Galleria Area - what's up? (Houston, Sugar Land: apartments, rent, crime)

[cle_hou]

Moving to the Galleria area for a job there and am planning on living in an apartment real close to work.

A few questions after being here today looking for places to live:

- Why are there gates everywhere? I know that there is crime in the city but I thought that this was an up-scale part of town

- Where are all the chain restaurants? It looks like there are a lot of great places to eat around town but it is a lot different than where I grew up.

- What else should I know about the area?

[annie_himself]

What gates? All apartment buildings are gated.

Further down Westheimer and on San Felipe is a plethora of chain restaurants.

[tstone]

The mall attracts a lot of different characters. The gates are supposed to make you feel secure. I don't think it works-- the people who live there are easily the most stressed-out folks in the entire city, especially the women.

Also, the chain restaurants are mostly inside the Galleria mall itself. On the streets there is ChickFilA, Panera Bread, Starbucks, Smoothie King, Chipotle, etc, etc, and once you get west of Chimney Rock there are even more.

[westhou]

I lived here a few years now and it's really not that special. There are better parts of town but just like you I wanted to live close to work.

There are plenty of chain restaurants in the area. Most are located inside the Galleria mall.

Most apartments in the city will be gated. Not just the ones in the Galleria area.

Be prepared for nightmarish traffic. I try not to drive when I'm just going for a bite to eat or shopping. Plenty of sidewalks in the area. Avoid Westheimer. I use Richmond a lot and I also avoid Post Oak Blvd. I use Sage.

Expect to pay a lot for not that much square footage. For what I'm paying in rent I could probably find something double in a different area. But then I'd be further from work.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by cle_hou

- Where are all the chain restaurants? It looks like there are a lot of great places to eat around town but it is a lot different than where I grew up.

I found this quite funny.
We are moving out to the burbs and are trying to find NON-chain restaurants. The area is saturated with chains.
You actually want to eat that crap???
I guess the draw is it's cheap, but the galleria area is not.

[cle_hou]

OK Thanks for the comments but I have been reviewing some of the comments about apartments around here and almost every single one has comments about how there are break-ins, shootings, robberies or getting their rims/tires stolen.

Where else can I live nearby that isn't as dangerous as the Galleria area?

[HoustonRonnie]

Galleria dangerous? Bwahahahahahahahaha! Those places are gated so folks don't park there. Parking in and around the Galleria is precious.

Ronnie

[14Bricks]

Originally Posted by cle_hou

OK Thanks for the comments but I have been reviewing some of the comments about apartments around here and almost every single one has comments about how there are break-ins, shootings, robberies or getting their rims/tires stolen.

Where else can I live nearby that isn't as dangerous as the Galleria area?

There is crime everywhere. Even in Sugar Land(which was voted one of the best places to live in the country) had a rash of robberies of people in their drive ways. All that being said the Uptown/Gallaria area is one of the more safe areas in the city.

[David Dollar]

Yeah. No chains in the Galleria? Hmmm. Perhaps where you come from the chains are different, but most of the joints around the Galleria are chains. And I agree. Why wold you want to eat that? Welcome to Houston. You can find cheap food here that doesn't suck. I recommend Marine's Empanadas (Hillcroft not Westheimer) or Carribbean Jerk Cuisine. Get used to crime, you can't escape it.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by 14Bricks

All that being said the Uptown/Gallaria area is one of the more safe areas in the city.

This says it is #8 for highest crime in the city:

Houston Crime Maps | Super Neighborhood
Houston Crime Maps | Super Neighborhood | Greater Uptown

I guess you can say "at least it's not Alief/Sharpstown/Gunspoint".

Are "most" of the restaurants around the Galleria really chains? Many little places are buried in strip malls and overlooked while driving, exactly the same way many suburbs are incorrectly stereotyped. Also depends on where you think the boundaries of Uptown really are.