Construction is underway on the first luxury beachside condos to be built in Galveston, Texas, in over a decade.
The project, Tiara on the Beach, broke ground in December 2024, with completion set for the summer of 2027. The project's Houston-based developer, Satya, said the upscale 10-story tower will house 63 condos, including seven penthouses and two so-called penterras, which are penthouse-level homes on the first floor. Prices start at $1.2 million.
Galveston Island is located about an hour southeast of downtown Houston.
“I could not find a condominium for my family on the island that checked all the boxes,” Satya CEO Sunny Bathija told Homes.com in an email. “While I was shopping for a condo in Miami and saw today’s most lavish offerings, I felt Galveston deserved a contemporary new option for Gulf-front, amenity-rich living.”
Tiara is the first Galveston project from Satya and could be the first new luxury condo tower in more than 15 years on the island, Satya officials confirmed.
Engineering and amenities for beachfront luxury living
Nancy Almodovar, CEO and co-founder of Nan & Co. Properties, the brokerage in charge of sales at Tiara on the Beach, attributed Galveston's gap in luxury condo development to rising obstacles in beachside building, with construction costs, insurance requirements and coastal building codes all becoming greater challenges in recent years.
“That made developers cautious, especially if they weren’t delivering a true luxury experience,” Almodovar told Homes.com in an email.
Almodovar believes the Satya development team is accounting for those challenges. Built on one of the last remaining beachfront parcels in Galveston, the tower will be designed to withstand winds of up to 150 miles per hour, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, with impact-resistant glass and an emergency generator for the elevator and common areas, according to Satya.
“You need real vision and commitment to execute something like that. The demand was there, but the market was waiting for the right project to unlock the next era of luxury living in Galveston,” Almodovar said.
Offering one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts ranging from 1,661 square feet to 4,306 square feet, every condo will be south-facing, offering unobstructed views of the ocean through floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a Satya press release states. Some other features include:
- Porcelain or wood-inspired tile floors, stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops
- Pool with a waterfall and sun lounge area
- Jogging trail and a pickleball/basketball court
- A fitness center, yoga studio, and media and game rooms
- A coffee bar, cigar lounge, private wine storage and wine tasting room
‘Raising the bar’ for luxury development in Galveston’s west end
Almodovar said demand for luxury condos is growing across the greater Houston area. At least two other upscale luxury condo projects underway — The Ritz-Carlton Residences The Woodlands and Satya's St. Regis Residences Houston — are the first planned projects of their kind in Texas from Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis.
“Galveston has been in the middle of a real resurgence, and luxury inventory simply hasn’t kept up with buyer expectations,” Almodovar said of the island.
From 2013 to 2023, the annual median income in the city of Galveston increased by 46.7%, which is nearly in line with the national growth rate of 48.1% during that period, according to Census estimates. The percentage of Galveston households earning at least $100,000 doubled from 14.8% to 29.7% during that time frame.
Tiara on the Beach is drawing interest from Houstonians as well as the state’s other major metropolitan areas, Almodovar said.
“Tiara is raising the bar, and I fully expect it to spark more premium development on the island,” she said. “The same trend is happening in Houston: buyers are gravitating toward quality, service and lifestyle-driven real estate. That’s not slowing down anytime soon.”