Construction will begin soon on The Tanglewood , a mid-rise loft tower with 62 condominiums, according to the Houston developers who will build the project just west of the Galleria area.

Units in The Tanglewood will range from about $220,000 for the smallest ones to more than $1 million for the penthouse units.

The building will be at 1616 Fountainview, just north of San Felipe. A small medical-professional building will be torn down to make room for it.

The Tanglewood will be built in an area where townhomes and condominium projects are prominent.

"This is a walking neighborhood. There's shopping and restaurants in the area," developer James Wallace said.

Wallace is developing the project in partnership with Houston businessman Steven Halpin and Silicon Valley Diversified, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based real estate investment firm.

Wallace has developed a number of projects in Houston, including the Ironwood apartments in West Houston.

The Tanglewood would be considered a "soft loft" in the parlance of Houston residential realty, said Cheri Fama of Heritage Texas Properties, which is marketing the project.

A soft loft has the high ceilings and open floor plan of a loft. But it also has some partitions to create separate rooms and it has more refined and finished look.

Much of Houston's mid-rise and high-rise condominium activity has been centered in the Inner Loop area. The Tanglewood is farther west than most of the projects built in the city in recent years.

The project's height will be equivalent to an eight-story building, said architect Carlo Di Nunzio, who designed The Tanglewood . The building will have an exterior of limestone, brick and plaster.

The Tanglewood will have one- and two-story residences ranging in size from 1,100 square feet to 4,000 square feet. The condos will have floors of hardwood, stained concrete or carpet.

The Tribble & Stephens firm is the general contractor for The Tanglewood .

Tribble & Stevens also converted the Rice Hotel into loft apartments.

Condominium towers were popular in the early 1980s, but many of the projects ran into trouble when the Houston real estate market crashed in the mid-1980s.

Developers did not start any more such condos until the late 1990s.

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