Midway has started construction on the first new building in Buffalo Heights District, a mixed-use development to be anchored by an H-E-B and hundreds of luxury apartments.

The 7-story building is under way on Washington Avenue between South Heights Boulevard and Studemont Street. The building will replace a portion of the Memorial Heights apartments.

The new H-E-B will be an "urban prototype" store, the grocer said. It will fill 96,000 square feet and will have a walk-up coffee and food concept, providing both on-site and to-go dining options. An additional 2,000 square feet of retail space will be built alongside it.

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"When we learned of the plans for Buffalo Heights, we knew it was just the type of community more of Houston is going to want," Scott McClelland, president, H-E-B Houston, said in an announcement.

The building will have 230 high-end apartments and three floors of office space above the grocer.

The multifamily portion of the complex will be known as St. Andrie. Amenities will include a fitness and yoga studio overlooking a swimming pool; an open-air lounge with televisions and a fireplace; a private dining room and demonstration kitchen; and a business lounge.

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Completion is expected in spring 2019.

The project is being developed by Houston-based Midway for Houstonian Russell Gordy, who manages his family's vast interests in real estate, oil and gas, as well as ranching operations in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and elsewhere.

The family owns the 19-acre Memorial Heights apartment site and other properties in the area that eventually could become part of a greater redevelopment.

"Houston is changing – just like a lot of other cities around the country," Gordy said in the announcement. "We are seeing people want to live closer to the city and not drive as much. We are hoping to make this a place where people can live, play and work."