FM 1960 CORRIDOR: THE THRILL IS GONE “‘At one time, that was the place to move to,’ [real-estate consultant Roger] Galatas said. ‘But as more developments occurred that were not connected to each other, they built rather ugly retail centers that took advantage of the traffic and created more traffic. People started moving away, and you’ve got declining home values, empty retail centers and a declining tax base. The only thing still functioning is a very wide strip of concrete called FM 1960.’” [Houston Chronicle]
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That’s a little “glass is half empty” way to look at things.
Neighborhoods have ups and downs. It’s a natural cycle. Some live longer on the ups than downs some don’t.
Being in Houston, this isn’t necessary a bad thing for parts of FM 1960. All that’s going to happen is that one day the more depressed areas will be uplifted by redevelopment.
Look at much of the southwest area between US 59 to Beltway 8 along Bissonet and Beechnut. This area is being revitalized by primary the Asian (specifically Vietnamese) population.
The Heights (although historic) essentially became a crime ridden dump until revitalization came in. The areas north of downtown and the east end are starting to undergo this same process.
In the end, you’ll people like this real estate guy and many others from time to time throw comments and stories out there. The reality is that it’s part of development that occurs naturally.
Give me a break!!!!! Home prices in the greater FM 1960 are down LESS THAN 1%!!! This doesn’t exactly mean the area is turning into a ghetto.
FM1960 has too much retail. So what? I’d rather have too much retail space than not enough retail space.
These ULI dopes need to go back to “planning” places like Seattle, , San Francisco, Chicago, NYC and Boston where apparently people are lining up to pay $450k for a one-bedroom condo.
There’s a reason smart, hard-working people are packing up their families and moving to Houston every single day. It because Houston is a fantastic city with affordable homes which makes it a GREAT place to raise a family.
Someone needs to write an article about how, contrary to popular belief, Houston is WAY ahead of the curve when it comes to land planning and real estate development. Consumers vote with their pocket books and developers give them what they want. No, it’s not a perfect system. But it’s a whole lot better than every place else in this country.