- Halliburton Selling West Houston Office Complex Known as Oak Park [Houston Chronicle]
- SI Group Buying 10-Acre Baytown Chemical Plant [HBJ]
- Presales, Model Home Construction Begin for Long-Delayed Lago Mar Community in Texas City [Galveston County Daily News ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Single-Family Home Prices Hit Record Highs for an August, Finds HAR [HBJ]
- Brooke Smith to See ‘Same Kind of Transformation’ as the Heights, Predicts Cove & Cobble Builders [Houston Chronicle]
- Inside 2 of the Morgan Group’s Pearl Apartments Designed to Woo Millennials [HBJ]
- Restaurant Called Indigo Opening in Former Chinese Buffet in North Lindale Next Year [Culturemap]
- Members-Only Oakwood Social Club Planned for Former Red Room Space in River Oaks [Culturemap]
- Should Houston Have Its Own Version of the Sydney Bridge Climb on Beltway 8 Over the Ship Channel? [Opportunity Urbanist]
- Houston Just Above Rock Bottom on Valuepenguin’s Ranking of Safe Cities for Women [Houston Press]
Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Almost grabbed a place in Brooke Smith a few years ago, but the owner wanted something like 50% over the comps. The price was still reasonable imo, but the bank didn’t agree. That said, SOOOOO glad I didn’t get it. Brooke Smith has some pretty serious flooding issues in some of it’s neighborhoods. But hey, what’s the chance it’s ever going to flood.
Also…fwiw, predicting the “transformation” of Brooke Smith at this point is like predicting the iPhone 7. Congrats, you’re a business/real-estate oracle
I’ve got a better business plan when it comes to views from the new BW8 bridge. Since the new one is going to be a suspension bridge much like the Fred Hartman bridge, climbing it like the Harbor bridge will be out of the question. So here’s what I’ll do:
For a fee, I’ll place a hole of strategic size in your back left tire. I’ll calculate the proper size in accordance to your vehicle make , # of passenger and its weight. You then take a leisurely drive up the bridge and by the time you reach the apex of the bridge you will be forced to pull over as you can no longer drive on your flat back left tire. Then and only then, will you have the glorious view of the ship channel that you crave as you wait for AAA.
Remember, my fee will be very modest and you’ll be experiencing the [I][b]REAL[/I][/b] Houston bridge view experience that only we locals have been blessed with for years.
Hope that’s true about Brooke Smith….but the market appear to have dropped here recently. Lots of homes sitting on the market/price reductions…
@Brooke Smith Too–I think you’re right. Those townhomes on Jewett, featured prominently in the chronicle article, have been on the market for months. If I recall correctly, all three were originally listed in the $500s, but now they’re asking between $432 and $465.
“A Houston homebuilder is the latest to bring new high-end townhomes to a revitalizing neighborhood on the eastern edge of the Heights in hope of attracting millennial buyers.”
.
Yeah, no doubt all those millennials will drop $430,000 on a house. Right after they pay off the six-figure student loans and find jobs that pay enough to save a down payment and qualify for that kind of mortgage.
The problem with Brooke Smith is that the lots all have tiny ROW between the sidewalk (or where the sidewalk should be) and the street. Once the builders put in townhomes, lot line new construction and camel back additions on all the bungalows, there will be tons of cars all over the neighborhood trying to squeeze out an extra parking space or two where possible by pretty much parking right on a drainage ditch. it makes the area a bit claustrophobic compared to the size of the setbacks and ROW in the Heights proper.
Build the BW8 bridges with sidewalks like the Golden Gate Bridge, and we would be able to walk across for free
FWIW…many of the blocks in Brooke Smith have recently applied for and have received minimum lot and setback restrictions/protections.
The flooding in Brooke Smith has both old and new causes.
Old Causes: Interrupting the flow. The tributaries of Little White Oak Bayou were not always left connected when the streets were built a century ago. So, what once were continuous streambeds are now a string of ravines and deep swales divided by roadbeds. They function as holding ponds, which still is helpful in big floods, but have been reduced in volume by deliberate or neglectful landfill (see New Causes below). Recently-installed CIP large underground culverts do not always make up for the interrupted waterways, and when big rains come, the water seeks its way along those tributary paths whether there are drains underground or not.
New Causes: Building on top of the water. For example, about ten years ago the part of the bayou tributary behind Browning Elementary School was filled in for new single-family houses on subdivided lots on Patton. Only a tiny portion of the ravine remains behind the Browning SPARK Park. Ever since that landfill, in major rain events downstream blocks now flood that never did before, such as the 500 block of Tabor that also now holds many homes on subdivided lots. Those same new houses on Patton — on top of the ravine landfill — have also flooded. Also, in some previously unbuilt blocks that are on top of the tributary streambeds and therefore floodprone, developers and/or COH permitting have not respected the path of the water and have built large houses without digging ditches in front to connect to the existing surface drainage. Examples are in the 500 block of Cordell and at Cordell @ Jewett. This practice continues with no end in sight…and has created mosquito-breeding ponding that doesn’t drain for weeks on end.
Fortunately, Brooke Smith has been vigorously establishing minimum lots sizes and setbacks, so many parts of the neighborhood will be spared from the townhouse scourge for at least 40 years. Unfortunately, the too-big new houses that cover the 50×100′ lots are becoming more common…and, yes, lately they have been staying on the market for months.
IMO Brooke Smith is in no mans land. Too far from Heights Town Center and too long a walk to take advantage of the light rail on the east side of I-45. I would skip Brooke Smith and jump to the east side of I-45 where land prices are cheaper and you can take advantage of the light rail red line. With easy access in and out of downtown. Whether your in Brooke Smith or Lindale they’re both a car ride to Heights Town Center, but at least Lindale has the light rail which opens everything up in downtown, midtown, medical center, reliant stadium etc.
@What do I know., what is this “Heights Town Center” you’re talking about?
What Do I know, I haven’t seen any douchey bars setting up shop there yet. Until then it will remain a no mans land.
I’m from Houston. I have never heard of a neighborhood called Brooke Smith. Is it more commonly referred to as a Ward? Is this around where Airline begins?
Of course I had never heard “Rice Military” either or many of the other neighborhood names.