Will Houston’s East Side ever be renovated?

[SanJac]

Originally Posted by ScrappyJoe

Speaking of which, I'm not very fond of the location chosen for the upcoming garden. The original location at Gus was far superior - it had more expanse of older-growth tree background to cover the growing period, as well as closer access to central city, including a direct location on the light rail.

I agree with you 100%. It also had elevation, something Glenbrook does not really have. Alas, apparently the weekend golfers revolted at Gus Worsham and the city capitulated. Now we are stuck with a garden outside the loop.

[Svensk08]

Originally Posted by SanJac

I agree with you 100%. It also had elevation, something Glenbrook does not really have. Alas, apparently the weekend golfers revolted at Gus Worsham and the city capitulated. Now we are stuck with a garden outside the loop.

I believe Houston Councilman Gallegos and his supporters in Idylwood were extremely vocal in their support for the Gus Wortham golf course renovation. There are more than a few residents in adjacent neighborhoods that are still unhappy with COH for deciding to have the botanic garden at Glenbrook.

[NigerianNightmare]

I think it's only a matter of time.

The most obvious reasons why are.
1. Proximity- sprawl will continue to happen no doubt but if jobs are gonna be Downtown, TMC or even the Ship Channel area starts acquiring more and more higher paying jobs, not to mention 3 Universities with positive trajectories within a mile of Houston it's an all but foregone conclusion that this area is going to improve as a whole.

2. Crime- Now I know that from year to year, day to day crime doesn't look like it's changed that much since 2010 in Houston, but here are some statistics.

2010- 269 murders
2019- 263 murders (could change)
But 2010 population of Houston was 2,100,000 while 2019 estimate (won't find out the real numbers till 2020) 2,400,000 with the metro adding 1.2 million people in those 10 years.

So while the numbers look the same technically the rate has been slowly but surely dropping.

3. Average Age- This is heavily related to crime but areas like this, especially if they are predominantly Black and not Latino (not necessarily true of all areas), are aging, and in some cases the population is in complete stagnation or dropping. As people age and die, Houses get sold and the neighborhood itself is more likely to change with more Houses on the market. Also as the community grows older Crime rates drop a 60 year old dude no matter how much of a "savage" gang member he was in his 20s and 30s and maybe even a bit in his 40s, by the time their hitting 70 those antics are long gone. With the average age increasing all over the U.S but especially in legacy cities with strong but poor African American communities crime will dip everywhere, surely but slowly and in 20 years even if the new generation is more criminally inclined their will be such a decline in the population of an area that this doesn't matter.

These three factors will lead to a rush to redevelop these areas and will work in tandem to make the East side of Houston a denser version of the Westside of the loop (I assume Student Housing will make a place like West U even with it's relatively high density by Houston standards look like Katy, also less pricy neighborhoods on the east will mean less NIMBY-ism by wealthy neighbors allowing higher density to enter the area).

[Failed Engineer]

I picked up a couple of lots in Magnolia Park a couple years back for very little. I have a sizeable paper gain on them today but I don't think I'll hold them much longer. It's going to take a long time for gentrification to truly arrive there. That said, there are some builders who are trying some pretty aggressive reno's for the property values there. They don't move very quick.

As an outsider driving around Magnolia Park I feel it's a stable, yet undesirable neighborhood.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Failed Engineer

I picked up a couple of lots in Magnolia Park a couple years back for very little. I have a sizeable paper gain on them today but I don't think I'll hold them much longer. It's going to take a long time for gentrification to truly arrive there. That said, there are some builders who are trying some pretty aggressive reno's for the property values there. They don't move very quick.

As an outsider driving around Magnolia Park I feel it's a stable, yet undesirable neighborhood.

A fair assessment of MP. It's on the eastern end of the East End, there's a lot of gentrification yet to take place west of the RR tracks first (though it is definitely underway). And many of its homes are in really rough shape.

I wonder about Pecan Park?