Quote:
Originally Posted by arhavel
R.I.P. "Southtown." Welcome to the Gentrification 101 textbook.
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This is happening in an underutilized industrial area. Getting rid of a toxic abandoned plant and expanding the city's cultural district is not a bad thing. As far as "Southtown" being gentrified (?), King William has been King William for a long time (wealthy, somewhat progressive (don't tell that to Sandra Cisneros) and, yes, largely white. Lavaca has been a destination for young creative types (mostly hispanic) for at least 20 years, and I don't see that changing. This isn't downtown Austin. It's more like South or East Austin, which are still funky, young, creative neighborhoods.
SoFlo would be more appropriately characterized as becoming gentrified. It depends on who you ask, but I always thought of SoFlo as being marginally connected to Southtown. I always thought Southtown was east of King William/the Arsenal.
Incidentally, before I moved away last month I noticed that, while bike use was always common in Southtown, in the last year or so it has literally EXPLODED. It's like Portland down there.