Apartment Boom in Katy (Houston, Sugar Land: low income, apartments, renter)

[Social D]

The Katy "area" boundry on the east is Hwy 6, Pederson Rd. to the west, 529 to the north and 1093 to the south. This is an enormous area. A quick comparison on Google Earth it looks similar area wise to the entire inner loop. Given the size of the area, and the fact there basically were no appartments at all to begin with, the number that are being built now is not a significant percentage of overall population in the area. Also most of the apartments are along I-10, Grand Parkway, and West Park Toll Rd. somewhat removed from a majority of the single family areas and acting as buffers to the freeway noise and commercial development. If there is a bust it will affect some pockets of this enormous area but overall Katy should remain fairly stable.

[Meyerland]

There is far from a glut of apartments in Katy or Sugar Land, so the argument is moot.

[deckhanddavy]

A 'sprawl' in not bias to location. History can prove that with the lack of zoning, and a redundancy of quickly built apartments and retails plaza's, a positive outcome is not in the forecast for some parts of Katy.

[texas7]

League City is headed down that path. Beautiful neighborhoods surrounded by complex after complex on highway 96 near the intersection of 96 and 270. Just apartments as far as you can see -- different complexes. That may come back and bite them in 15-20 years.

[lipbalm]

I would like to hear other's opinion but I think the problem is not the appartments per say, but the fact that the government gives out section 8 housing like it was candy. People that don't pay for their home don't have a sense of pride or respect as those that work hard to be able to buy a home or rent a place.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by Social D

The Katy "area" boundry on the east is Hwy 6, Pederson Rd. to the west, 529 to the north and 1093 to the south. This is an enormous area. A quick comparison on Google Earth it looks similar area wise to the entire inner loop. Given the size of the area, and the fact there basically were no appartments at all to begin with, the number that are being built now is not a significant percentage of overall population in the area. Also most of the apartments are along I-10, Grand Parkway, and West Park Toll Rd. somewhat removed from a majority of the single family areas and acting as buffers to the freeway noise and commercial development. If there is a bust it will affect some pockets of this enormous area but overall Katy should remain fairly stable.

Everything north of Clay rd. and east of Grand Parkway is Unincorporated Harris County/Cy-Fair ISD..... I refer to it as cypress, but for some reason they like using the Katy address lol.

[Meyerland]

How many of you have actually lived or driven throughout Alief? I did both for many years, and there is no comparison for the number of apartments between Katy and Alief. Even in north Katy. ( which some people think is ghetto. Ummm...no)

[westhou]

Originally Posted by usc619

Everything north of Clay rd. and east of Grand Parkway is Unincorporated Harris County/Cy-Fair ISD..... I refer to it as cypress, but for some reason they like using the Katy address lol.

I wouldn't call that area Cypress. Most call it Bear Creek. You really don't get into the "Cypress" area until you move north of 529.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by Meyerland

The housing stock is too nice for it to turn anytime soon. I do believe every burb will face a downturn eventually in the natural cycle of burbs,but it will never be like Alief. The problem with Alief was the homes were mostly starter homes and too many apartment complexes. Katy and Sugar land have apartments, but they are sprinkled into an upper middle/middle class area.

Eventually The Woodlands, Katy and Sugar Land will not be the hot burbs, but they will always have nice homes.

Very true! The other big problems with Alief were:

1. The 1980's oil bust where many of those Alief neighborhoods dropped dramatically in value
combined with...
2. Metro bus service came in to Alief and was a short commute in to some of Houston's less income areas.
3. Some of those apartment complexes in Alief and Sharpstown were intentionally built by rival developers to deflate attraction to the other guy's development.
4. Alief annexed by Houston and allowed to rot. To this day, the city of Houston invests little to no money in Alief as evidenced by a short and treacherous bumpy drive down Beechnut or Bissonnet. Also the golf course turned in to a landfill.

[kittyhawk]

No question about it--these apartments being constructed will be the downfall of most of the schools in Katy (including South Katy). It may take another 15 years but that's what occurs when you built large swaths of complexes in the suburbs. It's happened time and again in Houston and Katy is no different. The downfall process can accelerate rapidly with a decline in the energy corridor economy--which can and will occur. I would particularly be concerned with the area around Mason/Westgreen south of I-10 and the SH-99/I-10 intersection. No area is immuned but homes in incorporated areas such as Sugar Land or master planned communities such as Cinco Ranch are usually better off because of the zoning measures in place to prevent 5 one thousand unit complexes from being built right next to each other.