Real Estate Round-up

Hijacking the Heights

Historic 19th street continues to thrive even during the recession, so it's nowonder developers are trying to replicate the small town feeling of The Heightsin other parts of Houston.
Plans for Heights Marketplace, a 40,000-square-foot shopping center, include arooftop bar with views of the downtown skyline.

The battle cry of Houston residential real estate marketing is: “Can’t get enough of a good thing.”

So if a Craftsman-style front porch works in The Heights, it’s gotta work in outer suburbia, right?

Cinco Ranch, an enormous master-planned community in the Katy area, is trying to import The Heights to its residential prairie way out west. Cinco Ranch is opening what it calls “a nostalgia-flavored neighborhood called Park Place, complete with an esplanade-lined boulevard inspired by historic Heights Blvd.”

Everybody likes the beautiful vintage homes in The Heights and the leafy boulevard. So it makes sense that people will want to replicate that, even if it falls short on authenticity.

Cinco Ranch has brought in a newly formed home building group to pull it off: J. Kyle Homes. The new company is led by Jason Hammonds, son of veteran Houston builder Ron Hammonds, who founded Hammonds Homes, once ranked as one of the biggest builders in the nation. The new builder will be constructing Cinco Ranch houses with front porches and high roof lines, trying to get the retro look.

Sometimes these attempts to put old-looking homes in brand new communities work all right. Sometimes, they don’t. Simply put, if it’s not done right, it will look phonier than a Kanye West apology.

People in The Heights groan when a house is torn down and it is replaced with a Victorian-styled new dwelling. Losing historic housing stock is painful and I hate to see it, too. Tearing down historic homes should be outlawed. But if a new house has to be built in The Heights, it’s better to see one with a retro design that fits in.

But what about the flip-side? Export The Heights to Katy?

Why not? Katy already has enough squarish brick McMansions.

Orr Coming Back for More

Two years ago, Bobby Orr had some grand aspirations for his tract on Heights Boulevard.

It is, after all, a very nice piece of property – five acres with frontage on Heights Boulevard and Yale, between Washington Avenue and Interstate 10.

Orr’s firm has a very successful track record, developing dozens of mid-size shopping centers around Houston. The Heights tract deserved something special, so Orr Commercial announced plans for a $70 million mixed-use project with 200,000 square feet of retail space topped by more than 200 apartments.

That was before the national economy crashed and lenders went into full retreat. Orr, like many developers around town, put the deal on hold. Orr then talked about selling the land outright, but the market for land is not real strong either.

Now, the plan is to build a 40,000-square-foot shopping center called Heights Marketplace on the tract, according to Joan Collum, senior vice president with Orr. Plans call for Heights Marketplace to have a rooftop bar with unreal views of the downtown skyline.

I’m sure the shopping center will be top-quality, but the mixed-use project that Orr wanted to put there at first would have been truly noteworthy.

19th Street Hanging in There

Merchants and restaurants in The Heights’ historic 19th Street district are performing just fine, thank you, despite the recession.

Over the years, the 19th Street retail buildings have been through a few economic downturns, including the Great Depression. So it looks like they will pull through the current economic mess.

“There are few, if any vacancies,” says Greg Lewis of Lewis Property Co. “19th Street remains a vibrant commercial neighborhood, thriving just like it was 100 years ago.”

Lewis, who recently redeveloped the 19th Street Market retail building, has deep roots in commercial development in The Heights. In the early 1900s, Lewis’ great-grandfather developed several commercial properties in The Heights, including the Carter & Cooley deli building on 19th Street.

It’s important to note that 19th Street remains a friendly place for the pedestrian shopper. The recent revival of the area did not destroy the environment for people on foot – an enduring lesson for developers.

Ralph Bivins, former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, is editor-in-chief ofRealtyNewsReport.com.

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property tax news

Harris County property taxes have skyrocketed 25 percent since 2019

Houston home sales once again made history.

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It's time for the dreaded tax season, and Houston homeowners may be getting sticker shock looking at their property tax bills in 2025: Harris County property taxes have skyrocketed among the highest levels in the U.S., according to a recent report by information services provider CoreLogic.

The property tax report analyzed the growth in tax rates and housing prices across all 50 states and the most populous U.S. counties.

From 2019 to 2024, Harris County taxes increased 25.4 percent, or 5.1 percent year-over-year. That places Houston 12th on the list of the top 15 counties with the highest five-year property tax increases nationwide.

Property tax hikes follow a similar rise in housing prices, thus putting more pressure on homeowners and first-time homebuyers. The report's findings revealed Texas housing prices have ballooned by 42 percent over the last five years. And there's no sign of relief without changes on the federal level, the report adds.

"While some areas of the country will always be more expensive than others, the national trend toward more expensive properties and greater property tax liabilities is clear," the report said. "Already, the [nation's] tax bills climbed an average of 27 percent from 2019 to 2024. Short of government-led changes, homeowners will continue to contend with rising property taxes year after year."

Higher taxes also have ramifications for renters, who see these costs passed down from landlords in the form of higher rent prices, which may send more renters outside the city in search of more affordable areas.

No. 1 on the list was Broward County in Florida, home to cities such as Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, which had the biggest increase in taxes at 56.8 percent. No. 2 was also in Florida: Miami-Dade County, which endured a 49.5 percent hike in property taxes.

Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas County tied for the No. 3 with San Bernardino County in California, which also had a 32.7 percent increase. Tarrant County was not far behind, coming in at No. 11 on the list with a startling 29.3 percent tax hike during the five-year period, the report found.

Property taxes in 2024
In 2024 alone, Harris County residents paid a median $5,721 in property taxes, which is the seventh most expensive property tax among the most populous U.S. counties. Fort Worth residents in Tarrant counties paid the second most expensive taxes last year, at $6,633, while Dallas County residents paid the third priciest median taxes ($6,409).

According to a state-by-state analysis, Texans paid a median $5,105 in property taxes last year, reflecting a 35.3 percent increase from 2019. Texas' median property tax is far higher than the national median, which came out to $3,018.

As many Texans are aware, it's a high price to pay for not having any income tax and no annual vehicle taxes.

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