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Houston city council once again rejected the proposal of the Ashby Highrise, for the 9th time...

From http://swamplot.com/ashby-highrise-shiftin...2-27/#more-6888

Cliffs please?

Most consumers evaluating whether to live in Midtown don't have a very good conception of the boundaries and would count City Vista and AMLI Town Square among the Midtown apartments. They certainly affect and are affected by the Midtown market, and that's good enough. Memorial Heights is at risk too, but such a large portion of it is anomalously recyclable that I suspect that it'll have a few years on Midtown. Otherwise, as I've already pointed out, Washington Avenue lacks any clusters of apartments such as could trigger a demographic meltdown. It's also about three times as large. One end of it could get built up heavily and then go bust and not affect the other section. EaDo only has one apartment complex (and another couple just to the north that are kinda-sorta associated with it) and otherwise is comprised of innocuous condos and townhomes. There's also a lot more room to fill in before it becomes primed for a bust. As for the many clusters of townhomes, most neighborhoods have individual houses that aren't well cared for, and they're nuisances but individual homes aren't capable of turning a neighborhood. Predominantly single-family neighborhoods seem to require generational turnover or some factor that prompts a mass exodus. One toxic apartment complex with 300+ units, can create a tenant base that adversely affects perceptions of the neighborhood, its own competitive environment, and neighborhood businesses--especially bars or clubs. That all feeds back on more stable properties and can induce a flight situation over time. By the time that someone has lived in a neighborhood for that long, they're probably over 30...which is to say, they've lost their sex appeal. They're no longer a cool kid, and they won't matter to those who develop dense urbane breeding grounds anymore until some point in their mid-to-late thirties after they've either gotten a divorce. By that time in their career, they're making much more money and are a candidate for more expensive housing than a midrise apartment complex in Midtown such as was built to attract a more youthful version of themselves. I say this all sort of tongue in cheek, but it's not at all without merit. I myself have put together presentations to put in front of the big money trying to sell them on these kinds of projects, and they consistently respond well to a demographic profile of targeted demographics followed up by overlapping photos of slutty-looking twenty-something females at nearby bars and clubs with their flaming gay friends...not to married 32-year-old home owners (even though the reality is that there are a lot of 30-something tenants). This is why I keep on referring to the importance of the "scene", and it's probably why you keep missing my point. No offense.

I was just talking about this last weekend with a couple of couples who have ~10 yrs in midtown. both mentioned that generally for them, the new, younger residents moving in are not as stable as those that were there initially. they are experiencing more renters vs owners.

That's interesting. My wife and I are 25/26 and own. Another couple just moved in near us that is in their 20's and they own. I've heard this complaint on HAIF before, but have yet to encounter the "unstable" renters... maybe my section is different? If there are a lot of renters vs. owners, then my guess is it's due to the original property owners holding on to their house as an investment as opposed to renting it out of necessity. Every house I've seen go on the market near me has been sold in a couple of weeks.

It seems unlikely that your observations would match up well against market data.