Question about West University (Houston, Kirby: middle-class, real estate market, apartments)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by RAS909

The WU (perhaps the whole inner loop) market has been on fire but I think not crazy fire. Buyers are accepting that prices are higher than 2012 by about 100k to 150K or so but crazily priced homes are NOT moving. There are quite a few of these sitting on HAR now.

Thanks for all your feedback on the Virginia court area. You can walk to Whole Foods and WU rec center from the Colonial Terrace/College view parts but somehow walking to a coffee shop, half priced books, Rice Univ games sounds even more appealing. And Rice up here is not as busy as Wesleyan.

Looking at HAR, most of the houses are 7 figures, but very few of the older houses seem to be on the market. The listings seem to be mostly fairly recent construction, 3000 SF +.

West U. is like every place else. It ebbs and flows. Around 1980 it was lower than average per SF and still had a lot of original residents and few kids. It took off in the 80s, but slumped from around 88 to 92. Then it took off until 2008 and dropped for 2 or 3 years. Now it is taking off again.

[EasilyAmused]

Its one of those areas you really need to be able to afford private after 5th grade. Unless your child is the GTmagnetImakethemplayviolin10hoursadayfrickin120iq rocketscientist Type.Even then, I have friends that say West U Elem is getting way too big for comfort.

Schools are a major part of West U's ebb and flow. But compared to the 80's,with chain link fences and chickens, it has come a long way baby.

[Chrisrock]

Originally Posted by MAROON79

you don't live in the door - you live in the swanky City of Southside Place.

No swankiness here. I'm in a "starter" home! Probably going to have to do something after I get married.

[Vicman]

HISD originally built the Rice School to try to take overflow from West U Elementary, but it didn't work as planned: What Went Wrong at the Rice School? | Houston Press . Since then Rice School has become better but upper class parents don't send their kids there. So HISD intentionally expanded the size of the West U school to accommodate overflow. Because of its ratings, parents want to be zoned there.

Pershing's considered to be one of the best regular schools, but it's very huge (1,800 kids). Remember if parents don't like Pershing they are automatically eligible to send the kids to the regular program at Pin Oak (they have to apply) and I think that school's around 1,200. I think HISD should try to find some apartments zoned to Pershing to rezone to Jane Long (now down to 600 students) or, for the apartments south of 610, to Dick Dowling Middle School. Somebody used Pershing as a case study in a book: Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Educ - William G. Ouchi - Google Books - Lamar is considered one of the two top regular high schools in HISD.

But what's likely true about all of the middle and high schools mentioned is there is a division between AP/IB/PreAP/PreIB and the regular classes (regular classes may have unmotivated students or more disruptive students), so parents in West U prefer the kids are in the upper division classes. For zoned parents it may be interesting to hear how easy or difficult it is to get their kids in the AP/IB classes. Are there any parents from Pin Oak, Pershing, and/or Lamar who have experience with this?

Also, to make Pershing and Lamar better schools parents should get to work finding ways to limit the apartments zoned to the schools. More information below:

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Its one of those areas you really need to be able to afford private after 5th grade. Unless your child is the GTmagnetImakethemplayviolin10hoursadayfrickin120iq rocketscientist Type.Even then, I have friends that say West U Elem is getting way too big for comfort.

Schools are a major part of West U's ebb and flow. But compared to the 80's,with chain link fences and chickens, it has come a long way baby.

Apartments that should be rezoned from Pershing to Jane Long (either way, they would still be eligible for Pin Oak regular):
Lee/Pershing/Condit
* Mark V Apartments - 6655 Atwell Dr, Houston, TX
* The Colony Oaks - 6666 Chimney Rock Rd, Houston, TX

Apartments that could/should be rezoned from Pershing to Dick Dowling (HISD should open a new elementary next to Billy Reagan K-8 and turn Reagan into a 6-8 school):
Madison/Pershing/Shearn
* Royale Apartments - 9701 Stella Link Rd Houston, Texas 77025
* Loop Crossing Apartments - 9707 Timberside Dr, Houston, TX 77025
* Oaks of Charleston - 15 Charleston Park Drive, Houston, TX 77025
* Pine Terrace Apartments - 3901 O'Meara Drive, Houston TX 77025
* Valencia Place - 3131 W Bellfort St, Houston, TX 77054
* Villas at Coronado - 9111 Lakes at 610 Dr, Houston, TX 77054
* CityLake Luxury Apartments - 8877 Lakes at 610 Drive, Houston, TX 77054
* a few others

As for the many, many apartments in the Longfellow zone (zoned to Pershing) somebody can buy them up and demolish or improve them to drive out bad tenants and raise the rent prices. Another idea is for Pershing PTO parents to personally investigate and expose complexes so they are forced to close or improve if they are poorly managed.

[bu2]

I think you posted that link to the book by the former HISD trustee who talked about zoning issues. One of the topics was getting that area (Post Oak to Stella Link north of Main) back to Westbury from Madison. I think it would be hard to push those people from Pershing or Johnston to Dowling.

I don't think 1800 is that big for a middle school. Dowling had about 2000 back when I went there in the 70s. I think Pershing was a similar size.

Some of my friends are actually sending their kids to Pershing, but I would have been hesitant to.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by bu2

I think you posted that link to the book by the former HISD trustee who talked about zoning issues. One of the topics was getting that area (Post Oak to Stella Link north of Main) back to Westbury from Madison. I think it would be hard to push those people from Pershing or Johnston to Dowling.

Yes, I posted the book link.

The apartments east of Stella Link (the ones I'm posting) are zoned to Madison. The homeowners who campaigned to be sent to Westbury are on the west side of Stella Link. I know that rezoning from Pershing would hurt property values, so I didn't include the homeowners. The idea is that, in the portion outside of 610, the homeowners and apartments west of Stella Link are still zoned to Bellaire/Pershing and Westbury/Pershing while the apartments to the east of Stella Link would now be zoned to Dowling/Madison
* Madison zone: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/school.../MadisonHS.pdf
* Westbury zone: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/school...WestburyHS.pdf
* Bellaire zone: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/school...BellaireHS.pdf

[Emilycapps]

Native houstonian and west u too.

West university place is the name of the city, not an specific area of west u. Anyplace in west u is great. The key to west u is the size of the lot. Bigger the lot the more valuable. Craig biggio lives down from me on Belmont but his lot is way bigger than mine. Try to stay closer to Kirby.

[Vicman]

As for why I'm listing apartment complexes for houses zoned to Pershing in a thread about West U: Pershing is historically West U's school. It was located right where West U was until the 1940s, when it moved to the site on Braes. The parents of West U should send a message that the school was Pershing West University Middle School and therefore "belongs" to the homeowner communities (Braeswood Place, West U, Southside Place, Bellaire, Linkwood, Westwood, etc.). Instead of fleeing to suburbs, they are staying in the city. That means that any substandard apartments zoned to the school should be under scrutiny. The substandard apartments zoned to Twain Elementary (around Braeswood Place) have largely vanished and I don't think there are many apartments at all zoned to West U or the Bellaire elementary schools.

Here is a listing of apartments in the area NOT zoned to Madison but those that are within the Longfellow and Shearn zones (a few other apartments are in the City of Bellaire, are zoned to Twain, Horn, Condit, Roberts, or Cunningham). I would not rezone them from Pershing (because homeowners are around there, and because we need to have some apartments zoned to Pershing). Instead PTO parents should scrutinize the apartments and expose and change or shut down any that are substandard

Longfellow/Pershing/Bellaire (Do not rezone)
* Stratford House: 4010 Linkwood Dr, Houston, TX 77025
* Villa d'Orleans: 4055 South Braeswood, Houston, TX 77025
* Mainstream Apartments: 3000 Murworth Dr. Houston, TX
* Monaco at Braesmain: 8333 Braesmain Dr, Houston, TX
* Whites Apartments: 8802 Ilona Lane, Houston, TX 77025
* Braes Manor Apartments: 8715 Timberside Drive #1, Houston, TX 77025
* Wilshire Park: 2686 Murworth Drive, Houston, TX 77054
* Ridge Point Apartments: 2700 Westridge Street, Houston, TX 77054
* Mainridge Apartments: 2600 Westridge Street, Houston, TX 77054
* Other apartments on Ilona Lane

Roberts/Pershing/Bellaire (Do not rezone)
* Domain at Kirby: 1333 Old Spanish Trail, Houston, TX 77054

Shearn/Pershing/Bellaire (Do not rezone)
* The Louvre Apartments: 4010 West Bellfort Avenue, Houston, TX 77025
* Ashford Santa Fe Apartments: 4010 West Bellfort Avenue, Houston, TX 77025

Shearn/Pershing/Westbury (Do not rezone)
* Bellfort Park Apartments: 4135 W Bellfort StHouston, Texas 77025

NOT zoned to Pershing
Bellaire/Cullen/Longfellow
* Villages of Westridge: 2401 Westridge Street, Houston, TX 77054
* Meadow Ridge Apartments: 2400 South Loop West Freeway, Houston, TX 77054
Maybe these two should be rezoned to Jack Yates?

[KatieKennedy]

I heard there was a waiting list of 1100 kids for Pin Oak this year. Pershing is not really an option for most West U parents so they go private if they do not get in Pin Oak. I have a good friend whose daughter wanted to go to Pin Oak with her friends but she was way down the waiting list so they accepted a place at Presbyterian School instead.

There are too many poor performing students at Pershing. Also the new principal at Pershing is driving West U parents away. The Pershing principal is cutting out the library staff, firing most of the PE coaches, etc. There are some upscale apartments zoned to West U on Bissonnet and Edloe and they are building tons more. These may be occupied mostly by singles or childless folks but if any kids live there they will put more pressure on WUES.

[RAS909]

Originally Posted by Emilycapps

Native houstonian and west u too.

West university place is the name of the city, not an specific area of west u. Anyplace in west u is great. The key to west u is the size of the lot. Bigger the lot the more valuable. Craig biggio lives down from me on Belmont but his lot is way bigger than mine. Try to stay closer to Kirby.

Emily Capps, would you say that given same size house and lot and year of construction, are virginia court, belle court subdivisions generally considered preferable to college view/colonial terrace? thanks,