Attack of the townhome-Houston

[Shasta]

It's time for another townhome update. What started in the Inner Loop on the Westside of downtown is now spreading to other zipcodes. The West is still booming, especially near Memorial Park in the Rice Military area. The East side is up and coming just on the other side of U.S. 59 from downtown and south of downtown in Midtown and the Museum District are on fire. Here's a look at what's been put up since 2002, what is going up, and what is on the drawing board. Depending upon the zip code, these are either replacing smaller bungalow, shotgun, or traditional single family homes or are being built on long vacant land...

Starting in the 77002 zipcode (officially downtown)



rooftop view


77003 is the new frontier. When midtown (south of downtown) started getting too expensive, the builders moved to the East Side




the view





across the Buffalo Bayou in what used to be no-man's land

the view





the view


77004- Midtown, parts of the Third Ward, and down towards the Museum District






the view





the site







the view




77009- The Near Northside and parts of the Old 6th Ward. People are fighting the townhome movement here but it is coming slowly








77006- The Montrose, parts of the 4th Ward (almost all original structures are now gone), and Neartown. One of the 1st neighborhoods to see the townhome boom. just southwest of downtown.






the view to the northwest







the view












77019- West side of Montrose and into the Upper Kirby/River Oaks area. These are replacement for mostly bungalow houses.
















the view









the view





the view


next up, moving west to Rice Military (77007), Southwest to the West University area (77005) and on into Uptown (77027, 77056, and 77057)

[austin356]

great diversity. Houston is by far the city in America with the greatest potential for mass urbanization. Due to its excellent infrastructure, including the broad grid, and lack of density regulation. Glad to see the city starting on what is going to be an ever accelerating densification of the city.

[fangorangutang]

Great pics! I wish we had townhomes like that here in Portland.

I've heard that Houston is the "worst planned city" in the US. I don't know if this is true, and perhaps people are just basing it on its lack of zoning regulations (correct?). But how is that actually working out for Houston in terms of quality of life, development, and transportation issues? Clearly the city is making great progress.

[dharper6]

For some reason a lot of people like the really funky looking condos and they're selling like hotcakes, from what I've read. I'm not a traditional type guy by any means, but it's the condos/townhomes that sort of look like rowhouses in the northeast that I like the most. I saw a lot of those in Houston last time I was there, and would love to have one some day if they're still affordable when I move there in three years.

[VivaLFuego]

I like it....it's set to give Houston it's own unique urban feel, and it's pretty decent density to boot.

[KevinFromTexas]

Cool.

These two are sweet.

[stax]

Hey Shasta, what's the going price on those townhouses?

[Great_Hizzy]

I'm just glad that they're preserving as much of the natural greenery in these neighborhoods as possible. My biggest pet peeve with contemporary (and traditional) urbanization is that it doesn't include enough natural greenery in the design.

Excellent job, Shasta, as usual. Didn't have it in you to go plunkering around the snooty-types and their new construction over in Uptown, Tanglewood and River Oaks, eh?

Heh.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by austin356

great diversity. Houston is by far the city in America with the greatest potential for mass urbanization. Due to its excellent infrastructure, including the broad grid, and lack of density regulation. Glad to see the city starting on what is going to be an ever accelerating densification of the city.

Great infrastructure? Certainly not in terms of mass transit of any sort, at least. Sure, the freeway/road infrastructure is good, but Houston needs MUCH better transit (both rail and bus) service if it's really going to be able to densify very much without the traffic simply becoming unbearable.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[OhioGuy]

One of my favorite things about Houston is the great diversity in townhomes here. We've got so many different styles to choose from, and I like just about any style available as long as the landscaping in the area includes lots of greenery. Even the modern sheet metal townhomes don't bother me... though my favorite styles would be either new urbanesque or spanish mediterranean (I think stucco exterior walls & spanish tile roofing are pretty sweet).

[mrherodotus]

Quite interesting.

[Double L]

Houston's inner loop is one of the best urban environments to live in IMO. What I like about it is that it is not yet highly gentrified or expensive. Also, there is great postmodern architecture in the neighborhoods.

[village person]

I would have thought Houston was more conscious of its potential for hurricanes. I'd stay away from that frame construction. The rest looks pretty sturdy. Nice variety!

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Double L

Houston's inner loop is one of the best urban environments to live in IMO. What I like about it is that it is not yet highly gentrified or expensive. Also, there is great postmodern architecture in the neighborhoods.

have you looked at prices for some of these things? try about a half million easy for most of those townhomes.

[LouisianaRush]

That is still cheap when looking at other cities (NYC, Miami, LA, and San Fran)

I lived in a three story town home near downtown Houston. I paid less there than I do in a one bed room condo here in Miami. Houston is CHEAP! I miss that part.

[Wheelingman04]

Great designs.

[Hoodrat]

excellent designs

[Double L]

Yeah, I understand that it's often very expensive, I said that it wasn't "highly gentrified" when looking at other cities. I know that alot of this stuff is really expensive but compared to most of the U.S. Houston still isn't a very saturated market. Very high quality living over there in the 610 inner loop; I like it a lot.

[vertex]

Originally Posted by HoustonRush

That is still cheap when looking at other cities (NYC, Miami, LA, and San Fran)

You have to ask yourself, will anybody pay $500k+ for a Houston townhome that sits near a smoggy downtown, especially when you consider just how notoriously soft houston real estate has been (historically speaking)?

[Double L]

Well, a lot of people do...and the smog doesn't set over Houston. It's in the east end along the ship channel and then it flows out to the sea. It is not mostly contained in Houston. You have to be in the east end directly by the industry to experience it.