The East End is going to be the next Heights/Montrose (Houston: 2013, apartments)

[crono_clone]

Place your bets here, folks!

Houston's East End could drive retail, residential development with new incentive program - Houston Business Journal

[hbcu]

until the schools change, wishful thinking

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by hbcu

until the schools change, wishful thinking

not really the school did not change with midtown, the demographs did.which lead to the schools changing

[ComeAtMe]

Why? They are selling all the new construction townhomes before they are even half way finished being built.

Wtf do the developers need tax breaks for, maybe to help get retail into the area but not for "rooftops" and this is coming from someone who lives there.

[deckhanddavy]

Most of the homes in the East End zip codes are in pretty bad condition. They look to be run down 1950's architecture homes and not the desirable kind from the old Sears catalogs. Nothing like the Eastwood homes which have a ton of charm and look like homes out of "The Christmas Story". Most of East End is peppered with tiny shacks that need to be demolished, and based on what I've seen on HAR, that would be most of them. Here's a typical home in East End that was built in 1950:


Most of the streets are in horrendous condition as well...I think it has potential, but I doubt any real visual change will occur any time soon. Maybe in another 10 years or so after a ton of cash and programs are pumped into the area if it's lucky enough. Don't get me wrong. I like that the media has been giving East End a lot of air time to help revitalize it as Houston has done to other older neighborhoods, but I just don't think anyone will have any interest after they see the real condition that it's in.

Here's a sectional map of the zip codes in the East End area...check it out for yourself on HAR. Pretty bad.

[travelguy_73]

Originally Posted by ComeAtMe

Why? They are selling all the new construction townhomes before they are even half way finished being built.

Wtf do the developers need tax breaks for, maybe to help get retail into the area but not for "rooftops" and this is coming from someone who lives there.

In this regard, you need to isolate EaDo/east downtown, Eastwood, and Idylwood from the rest of the East End. If you look at the map where the incentives would be active, it's definitely parts of town that could use an infrastructure and development boost, which is what the incentive plan is supposed to provide (not saying it does, just that's the idea).

[ComeAtMe]

Originally Posted by travelguy_73

In this regard, you need to isolate EaDo/east downtown, Eastwood, and Idylwood from the rest of the East End. If you look at the map where the incentives would be active, it's definitely parts of town that could use an infrastructure and development boost, which is what the incentive plan is supposed to provide (not saying it does, just that's the idea).

3 is the district I am in (on that map) and prices have gone from 220kish 18ish months ago to 275 at the lowest up to 299.9k and like I said they are all being sold before they are even close to being finished.

Obviously I am happy that the home prices have increased since I bought but these developers do not need any tax breaks when what they are building is already selling like hotcakes. They have been able to increase the purchase price every few months without fail, hardly sounds like a business that needs tax breaks to me .

[LocalPlanner]

If a government wants more of something faster than the market has been willing to provide, it has to add a little nitro-glycerine to the fuel. Even if the gasoline was still getting the vehicle down the road.

[crono_clone]

http://media.bizj.us/view/img/424101...astend*600.jpg

*Photo embed not working for some reason

Here's the five areas highlighted by the Greater East End District for possible commercial development:
1. KBR Site -- 133 acres owned by one property owner
2. Bayou Village -- 91 acres total
3. Streetcar District -- 64 acres total
4. York TOD -- 35 acres total
5. Gateway -- 26 acres total

[Bobloblawslawblog]

Ok, this threw me at first, because technically, the East End is the entire East side of Houston that's inside the loop. Going on what I see in the linked article, they're mainly referring to the Northern edge of EaDo, the Western half of the 2nd ward, and the Southern edge of the 5th ward between I-10 and Buffalo Bayou. Still, I'm laughing my buttocks off at the idea that that area could ever be ANYTHING like the Montrose or the Heights. Just because it's in the inner loop and close to downtown doesn't mean that it's anything like those two neighborhoods, or ever will be. I don't care how much gentrification happens there, or how much they try to beef it up with apartments, condos, high-rises, nightlife, restaurants, retail, etc. etc. It has a completely different history than the Heights and Montrose, and totally lacks the older and more desirable residential architecture (Bungalows, Craftsmans, Tudors, etc.) of the near-West side neighborhoods. The East End has always been more traditionally industrial, with little pockets of residential, that as someone pointed out earlier in this thread were primarily low-quality, post-war, small, ranch-style homes in a state of decay, and even the older homes that exist in the 2nd ward are shoddily built and would also most likely have to be dozed, while families who have lived there for several generations get taxed out. In order to achieve this dream of the near-East End as some kind of coveted, hip new place to live... they will have to bulldoze all of those homes. They pretty much have zero resale value. The charm of places like Montrose and the Heights.... or hell, I'll go a few steps further and include Binz-Museum Park, MacGregor, and Eastwood... is that there's a pre-existing neighborhood with quality architecture that can retain it's value through renovation, rather than the wrecking ball. If anything, in the long term I picture the near-East End going through the same kind of process that Rice Military has undergone, where everything you see there is 15 years old, at the oldest, and pretty much no trace whatsoever remains of what stood before. Maybe it will be the next hipster zone, but it will never be the "new Montrose" or "new Heights". There's only one Montrose and one Heights.

That said, I'd be more than happy to see them FINALLY do something with that old KBR site and Bayou Village. In other words, that whole empty area along the bayou that has basically returned to vacant grassland. It's long overdue. Why that area wasn't one of the first places on the East side to be gentrified has always been an enigma to me.