COMMENT OF THE DAY: A GUIDE TO NORTH SHEPHERD’S AUTO PARTS 
“North Shepherd is a complete car continuum from south to north. Start with new cars: Tommy Vaughan Ford at 11th. Just north of there are the used car lots, one after the next. Keep going for repair shops and auto parts stores. Continue on for the pick-a-part places (BYO tools).” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Coming North Shepherd Transformation] Illustration: Lulu
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spin to the positive:
these lots from 12th-24th have little to NO actual improvements on them, so they are low rent land banks for the current owner, and just a hair above dirt with utilities for the future owner.
with most of them being the business they are, we’re also not talking about 40 year ground rent agreements with revolving options. this makes for high velocity turn real estate when the conditions become strong enough to warrant something more than predatory used car lots with GPS in the underbelly.
that time has come. land along here is every bit of $20-50 psf, depending on a number of factors. the fact that in any capacity you’re developing on a one-way road can be a tough sell for spec or user deals, but it’s no secret in the CRE game that there are tons of interested parties in the Heights, and next to nothing for options there.
i’m sure it bores people to death who dream of the Heights looking like Greenwich Village, but Shepherd/Durham has a bright future of being a string of name brand banks/quick service restaurants.
I live around here, and wouldn’t have a problem with that fate. yes, it will not have performance art halls, ambassador mansions, urban green space — but it’s businesses that people need/use, and creates significant tax revenue and keeps tons of related people fed.
In a perfect world, the “dry” restrictions from the Shepherd/Durham corridor would be removed, yet the residential areas to the east would stay dry, and Shady Acres over to Ella would also be dry, except on 19th and 20th. This would spur commercial development onto the more high traffic streets, and let the others with their 18′ wide pavement and drainage ditches stay residential. But hey, it’s Houston, so not gonna happen.
I think commercial businesses from out of town still are unaware of the income growth around the Heights and are using old demographic numbers. A new strip center took the place of one of these used car lots up at 22nd and Shepherd last year. It has yet to be more than 50% leased out. I think it holds a precious metals buyer and a pay by the month cell phone store. It’s going to take a few more years, and some better income surveys before there’s a rush to develop this corridor.
Quick service as in McDonald’s or quick service as in Chuy’s? Seems to me that the future lies somewhere between Da Marcos and Dairy Queen (Hunky Dory), and between K-Mart and Nordstrom’s (GAPish?). Point being that there’s a wide range of retail/restaurant personality without resorting to more Cash-for-Gold-R-Us and Burger Kings (if that’s what you were thinking). Just my opinion…wish I could see the future, but the Dur/Shep debate is moot because where WE’RE going…we don’t NEED roads.
These lots from 12th-24th have little to NO actual improvements on them, so they are low rent land banks for the current owner, and just a hair above dirt with utilities for the future owner. With most of them being the business they are, we’re also not talking about 40 year ground rent agreements with revolving options. this makes for high velocity turn real estate when the conditions become strong enough to warrant something more than predatory used car lots with GPS in the underbelly.