We’ve at last had the opportunity to walk through Villa de Leon, the (very) high-end condo midrise in the Trinity Bluff neighborhood in Uptown looking out over the river from its perch on the west side of Samuels Avenue.  We looked at two units – a huge one on the downtown-facing side and a slightly smaller unit on the Samuels Avenue side, both on the fourth floor.

Villa de Leon is pretty comfortably the most expensive development we’ve ever looked at here on the site – but having finally been inside it, we think it is absolutely justified in that price level.  The units at Villa de Leon feel every penny of their low-$800,000s-to-low-$2-millions price tags.  Materials, finishes, and designs simply drip with the feel of quality.  It doesn’t have the “looks expensive, feels cheap” nature of your typical big, pricey pseudo-mansion out in the ‘burbs – developer Tom Struhs has really put a lot of obvious attention and care into his flagship development, which is also reflected in the slow-and-steady way he’s been selling units in the building.  He’s not built it and then become desperate to move units as the economy worsened – one gets the feeling that Struhs has planned all along that VDL was in it for the long haul.  While one may or may not like the uber-posh design of the units (we have a feeling a lot of Fort Worthology readers are of the “loft” mindset), Villa de Leon is one of the few pricey developments around here that feels as classy as its price tag demands.

We also love the way Villa de Leon stands out amongst the fledgling Trinity Bluff neighborhood that Struhs is putting together – it’s the tallest and by far most expensive development in the project thus far, surrounded by far more affordable (though higher-end) for-sale townhomes (the Palisades) and rental apartments & townhomes (Lincoln Trinity Bluff, Lincoln Park at Trinity Bluff), along with the new Marriott-branded hotel.  We hear some odd remarks about VDL’s place amongst the more affordable projects, but to our minds that is one of the best things about it – it makes Trinity Bluff already feel like a much more interesting and genuine place despite its young age by not being so homogenous.  In classic urban neighborhoods around the world, affordable, mid-range, and high-end residences mix comfortably together thanks to compatible scale and forms, and we think Struhs gets that this is not only possible, but desirable.

As one might expect at this level, Villa de Leon’s amenities list is quite large.  There’s a 24-hour concierge, a huge terrace at the lower level with pool, fountain, and outdoor kitchen, the de Leon Room on the lower level for entertaining and relaxing (complete with its own kitchen and piano), a resident fitness center, high-speed elevators, underground secure parking (and kudos to Struhs for burying the parking to keep the building’s street presence people-focused), hardwood floors in a variety of materials (including bamboo), fireplaces, massive walk-in closets, elaborate kitchens, granite counters, solid-core doors throughout, and more.

The residences feature multitudes of windows and impressive views.  The downtown/river side is, of course, spectacular (and will only get better as the Trinity River Vision’s central city/Trinity Uptown project moves forward), but we also enjoy the Samuels views now that there’s some density along the street.  As Trinity Bluff infills further, the neighborhood view will become pretty cool in its own right.

Click through our gallery and enjoy some shots from in and around Villa de Leon.  For the curious, the floor plans we looked at were the Pioneer and the Fort.

For more information, check out Villa de Leon’s web site.  The building is located in Uptown, in the Trinity Bluff neighborhood, on Samuels Avenue right next door to Charles Nash Elementary.  Developer:  Tom Struhs.  Architect:  Ames Fender.