Sharpstown Mall Closing? (Houston, Sugar Land, The Woodlands: apartment complexes, crimes, townhouse)

[bostoner]

I went there last year and my last visit before that was probably around 1996 as well. To say it changed a lot in the intervening years would be a gross understatement!

[ohmanon]

Grew up in various Houston neighborhoods, for a number of years Willow Meadows/Willowbend/Bellaire/Braeswood and when Sharpstown was built, thought it looked similar - not all that aesthetically beautiful – typical ranch-style homes, with a yard and few trees. Like the above-mentioned areas, with time, trees were planted and have matured and the old homes look to be fairly solidly built and most of the yards well-cared for.

Left Texas several times, returned and guess I didn’t realize how much certain neighborhoods had changed. Lived in Montrose a couple of years and in ’99 found a nice-sized townhome in Sharpstown – a little “oasis” situated in a residential neighborhood (77036) - gorgeous oak trees lining the walkway, wrought-iron lamplights, very very quiet, mostly excellent neighbors, only 24 units 90% owner-occupied, self-managed and very safe. The perfect place for me as I wanted a “lock ‘n go” since I was out of the country about 6 months a year at the time and also needed an affordable place that could accommodate a grand piano - few and far between - so I grabbed this one. A few years down the road, Out With the Old, In With the New: along comes the property management co. – a shyster – and we start attracting a different type of resident… when your new (and not improved) next door neighbor is allowed to chop down a perfectly healthy, beautiful old shade tree on common property simply because - “I No Like Trees, I Like Concrete!” - which in turn ups the electric bill a good 35%, and your new and corrupt little HO president is allowed to move his thuggy relatives next door and your PC neighbors just accept it, the management of the property becomes almost non-existent while basic services disappear (sporadic hot water for months at a time), oh, but the fees mysteriously increase. Down Go the Townhomes…Quickly…There Go I. What's a body to do? It is just wrong.

Also Fondren Rd., what a gross street - trashy and dirty – I tried to look neither left nor right while traversing it and am so happy to be away from being subjected to boom boxes at every red light and garbage thrown out of car windows and constant garage sales allowed to be conducted as a business on a daily basis. Whatever happened to the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign that was in place for so many decades * POOF * GONE? Doesn’t seem to bother a lot of people that live over there but I thought it was demoralizing and as long as there’s that element who don’t give a hoot, how can it improve. Affordability does not have to equate to high crime and ugliness. The convenience stores are filled with everybody and their dogs cashing paychecks and buying 6-packs and lottery tickets – if people cared enough maybe they’d go buy a broom and a gallon of paint instead…they don’t care…that’s the problem.

Sorry this post is so long but what a frustrating experience. You buy something you really like and hope to stay in for the good lifestyle it provides and then you’re basically forced out – I screamed hallelujah and jumped for joy when I finally got out of that place. IMHO Sharpstown = Yuck.

[AK123]

It's too bad about the crime and schools around Sharpstown because geographically, it would be great for lots of families. Think about how many families have one member working in Stafford or Sugar Land and the other working downtown or the Medical Center. There are lots of these kinds of families in Sugar Land/Missouri City who would love to live more central and closer to all the Houston amenities.

[worldlyman]

I have always been fascinated by the evolution of Sharpstown Mall. I too had wonderful memories as a teen in the '80s. The food court was such a lively place, the Dream Merchant, Cactus Records, Waldenbooks and their comic books...hanging out and seeing my fellow teens from Hastings and Elsik High.

BUT...

I don't judge the changes in a disguised racial way as this thread implies.

If a few black thugs may harm us at inopportune moments at the micro level, then hey, at the opposite end some $$$ white suits up in hidden suites also harm us and others around the world too in even worse ways at the macro (all sorts of things like manipulating markets, helping release test toxins and surveillance on unsuspecting Americans, running rackets and the like).

I have read articles that the current "urban" orientation of Sharpstown does have local mom-n-pops doing well selling to their demographic. People seem happy, the ones that don't drive the SUVs and look at different people as "thugs."

If you don't like Sharpstown, then leave it for the black folks who do like it. Go down to Memorial City or First Colony if that's what you're looking for.

Why do we look at it as a necessarily good thing to drive out those successful black businesses that have it good right now at Sharpstown? There was a Chronicle article that discussed the so-called woes but did admit the mom-n-pops were doing quite fine. Don't black folks need somewhere to go or are we suggesting we send them all out to Kashmere or 5th Ward? Take away Sharpstown so we can ferment the seeds of worse possible racial disharmony? Just so everything freaking thing can be First Colony or such?

No. Houston is not a perfect whitebread place, so leave something for that hip-hop or African-American demographic. If you want presumed 100% safety move to an isolated town somewhere in the Panhandle.

Up until 2004, I still enjoyed watching the dollar movies as Sharpstown Mall and not once did I feel threatened. If there was still the dollar cinema, I would still frequent. Just use some common sense and still realize that no big city is really all that safe to begin with.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

I have always been fascinated by the evolution of Sharpstown Mall. I too had wonderful memories as a teen in the '80s. The food court was such a lively place, the Dream Merchant, Cactus Records, Waldenbooks and their comic books...hanging out and seeing my fellow teens from Hastings and Elsik High.

BUT...

I don't judge the changes in a disguised racial way as this thread implies.

I see what you see, but I'm not coming from there. The mall being a problem is more a perception than anything, but enough of one that the perception is reality. Let's face it - this is the 21st century and all, but not everyone's evolved to the point that they can put race behind them. And yes, that's exactly the terms in which I think of it. Evolution.

And like people and other living beings, cities evolve too, and "stigmas" die. Time is an amazing thing. One way or another Sharpstown will rise again. The question is when and how.

[ohmanon]

Oh please, high-horse calling. The thugs that moved in are white as snow so I find your post just as offensive. Not once did I imply anything racial. I have been around diversity my entire life - Hawaii 9 years, and I currently live in Mexico 6 months a year. The area is bad because of a lack of pride. My little area in Sharpstown was mixed when I moved there and I was well-aware of that fact and had no problem at all with it...so was Montrose.

Sharpstown is the pits because of a lack of pride. Take a look at the surroundings some time. Oh, also, 8 people were murdered on my block in the 10 years I lived there; illegal immigrants if you must know - I had no intention of mentioning any of that until you brought it up. Fine, you can have it.

By the way, I'm very happy and I don't drive an SUV.

[texan_176]

The mall being gone will not fix the area in a matter of 5-10 years like many of you are predicting. The apartments on Fondren, Bellarie, Bissonett, etc... are a haven for low rent and high crime people. The slum lords do not give a rat's a** about it because more often than not they are owned by a corporation that is not even based in Houston. Many are also tax credit properties that the govt. puts limits on what income level the residents can have while many take section 8. These kinds of properties have protection from rapid increases in property taxation.

No one is going to build a brand new mall or shopping center where the current mall is when there are pimps, hookers, and drug dealers mixed in with illegals all doing business right in the area. A gated private residential area would be the best thing but sadly, I think it will be cut up into those disgusting strip malls that will have smoke shops, porn stores, and really ratty C-stores everywhere. High crime night clubs will also be moving in. This is exactly what occured on the HUGE parcel of land in the other side of the street where Gillman Honda/Mitsubishi used to be located.

It will take maybe another 30-50 years by the time the apartments that were built in the 60s and 70s all go through tons of hearings and red tape with the city and are finally condemed, sold, demolished, and new development starts. Most of us on this board will be dead by then but we will have the memory of the good old days of the mall that future generations will never know.

[EasilyAmused]

East side of downtown has a much greater chance of becoming the Next area. And it's already begun.
There is just too much cleanup needed in Sharpstown. Police would have to camp there for the next 10 years even to make a dent.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

East side of downtown has a much greater chance of becoming the Next area. And it's already begun.

That started getting under way when they built the ballpark. Remember what all that was like before then?

There is just too much cleanup needed in Sharpstown. Police would have to camp there for the next 10 years even to make a dent.

10 years from now, Sharpstown is Uptown South.

Print it.

[worldlyman]

Originally Posted by ohmanon

Oh please, high-horse calling. The thugs that moved in are white as snow so I find your post just as offensive. Not once did I imply anything racial. I have been around diversity my entire life - Hawaii 9 years, and I currently live in Mexico 6 months a year. The area is bad because of a lack of pride. My little area in Sharpstown was mixed when I moved there and I was well-aware of that fact and had no problem at all with it...so was Montrose.

Sharpstown is the pits because of a lack of pride. Take a look at the surroundings some time. Oh, also, 8 people were murdered on my block in the 10 years I lived there; illegal immigrants if you must know - I had no intention of mentioning any of that until you brought it up. Fine, you can have it.

By the way, I'm very happy and I don't drive an SUV.

I didn't single you out in particular...but just about every thread here and other boards concerning Sharpstown does concern race even if they don't want to say it.

Take a look at the surroundings? Heck, my Dad still lives in that nice neighborhood just across Fondren from the mall. I use Bellerive to go home in Westchase from work. I see mostly people just TRYING TO SURVIVE in an honorable way. What's "pride" to them? Rising gas prices and rent gouging landlords who provide substandard services? Sharpstown is just a mall that does well enough to provide goods and services to ITS CURRENT and paying demographic. I say leave the place alone.

The 80s oil crash caused a shift in housing stock affordability throughout SW Houston, allowing those presumably without "pride" and on the lower end of the pay scale, to move in. If Sharpstown is no longer the whitebread place it once was, well, that's how some cities evolve. Houston is dynamic.

Sharpstown does offer a lively African-American urban environment at the doorstep of a skyrocketing New Chinatown district...and I love it for that. You think you'll see that in a more segregated place like L.A.'s San Gabriel or Westminster areas? Not for a long, long while. I admire Houston's fluid social dynamic because it's more up front than that of other large cities even if it does have its hazards.

The Sharpstown from my "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" era is only the one from my fond memories now. That will never come back. No matter how much nicer First Colony or Memorial City are now, and I do like those places for what they offer, they will never be what Sharpstown was.

Leave Sharpstown alone. Even if it's turned into a First Colony re-dux, the surrounding residential demographic won't exactly have the picketfencers from SUV suburbia coming back in droves. I don't care if the area is so-called prime real estate area. The mall should be left alone if certain customers are keeping moms-n-pops in business. I could care less if JC Penney or Waldenbooks comes back.