Braeswood Place has undergone some major surgery in the last few decades and is starting to emerge as a front runner in the surprisingly limited inner-loop suburban lifestyle.
After a rocky reputation in the 80’s involving some high-profile crime, police cleaned up the Link Wood area adjacent to Braeswood Place. According to the Houston Chronicle, by the 90’s, Braeswood residents started the Stella Link Redevelopment Association (SLRA) to raise money and buy defunct and dilapidated apartment complexes and businesses in the area.
When the SLRA successfully bought the 4-block area, they tore down the eyesores and turned it into neighborhood assets. The area then began to see a gradual turn around. With a Weekend YMCA, a park, a new branch of the Houston Public Library, and the Sheltering Arms senior facility, community became more ideal for older adults who appreciated the easy access living off of 610 provides.
However, the Houston Chronicle also reported that after the windfall of Tropical Storm Allison, almost 20% of the homes in the area flooded and many of them were torn down to make way for bigger, better houses. The “normal generational cycle of the neighborhood [had] been accelerated,” said Bill Blackwood, president of the Braeswood Place Homeowners Association at the time. Now there are almost 2200 homes and 7 subdivisions.
Since the formation of the SLRA, the community has become more and more active on its own behalf. In 2003, the community hosted an event called NeighborWoods, focused on planting trees in the area for shade over the asphalt and raise money to fix up the Karl Young Park. This neighborhood involvement no doubt contributed to being awarded the title of “Best Hidden Houston Neighborhood” by Houston Press in 2008.
No longer considered a diamond in the rough, the house prices are steadily rising as Braeswood Place’s once-rocky reputation becomes a distant memory. Now is the time, if ever, to invest in a great, active, family neighborhood that you enjoy for decades.
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