landscaping and outdoor work is expected to be complete by the third quarter, Weisselberg said. The former owners added a new parking lot the week of Dec. 29, when the deal closed.

Radom Capital's other renovation projects include Heights Mercantile and M-K-T in the Heights, the former Star Engraving Co. and Stage Repertory Theatre building on Allen Parkway near Buffalo Bayou Park, and the newly built project Montrose Collective.

The Heights has one of the highest concentrations of historic buildings in Houston and various preservation mandates over the years have helped to limit development of new office buildings in the area, said Justin Boyar, CoStar’s director of market analytics in Houston. Boyar notes that the market is dominated by smaller office buildings, adaptive reuse projects such as the clock tower and M-K-T as well as Victorian homes converted into offices.

The Heights area is a mostly residential and retail neighborhood north of Interstate 10 and south of the 610 Loop, bound by North Shepherd Drive to the west and Interstate 45 to the east. The neighborhood was one of the first planned communities in Texas and was its own city in the 1890s prior to being annexed into the city of Houston in 1918, according to the city of Houston. Rapid redevelopment has come with rising incomes and home values in the gentrifying neighborhood. The number of households in the Heights that reported to earn more than $200,000 annually more than quadrupled between 2010 and 2020, according to NuStar.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The property has an appraised value of $6.4 million, according to Harris County records. According to Harris County deed records, Veritex Community Bank provided a loan in the principal amount of $12.54 million in connection with the transaction. The seller was represented by J.P. Hayes and Clark Dalton of Urban Co. Real Estate. Radom Capital represented itself in negotiations. JLL’s Colby Mueck, Matthew Putterman and Jett Lucia advised Radom Capital on the debt financing.