G-man

Rammer, I'm glad that you brought up the issue of this development as I had intended to post about it earlier. I think this is the development to which you referred in your post: http://www.dpz.com/pdf/0708-PDSpringBranch.pdf This is the Andres Duany project with Lovett, and there had been a fair amount of press about it when it was announced in 2007. But in light of the current national real estate situation, I had wondered whether the plan was to move forward with it. Duany is one of the gurus of the "new urbanism" movement, and the plan appears to incorporate a fair amount of greenbelts and other open space. The plans even refer to incorporating the stables into the development somehow. It appears as if this Spring Branch development will be part of the growing trend of mix-use developments in the Houston area. In any case, if these plans go forward, this will be a major milestone for Spring Branch, and would solidify its continued redevelopment (especially since it would be north of Long Point, though as you point out, this area has already begun to attract a good amount of development). I think that it's been a long time since we've had a 110 acre development this close close in. It would certainly be the largest single Spring Branch development in a generation or more. Again, I hope that the stables will be retained somehow, as I remember when the Pin Oak stables were lost. But maybe this is just the fate of such things when land prices reach a certain level. By the way, I think this development will be primarily single family homes, as the the Lovett townhome development in the area is a separate project, and has already opened across the street (to the west) from this site. G

SS, I couldn't agree with you more. I moved to an area in Spring Branch near Spring Valley/Hilshire Village about 6 years ago, after also looking at places in the Bellaire, West U, and Frostwood areas. I could already see that that the area was ripe for redevelopment and that there would be a greater potential for increased appreciation, as those other areas had been redeveloping for longer periods of time. And though I am often away on extended businesses trips (as I am at the moment), I am quite the fan of SB and love living there. It offers a wooded location near town, without being in the center of congestion, combing urban, suburban, and even a bit of the rural. And of course the school district is the tops in the area. It's of note that you compared Spring branch to the Heights, since when I was growing up in the 70s Spring Branch was a much more desirable place to live than the Heights. And though the northern areas of the neighborhood declined in the 80s, the areas south of Long Point really never did, and the area as whole is undergoing an amazing redevelopment. But I'm amazed that this has largely escaped the knowledge of Houston at large (possibly not a bad thing), as many appear to retain impressions from the past, and are totally unaware that it's become basically impossible to purchase a new house in many areas of Spring Branch for less than $800,00+. I as you look forward to ever better things in SB! G

Here's more on the redevelopment of the Wirt/Long Point Intersection: http://blogs.chron.com/westsidestory/2009/...ng_point_r.html http://www.hwcoc.org/en/art/461/ G-man

Here's an article concerning the recent joint-meeting of the various Spring Branch Super Neighborhoods: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/mem...ws/6349974.html I'm particularly interested in the new signage and landscaping that is to be installed at various entrances into Spring Branch, as well as at certain intersections within it. Here's a map of where this is to be installed: http://sbmd.org/Documents/Large_MasterStreetscape_Ver4.pdf It appears as if this is going to be a fairly substantial project, and I think that it's great that Spring Branch will get its own distinctive look. And as has been noted in previous posts, the redesign of intersections along Long Point has already begun. G-man

The redevelopment/improvement of Long Point has been an on-going issue for some time now, and I too saw the renovated Long Point/Wirt intersection for the first time a few days ago, and agree that it looks great. As was noted in some of the links posted in previous responses, due to the fact that property values to the south of Long Point have increased so greatly, redevelopment has in fact moved to the north. But everyone agrees that in order for things to really improve there, the physical appearance of Long Point will need to be improved. The intersection redesign is one of the major projects supported by the the Spring Branch Management District, which has some designated taxing authority over commercial enterprises located within Spring Branch. Here's an overview of the SBMD's plan: http://sbmd.org/sbmdprojects.aspx In fact, coordinating the redevelopment of Long Point was one of the primary reasons for the creation of the SBMD by the State. I think that these management districts, which get relatively little notice, will play an increasingly important role in redevelopment in Houston. As for the issue concerning the acquisition of property along the right of way to the north of Long Point, see the second article from Michael Falick's Blog from a while back: http://mikefalick.blogs.com/my_blog/2006/0...lawrence_r.html In particular, the residents of Rollingwood, a very unique Spring Branch community, were concerned about the potential loss of green space to the north of the road. In any case, it's good to see the continued improvements currently taking place in Spring Branch. G-man

I certainly remember the F.U.N (Football United National) league very well (South Main Mustangs and Frilly Fillies rocked!). As I understand it, the teams were originally affiliated with several elementary schools, primarily in southwest Houston - Parker, Kolter, Anderson, West University, Red, Alameda, etc. Later the teams were supported by booster clubs. Back in the day, the league was extremely well organized and offered a quite good level of competition for elementary aged football. A number of former players actually went on to play professional sports - Greg Swendell, Thurman Thomas, and OJ Brigance played FUN football, and I'm sure there were others. The competition for the girls drill teams ("the drill bowl") was only slightly less intense, and I remember the Westbury Cougarettes and Steerettes putting on particularly lavish performances. Of course, as these areas changed the level of support declined, and I'm not sure what has become of the league. Perhaps someone can add some additional info.

I noticed that there was a thread below about 12939 Memorial, so here's a link to an article concerning a neighboring house at 12923 Memorial: http://www.examinernews.com/articles/2008/...nity/comm01.txt The original article in the Memorial Examiner contains a photo, but the web article doesn't. The article also contains a link to the very informative Memorial Bend architecture page: http://memorialbendarchitecture.com/bend.htm It will be interesting to see whether the residents will be successful in obtaining designation as a historic district. G

Kate - It's an interesting question regarding Landrum. Almost all of the Valley Oaks Elementary attendance zone is also zoned to Spring Branch Middle, except for Monarch Oaks and a small section of Spring Oaks, which are zoned to Landrum. I'm not sure how widely this is known, but the SBISD board has been granting waivers to middle school students from these areas to attend Spring Branch Middle even though they are zoned to Landrum. The rational being to keep them together with the 90% of their classmates zoned to SBM. The practical effect of this is that NO ONE in Monarch Oaks/Spring Oaks sends his middle schoolers to Landrum, even though Landrum gets quite good state rankings. In addition to Spring Branch Middle, the local 6-8 graders attend Cornerstone, Westchester Academy, or the St. Mark Lutheran School. Needless to to say, the confidence of the community displayed in MHS and VOE is not shown vis-a-vis Landrum. I agree that it really is tempting to buy into some of these areas. As I mentioned in previous posts, when I first moved here in 2003 there was very little redevelopment west of Blalock, and absolutely none north of Long Point, but it has since spread to these areas. You're tight, that in some places it's still quite "mixed", but I think that a tipping point has been reached, and will only accelerate when the new 120 acre development at Hammerly and Emnora is completed. That at Bunker Hill north of I-10 in my opinion stil lhs great potential because the land and houses there are still relatively reasonable compared with sites further east. G

And Here's an additional 1953 Spring Oaks ranch for under $200,000 that I forgot to point out: http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y This is just about the absolute best price that you'll get on a single family home zoned to Memorial High School. G

Glad it helped. And I agree that the commute to Kingwood would be a killer. Therefore, I think that there is an area in Spring Oaks that I think that you should investigate that's within your budget. This area is just north of Spring Valley and centers on the streets of Ronson, Bayram, and Panatella. It's in a good location and is zoned to Memorial High and Valley Oaks Elementary, but is just now beginning to get the redevelopment that is already further along all around it. here's an example of what you can get for around $240,000: http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y I live not far from here, and the area is quite nice and within walking distance of a very private park and the elementary school. Note that the 1933 built date is likely a misprint for 1953 - there was nothing but farm land around here in the 30s! In any case, I've wondered why these few streets have lagged in price and redevelopment compared to others in the area, and I think it's because those streets exit onto Long Point rather than Westview which appears to be preferred. But I think that this is fairly small issue in the grand scheme of things. G

I've lived in the Spring Branch area for about five years, and I've been amazed by the continued high level of redevelopment that has been going on. As some have mentioned, Spring Branch is quite a large area with many different subdivisions, but there are some things that tie the entire area together, and prime among them is the school district. The community takes a VERY active interest in the schools across the board, though of course schools in the more affluent areas, such as Memorial High and Stratford High are among the area's best. But even in less affluent areas, the schools tend to be better than in comparable areas. The areas south of Long Point and east of Blalock have been redeveloping for some time now, and in particular the areas around Spring Valley/Hilshire Village and Brykerwoods have already become quite expensive. In these areas a typical 50's ranch will run about $300,000+, with newer construction typically between $750,000 to $2 million. The ranch houses in these areas are usually sold quickly and then torn down to make way for new construction. The rapid appreciation in land values in these areas is now pushing development further north and west, with some major development projects in the works. But land values to the west and north are still fairly reasonable, and the tear down phenomenon has progressed less in these areas. In particular, in the areas of Long Point Oaks, Spring Oaks, and Spring Branch Woods one is still able to find good examples of mid-century modern houses for a reasonable price - around $200,000+ or so, but this is rapidly changing. As you can probably tell, I'm quite bullish on Spring Branch as whole. This area was the classic "All-American" affluent Houston suburb in the 60s and 70s, but along with much of the inner ring of 'burbs declined in the 80's. But for the last 10 years or so, first in the area south of Long Point, and now throughout the region, there has been so much redevelopment that Spring Valley/Hilshire Village and Brykerwoods are now more expensive than some areas south of I-10. Much of this is tied to schools, as those areas in Spring Branch zoned to Memorial High, Spring Branch Middle School, Hunters Creek Elementary (all located south of I-10), and Valley Oaks Elementary were the first to redevelop and are now significantly more expensive than other areas of Spring Branch. But as noted above, the redevelopment is beginning to spread beyond this core area. In any case, I'm surprised by the number of folks who are unaware of what's going on here, and whose impressions of the area are stuck in the 80s. Here's a link to a recent article on what's been happening recently in Spring Branch: http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive....id=2007_4391156 Hope this helps! G