Meyerland homes in flux after flood
David Lidsky’s parents bought the house in the quiet neighborhood just north of Brays Bayou five decades ago. At the time, Meyerland drew increasingly car-dependent and familyoriented Houstonians with its ranch-style homes close to town but away from the busy inner city.
The appeal remained strong through the decades and the neighborhood, once a Jewish enclave and now a hub for the uppermiddle class, has become one of the city’s most desirable places to raise a family with sought-after schools, a quasi-suburban charm and relatively strong deed restrictions.
Home prices have skyrocketed in recent years — median prices are as high as half a million dollars — but pockets of Meyerland would now be unrecognizable to those earlier buyers. Two- and three-story behemoths built to the edge of lot lines have grown up where original homes were torn down.
Thanks to just a few hours of heavy flooding on Memorial Day thousands of homeowners were left in a similar quandary: to rebuild, renovate or move out. And now this midcentury neighborhood and others along the bayous face the prospect of change at an unprecedented pace.
“Whatever is happening, it will change the nature of Meyerland,” said Lidsky, whose home flooded for the first time on May 25. “There is a lot of new construction. That’s really going to be accelerated now.”
For now, much of the concern is anecdotal, particularly as many homeowners facing these decisions are still in limbo, waiting for insurance money and waiting to make the difficult decisions. Throughout the neighborhood, demolition sites and signs touting lots for sale are ubiquitous. Work crews are busily fixing others.
“The question applies, where are you going to go? How can you have the same neighborhood you enjoyed living in?” Meyerland resident Ed Wolff said. “You could move into new construction in Pearland and get the same general value. Do you want to do that? ... There’s an emotional connection for many that’s about more than just values.”
50 percent above its value
Data analyzed by Wolff’s realestate firm, Beth Wolff Realtors, show a devastating flood event will almost certainly lead to larger-scale new construction and bigger lots, a transition that typically takes up to 20 years. After Tropical Storm Allison struck neighborhoods near Brays Bayou in 2001, there was an initial dip before home prices rose between 3 and 7 percent in only a year and as half as bigger homes were built to replace those lost in the flooding, Wolff’s data analysis shows.
Long-term residents who may have been considering selling already did so immediately, even as their home values decreased sharply in the immediate aftermath.
Wolff’s family saw 18 inches in their home and are living in an apartment temporarily. He has been giving his presentation to those like him deciding whether to stay put and face renovations or rebuilding. He said most people he talks to want to stay, particularly because there are few options to move for an affordable price closein. Those whose homes were most severely damaged, however, are having a hard time with the remodeling expenses.
Seven years ago, Lidsky, a local architect and midcentury design enthusiast, inherited from his parents a ranch-style home on Endicott, its walls still covered in bright neon floral print, wood paneling still in place. Inside the house today, the carpet is ripped up; papers stuffed in manila folders are soaked. Half the walls are gone, with wooden beams exposed.
The cost to repair the house would start at $110,000 to raise his house five feet off the ground. The city of Houston has notified about 1,000 homeowners that they will have to rebuild rather than repair their homes to meet new floodplain regulations.
In all, 750 of Meyerland’s 2,315 houses received water and at least 60 flooded completely.
About half of the 50 homes now listed for sale in the neighborhood had water damage, said Amy Hoechstetter, general manager of the Meyerland Community Improvement Association. Many flooded homeowners have begun the permitting process to begin repair work, she said in an email.
Lidsky said the cost to repair his home would be 50 percent more than its value.
“I’m really at the point that it makes no sense to raise and reno- vate the house,” he said. “I either have to sell the house for lot value and move on or find a way to tear down and build a new house.”
His first preference is to rebuild on his own lot, if financially feasible, and to build something that fits into the neighborhood. Lidsky said he has a sentimental attachment to his childhood home, but he fears for the neighborhood’s flooded midcentury marvels, with their low-slung roofs, open floor plans, cathedral ceilings and unique designs.
‘This house is so special’
In the spring of 1955, 1,200 acres of rice fields began to transform into what is now Meyerland. Then-Vice President Richard Nixon cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the subdivision. Meyerland Plaza Shopping Center opened in October 1957, with a hot-air balloon that took riders to the Shamrock Hotel. House and Home magazine in 1958 declared the area was the “ideal plan” for a subdivision.
The post-war building boom provided opportunities for prominent architects, including Philip Johnson, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other early modernists, to think about new ways to design and build. It’s unclear how many midcentury moderns have been lost over the years, but many were already lost to the wrecking ball before the Mayflooding.
Steve Curry, president of Houston Mod, an advocacy group for the preservation of midcen- tury architecture, said in the neighborhoods along the bayou, including Meyerland, Braeswood Place and Westbury, inevitable replacement of older homes has been continuing for decades.
“As replacement has been random in some cases, some blocks are more completely replaced,” Curry said. “The flood has certainly accelerated this process, but homes in all sorts of conditions and architectural heritage have seen their fates change in different ways.”
Curry visited with a couple who investigated and learned their home was designed by the same firmthat designed theAstrodome.
“It confirmed the idea for them that it was a keeper,” he said. “Not all of these homes were meant to last forever, but any of it that is loved enough and valued enough is capable of remaining in place. Preservation is not the impractical idea everything should stay the same. There should be thoughtful consideration about which are worth keeping and preserving.”
Vanessa Gerondale remembers walking into such a midcentury home with her husband 19 years ago and clutching his wrist when she saw the white terrazzo floor and high ceilings. “Oh my God, this house is so special, so different,” she recalls whispering to him.
The couple purchased the architecturally significant house and were only the second owners. For the first time, their home flooded this year. Her family is renovating and have decided to save the home. They were lucky not to have to raise their house, however. Gerondale said while her home and those nearby were lucky, she notices much activity in the area, making her hopeful that many people have decided to rebuild.
“There are trucks and work crews almost in front of every single house,” she said. “It was like that from the day after the flood on.”
Just didn’t seem practical
After 25 years, Chip and Carole Sego have decided to move. Their 1960s-era ranch home on Dumfries Street is on the market for lot value. The couple, who never had flooding problems before Memorial Day, faced either raising the house — a six-figure project — or demolishing it. Chip Sego said rebuilding just did not seem practical.
Over the years, he said, pricier new construction had boosted property taxes for everyone. He also does not trust that a rebuilt house would not flood. It’s better to move on, he and his wife decided.
“I don’t want to go through this again,” Sego said. For now, the empty-nester couple live in an apartment in the Memorial area. Where they will move permanently is a difficult question.
“We hate to leave Meyerland. It’s a good place to be,” Chip Sego said. “It’s not worth rebuilding for what we get.”