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My fiance and I will be moving from DC to Houston in May. She is originally from Houston, and while I am not, I was fortunate enough to spend several weeks in Houston this summer. We're both extremely excited to be leaving DC, and moving to a city where two young professionals will not be priced out of the housing market. I did quite a bit of exploring in the downtown vicinity during my time in Houston and I really like what I saw. In particular, I'm very intrigued by the Binz neighborhood for its proximity to Hermann Park, the Museums, and downtown. This area appears to be in the midst of being redeveloped and it seems like a tremendous bargain compared to properties just west of Main. I also like Washington Terrace, Riverside Terrace, and the other close neighborhoods east of 288. While I realized these areas are a bit sketchy, the architecture is great and all things considered the price seems right. My impression is that property crime (which I can tolerate) is more of an issue than violent crime (which I cannot), but I was hoping that some of you might be able offer a bit of insight on this. Likewise, I would greatly appreciate any advice that you might have regarding these neighborhoods. Thanks.

Does anyone know what is being built at the northwest corner of Main and Montrose? I scanned the existing topics but didn't see any info. What a great lot...I hope the new building is intended for something worthwhile.

I'm very interested in learning more about the old 'Westwood' subdivision which lies just south of the Loop and west of Stella Link. I grew up in this neighborhood in the late fifties and early sixties and attended Shearn Elementary School from 1959 to 1964. I have so very many fond memories of my childhood there but have not visited or had any contact with the area for well over thirty years. I currently live in Southern California and have heard and read reports that the area had fallen on some pretty tough times in the past three decades. I do not know if my old neighborhood avoided the problems associated with the general area or not. I lived at 4118 Omeara Drive, and I recall that Oboe Drive bisected Omeara right where our house was located. I believe that most of the homes in this neighborhood were built in the fifties. They were small tract houses but had a lot of nice features - a lot of windows, hardwood floors, tile bathrooms and kitchens, nice yards, etc. I also remember that there was a UTOTEM Store near the corner of Omeara and Stella Link and a Weingartens further north near Braes Bayou. Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who knows about this area - where it's been, where it is now...and, where it's going. Westwood was truly a wonderful and secure little world back in the fifties and early sixties with a lot of young, upwardly mobile families (still at the height of the Postwar Baby Boom). Jeff C in Apple Valley, California

I'd like to get some feedback on the future of Meyerland specifically, and the inner southwest near the loop in general (Woodside/Woodshire, Meyerland, Willow Meadows/Bend/Brook, Westbury). We purchased a home in the area within the last few years, and from our viewpoint (at least in Meyerland), there has been a lot of money reinvested in the ranch houses (of course with a few teardowns and McMansions). It seems that a lot of young professional couples are moving into the area to support this change. On the flip side, however, many articles have referred to the demise and deterioration of the "first ring" suburbs over the next decade to twenty years (that has already begun in some places). Granted, these articles typically are focusing on Eastern cities, but it seems that Meyerland (and further, places like Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Briarmeadow, etc.) fit the definition, but are the areas more likely to suffer in Houston places one "pass" further out (e.g. more like the ring near Beltway 8)? So let's keep it wide open. Any thoughts?

Galleria offices slated The Galleria area may have an abundance of vacant space in its office buildings, but that doesn't seem to bother Midway Cos., which is planning to build one more. But this building won't house huge law firms or oil and gas conglomerates that most big landlords drool over. For one thing, they wouldn't fit. Midway's office building is going to be only four stories tall with 50,000 square feet. That's about the size of one major tenant in a building like Williams Tower. The low-key location and high-end design sell a different kind of experience. The property is being built on Wynden, a tree-lined street tucked away from the cluster of high-rises and bumper-to-bumper traffic on Post Oak Boulevard. And it's adjacent to Tanglewood, one of the priciest neighborhoods in town. "A lot of the potential tenants we get are either heads of companies or doctors that live in Tanglewood or Memorial, and they want the convenience of having their office close to their home," said Jonathan Brinsden, executive vice president of Midway. Other developers feel the same way. Don Hand is developing a 90,000-square-foot four-story building on Cypresswood near the Hewlett-Packard campus. It's also next to the Champion Forest neighborhood, which has million-dollar mansions overlooking the Raveneaux Country Club. Hand developed that neighborhood as well. Tenants have committed to lease about 40 percent of the upscale building, and it's still under construction. "There's a real demand for quality office space in the suburbs, and people will pay a premium to get it," said Brenda Pennington of Pennington Commercial Real Estate, which is leasing the building. Indeed, space there is going for $22 per square foot, Pennington said. Those are top rents for that area. And the owners of The Woodlands are planning to build a seven-story, 105,000-square-foot building with retail space along its Waterway. The Woodlands Development Co. is considering moving into the building. These developers weren't the first to recognize a growing demand for smaller, high-class office buildings near silk-stocking suburbs. In the late 1990s, Redstone Cos. purchased undeveloped land adjacent to the Houstonian Hotel and developed a six-story office building on the site. "They filled that building very quickly at high rents," said Midway's Brinsden. And the link.

I was house hunting with my cousin the other day in Memorial an I said I wanted to move in River Oaks(if I could ) She said River Oaks had a lot of racial undertones because they had Deed restrictions until 1986 saying minorities an jewish ppl live there. Is this true? (its hard for me to believe this

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