Living in Downtown (Houston, Sugar Land, Spring: house, construction, school)

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by GreenTree8

You have sex in your back yard?

City people so crazy.

[Grunn]

Originally Posted by GreenTree8

You have sex in your back yard?

Not so far but who knows which way the wind will blow next week?

[Oildog]

If I were in my 20s Id have a townhouse in or near downtown. Now a decade or so later, I still do. Check out the First Ward...we have new decorative street signs that say "Arts District".

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Oildog

Check out the First Ward...we have new decorative street signs that say "Arts District".

Oh, I will. I was actually headed that way a bit ago but then I noticed my camera card was near full. But there's always next time.

[diggity101]

About value increase of the homes, I saw that homes in this area increased by 6.2% a year compared to around 2-4% outside of the area. This was between 2005 - 2007 before the economy went south.

What townhome projects were you seeing with yearly appreciation of 6.2%?

The east side of downtown has potential but it's still missing a key ingredient.....retail. People want to have a nice grocery store and some restaurants and bars close to home. Currently, the closest decent grocery store to this area would be Randall's in Midtown and it's not even that great. As far as restaurants, you're pretty much limited to Ninfa's, Kim Son or some random taquerias. There's always downtown of course but it's a bit of a hassle to park at night.

[vertigo5110]

Well, I live downtown off of Polk east of 59. I was raised in Houston and moved into my town home after coming back for undergrad. It's a surprisingly quiet area. Our town home was built in '06 and it's extremely well insulated against both noise and the weather. My only gripe is that the Kroger off of Polk (past Scott) is REALLY old (and a teensy bit ghetto)...it doesn't even have a pharmacy. So if I want a big grocery store to go to I have to go to either the HEB at Gulfgate or the the Kroger in River Oaks. The Randall's downtown is too expensive. That being said, I have easy access to the freeways so whenever I'm going somewhere I can be there in under 20 min. All in all, I really like it. I'm close to my work/school (downtown of course) so my commute in the mornings is under 5 min. and I never even get on a freeway. Our energy bills are pretty low (though we moved in during September so we'll see how we fare this summer) and as far as safety goes, our town home has it's own fence w/ a key and a lock and of course a garage. I've never felt unsafe or anything. I think that part of East End is just old and a little rough around the edges. They've completely repaved Dowling and are building new town homes right now off of Polk. Also they turned an old building (according to my grandpa it was the old mail distribution center in the 40s) into condos which I think are opening up soon too.

All in all it's a pretty busy/happening little street.

[vertigo5110]

I should add that the Kroger off of Polk, past Scott IS good for quick runs to pick up stuff I need in a hurry like bread, eggs, cleaning products, etc.

My roommate and I though agree that there's a lot of potential in this part of town. There's empty land all over the place. If only they'd build a CVS or a strip mall w/ like a subway, starbucks, etc...

[aerospace320]

Originally Posted by diggity101

What townhome projects were you seeing with yearly appreciation of 6.2%?

The east side of downtown has potential but it's still missing a key ingredient.....retail. People want to have a nice grocery store and some restaurants and bars close to home. Currently, the closest decent grocery store to this area would be Randall's in Midtown and it's not even that great. As far as restaurants, you're pretty much limited to Ninfa's, Kim Son or some random taquerias. There's always downtown of course but it's a bit of a hassle to park at night.

I think there is also a Kroger close to that area. The townhouses I was looking at are only a 5 minute walk from the Toyota center so there wouldn't be a need for parking unless you don't like walking.

I agree about the lack of restaurants.

Edit:
Kroger point already pointed out.

[Yonkers]

Originally Posted by houstmom

No I don't go to museums everyday. But when my son was younger and not in school yet, probably once a week to the Children's Museum and once a week to the Natural Science Museum. Then once a week to the train at Hermann park and once a week to the zoo. At this time we were living in Corpus Christi but lived in Houston in the summer in Midtown. Coming to Houston in the summer was so exciting and there was so much to do compared to CC.

That sounds like nearly everyday to me.

Day 1 - Children's Museum
Day 2 - Natural Science Musuem
Day 3 - Hermann Park
Day 4 - Zoo

For me, I might do one of those places once a month. I only have four weekends a month and usually only 1-2 days to do leisure activity versus chores or something else. So I take my 30 minute drive in. If I lived Downtown, I would save some time but is it really that much?

[bluelion_ms3]

Originally Posted by vertigo5110

I should add that the Kroger off of Polk, past Scott IS good for quick runs to pick up stuff I need in a hurry like bread, eggs, cleaning products, etc.

My roommate and I though agree that there's a lot of potential in this part of town. There's empty land all over the place. If only they'd build a CVS or a strip mall w/ like a subway, starbucks, etc...

there used to be a CVS next to that Kroger...they've closed it down and moved to Harrisburg somewhere...haven't seen it personally, but that's where my mom has to go now for her perscriptions.....

and if your talking about the old mail presorting company on Clay @ st emanuel....then i use to work there throughout my high school years...it was called Gulf Coast Presort. then it turned into a XXX video store....dunno what it is now.


edit: regarding the CVS on Harrisburg....according to the Store Locator on their website....it's at 4516 Harrisburg which is west of S Lockwood. so that's not far from you Vertigo....