Parkdale and Claremont neighborhoods: (Henderson, Highlands: for sale, rent, condos)

[cityconvo]

Does anyone have any info or insight about the Parkdale and Claremont neighborhoods? I drove them today and I have to say they are 2 of the harder neighborhoods to read that I have looked at.

Parkdale has some charming houses at affordable prices and I know the DART Rail will be coming there soon but I could not determine if the neighborhood was on the fringe of popping or flopping. Any thoughts?

Claremont appeared to be a little more stable, but stable at what I am not exactly sure. In a way, the neighborhood reminded me a little of Lake Highlands, but considerably smaller. The problem was that I did not see any people out walking, jogging, etc. There are some high end condos and single family homes being built on the opposite side of Ferguson, but I could not tell if that will have any positive effect on Claremont.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[pepper131]

Parkdale will probably pop...there are some artist types over among the riff-raff, but there is still considerable riif-raff. Did you see the property near the old TXU plant on the corner?...it's a huge lot. An artist lives there, but not sure who. Some agents are touting this area as the next Hollywood Heights/M Streets.

Claremont is near me. We had considered it before we bought in Casa Linda Forest, but the house we looked at was next door to a house with a heap of cars in the driveway; it's still that way 4 yrs later (it was right on Claremont a few houses in from Ferguson). And the apts were a little too close for comfort.

[cityconvo]

Interesting about Parkdale. So does that mean the wave of gentrification will skip the depressed neighborhood west of Valencia as well as those first 2 areas east of Fair Park? The majority of those homes and lots do not look as though they offer an opportunity for rehab.

Unfortunately, I missed the property you mention on the corner. Was it new construction?

[Edward_from_Dallas]

Re: Parkdale

Originally Posted by pepper131

Some agents are touting this area as the next Hollywood Heights/M Streets.

I have a friend who was saying this 12 years ago. She has bought and sold a home there in the ensuing years and it never really happened. Certainly the neighborhood has the homes for it, (I believe they may have even been built by the same developer as the M streets) but it hasn't really happened yet.

Maybe things will get better for Parkdale now that the DART station is looming.

[pepper131]

Not sure about around the west area of Valencia - we left that area to move east...we were at Eastside at Beacon. I know a family on Cristler and Gurley; they don't have problems. Things have not improved in this area in the 10 yrs that I've been around it. It's obvious when the neighborhood changes...for some reason the curbed street stops along at Cameron along Sante Fe, I believe.

The area west of Parkdale neighborhood has way too many low rent apts, heaps of drug activity...you can still find hooker motels. There's a bar across from Lincoln High on Hatcher. Nobody cares about what goes on down here. It's sad.

And along Military Parkway near White Rock Creek is the "dry line" - alcohol on the west side; dry on the east. You see the changes as you drive down there with the seedy bars and vagrants hanging around the liquor stores. Along White Rock Creek, homeless live along the banks. It's a creepy area.

The property I liked (but not for sale) is taking Parkdale west and it makes a turn to the north, it's on the right. Parkdale ends at the old train tracks. Houses were hit and miss IMO. But this one on the corner was great!!

[cityconvo]

Yes, the barrier is at Cameron and Sante Fe. I have never understood why there has not been overflow from Valencia, but it hasn't.

[pepper131]

If I remember correctly, the architecture changes a bit from Tudor homes to wood frames homes....some of them look like they are about to fall down. I love to speculate, maybe that has something to do with it...

[cityconvo]

That is true but if you look at how Vickery Place followed the M Streets, it doesn't seem unreasonable that the potential is there to fix up some of those prairie/bungalow homes. Maybe it will happen. Henderson is completely changed from even 3 years ago and Fitzhugh will not be recognizable in 5 years from how it looks today. As the gent train keeps pushing east something will happen with that little neighborhood.

I agree with what you said earlier about your friends not having problems at Cristler and Gurley. From what I have heard and seen, the area doesn't have a real bad crime problem, it is just economically depressed. I love to speculate as well.

[galore]

Originally Posted by pepper131

you can still find hooker motels.

Is that a negative or a positive amenity?

[pepper131]

Originally Posted by cityconvo

From what I have heard and seen, the area doesn't have a real bad crime problem, it is just economically depressed.

In the 7 yrs we lived there, my car was broken into once - it was always parked in a driveway. I had a 4 Runner and would often forget to roll up the back window and leave open all night long; never had a problem.

Although just 2 weeks ago 9 cars were broken into along Eastside, Columbia just north of Beacon and into Julliete Fowler. But the opposite side of Beacon didn't get any activity.