Your Expert Guide

Memorial Park: Vibrant living adjacent to Houston’s own Central Park

There are so many great places to live in Houston that it helps to have an expert on your side. The Neighborhood Guide presented by Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty gives you insider access from the agents who live and work there, providing in-the-know info about your possible new community.
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Clocking in at 1,500 acres, Memorial Park is bigger than New York City’s Central Park. “With the $270 million poured into the park system, it’s one of the jewels of the city,” says Vicki Barazandeh.

Vicki has lived and worked in the Memorial Park area for more than 20 years. She loves the vitality and serenity of all that Memorial Park has to offer.

"Homes in Memorial Park are a vibrant mix — similar to its residents, a melting pot of cultures which create a fun and unique community," she says.

With a successful business background and design school cred, Barazandeh has extensive knowledge in architectural design and new construction.

She was first introduced to the real estate profession through her husband, an architect and industry homebuilder, which has helped her become a top-producing agent in the Memorial Park area for over 20 years.

Vicki has expanded her services to include:

Small remodels to prepare homes for sale
Consult with buyers on large renovations after purchase
Assist homebuilders and developers with acquiring the lot, floorplan development, navigating selections and finishes, model home installation, and comprehensive marketing.

Vicki offered up a few of her personal favorites about life in Memorial Park. Here's her guide:

Where to eat & drink
For Tex-Mex, Vicki heads to El Tiempo Taqueria on Washington. Canyon Creek Bar & Grill on Westcott is a go-to any time of the day or night for casual grill fare and craft brews (they’re open until 2 am some nights!).

She also recommends Miri's Kitchen on Memorial for amazing Persian food — think hummus, all different types of kebabs, and saffron rice.

Vibrant is a "fine-fast cafe," Vicki says, which specializes in organic food with no refined sugars, dairy, or gluten. It recently opened a new location in Memorial Park.

And grab an award-winning burger and enjoy the view at Beck's Prime in Memorial Park, which is located right off the golf course.

Where to play
Memorial Park itself is the ultimate playground for all ages. More than 30 miles of trails are available for running, walking, and biking. There are also tennis and volleyball courts.

The Memorial Park Golf Course is considered to be among the best municipal courses in the country. And the park hosts food trucks near Eastern Glades, at the entrance to the Picnic Loop and Vale-Asche Playground.

The Houston Arboretum & Nature Center’s trails are another recommendation from Vicki, as is Bayou Bend Collection & Gardens, which is a 14-acre facility of MFA, the second-largest museum in the country.

And if you’re in the market for a bike for all those trails, she suggests West End Bicycles, which has been the premier bike shop in the area since 1985.

Where to live
“We have everything from large estates on large parcels of land to condos and townhomes ranging from the $300s to $7 million,” says Vicki of the Memorial Park area. “Crestwood and Glencove homes are approximately 5,000-10,000-square-foot lots. Camp Logan, Rice Military, and Washington Corridor homes are on 1,400-5,000-square-foot lots. Due to proximity to the parks, 'vertical living' identifies many Memorial Park homes."

Just don’t expect too much yard space. “Memorial Park is considered everyone's backyard, because of the small yards,” she adds. “Any home with an existing pool or sizable yard is a gem.”

The beautifully renovated, soft-contemporary at 216 West Cowan Drive is only a half-block away from Memorial Park and is a prime example of a home in the area.

Another property in Camp Logan that was represented (multiple times!) by Vicki is 6212 Taggart Street. It was purchased as a cottage for her buyer and eventually sold to a builder, and then she sold the two new-construction units on it.

“Vicki is amazing to work with: professional, personable, fun, perceptive of buyers’ and sellers’ needs and desires, a great communicator (the list of attributes is long!),” says one of her clients. “She excels at all aspects of marketing a home. We worked as a team and she staged the home to look like it was a feature in a designer magazine.”

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Vicki Barazandeh works and plays in Memorial Park. For more information on buying and selling a home in the area, click here, email vicki.barazandeh@sothebys.realty, or call 713-416-4900.

Photo courtesy of Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

216 West Cowan Drive is a prime example of a home in the area.

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full steam ahead

Surprise Houston neighbor was No. 1 fastest-growing U.S. city in the last decade

City of Fulshear - Facebook

Fulshear's population has soared over the last 10 years, according to the report.

It's no secret that Houston's population is growing faster than most other metros in the U.S., but now a surprising Houston-area neighbor has been named the No. 1 fastest-growing suburb nationwide over the last decade: the booming city of Fulshear.

Fulshear led the nation with an astonishing 1,082 percent increase in population from 2014 to 2023, according to a recent growth study by marketplace platform StorageCafe.

Overall, Texas cities dominated StorageCafe's list of the top 10 fastest-growing U.S. cities from 2014 to 2023.

The report said the city had nearly 27,000 residents in 2023, but now the U.S. Census Bureau estimates Fulshear's population has now grown to more than 42,600 people.

"With its blend of a relaxed lifestyle, urban conveniences, top-rated schools and strong job opportunities, Fulshear consistently ranks among the best places to live in Texas," the report's author wrote.

This isn't the first time Fulshear has entered the spotlight for its exploding population: it was the No. 2 fastest-growing U.S. city in 2023, and recently came out on top of GoBankingRates' new study ranking of the fastest-growing affluent suburbs in America for 2025.

Several other Houston-area suburbs also saw major growth over the last decade, including Manvel (No. 24), Katy (No. 82), and Conroe (No. 83).

"Manvel doubled its population between 2014 and 2023, while Katy and Conroe each recorded increases of over 50 percent," the report said. "By contrast, Houston itself grew by just 6 percent, aligning with the average growth rate for large U.S. cities."

The report added that the Houston area's population surge has also led to a high demand for housing, where home values have risen 60 percent over the last 10 years. Home prices in Fulshear stood at more than $521,000 in November 2024, whereas Manvel's home prices were over $431,000 during that same period.

For comparison, the national average price of a home is $354,000.

Katy and Conroe had the most affordable home prices out of the four Houston suburbs in the report, at $347,740 and $318,952, respectively, for November.

StorageCafe says the reasons for population shifts vary greatly, with many people seeking out cities with a more affordable cost of living, or those moving for socioeconomic factors like better employment opportunities.

"Population growth is far from even across the U.S. Some cities are experiencing significant increases, directly driven by steady in-migration, rising immigration and birth rates outpacing death rates," the report said. "But what’s fueling these trends runs deeper — economic and social forces like shifting job markets, the rise of remote and hybrid work and soaring living costs are all reshaping where people choose to live."

Other fast-growing Texas cities
Texas had the greatest number of cities to earn spots in the report's ranking of the 100 fastest-growing U.S. cities over the last decade, with 25 total cities making the cut with the highest growth rates nationwide.

Dallas-Fort Worth had the highest number of fastest-growing Texas suburbs on the list, comprising 11 cities: Celina (No. 2), Melissa (No. 3), Princeton (No. 7), Prosper (No. 8), Fate (No. 9), Anna (No. 14), Midlothian (No. 33), Royse City (No. 43), Forney (No. 45), Little Elm (No. 58), and Frisco (No. 72).

Meanwhile, Austin had five suburbs land on the list: Manor (No. 6), Leander (No. 16), Kyle (No. 53), Hutto (No. 54), and Buda (No. 68).

San Antonio also had five suburbs make the top 100, including Boerne (No. 63), Selma (No. 74), Fair Oaks Ranch (No. 70), New Braunfels (No. 77), and Canyon Lake (No. 99).

The top 10 fastest-growing cities over the last decade are:

No. 1 – Fulshear, Texas
No. 2 – Woodbridge, Virginia
No. 3 – Celina, Texas
No. 4 – Davenport, Florida
No. 5 – Melissa, Texas
No. 6 – Manor, Texas
No. 7 – Princeton, Texas
No. 8 – Prosper, Texas
No. 9 – Fate, Texas
No. 10 – Nolensville, Tennessee