Close-knit
Values in Westchester have risen over time, but the oil bust has slowed things down
The community of Westchester offers traditional houses from the ’60s.
Westchester, a comfortable neighborhood of remodeled traditional-style homes from the 1960s, remains a close-knit community with strict deed restrictions and regular resident gatherings.
Home values in the area, south of Interstate 10 between Memorial Drive and Terry Hershey Park, have risen steadily since the last recession. The median price per square foot of homes that sold there last year was $193.31, up 45 percent from 2011, Houston Association of Realtors data show.
But amid the oil downturn, there’s been some market softness in the greater West Memorial area, which includes Westchester.
The average sales price fell 4 percent over the past 12 months, compared with the same period a year earlier. Sales dipped just 1 percent, but a rising supply of homes for sale is making the area increasingly a buyer’s market.
There’s also the matter of a parking garage that’s been a source of grief for many in the neighborhood.
A new apartment complex on Dairy Ashford has a sevenstory open-sided garage that backs up to a row of singlefamily homes.
Last year, residents signed a petition in hope of persuading the developer and its financial partnerto the cover the exposed sides of the garage.
The pair agreed to screen it, yet the structure remains as is.
According to developer CityStreet Residential Partners, the architecture firm involved in the project has designed multiple screening options, but cost constraints have kept them from going forward. A new design with different materials could be approved in a few months.