Chron's Gray on Houston's new boomtown

The Chronicle's Lisa Gray does a nice job describing one of Houston's most interesting neighborhoods, "new" Chinatown:

This isn't a Chinatown like the old-style ones in New York or San Francisco — jampacked, uniformly Chinese and, because they're more than a hundred years old, built for pedestrians and maybe horses but not for cars. This Chinatown is more Houston-style, an ethnic stew with easy parking, a place where the pioneering businesses date only to 1983. It resembles other new Chinatowns, ones that sprouted in car-dominated places such as the Los Angeles suburbs and Silicon Valley.

Cars promote ethnic diversity, even in a Chinatown. In places where people get around on foot, new immigrants by necessity clump tightly with people much like them, creating enclaves where it's possible to lead your entire life. A Cantonese hair salon would naturally set up shop next to a Cantonese restaurant and a Cantonese grocery store.

But cars change that equation. When it's easy for immigrant customers to drive, merchants are freer to spread out, to set up shop wherever there's space and the rent seems cheap. Cars lead to the suburban-Chinatown mix: The Cantonese hair salon may sit next to a Malaysian restaurant. The Korean music store can occupy the storefront next to a Japanese gift store catering to little girls enamored of Hello Kitty.

Of those new car-ruled Chinatowns, Houston's is among the biggest — a bit over six square miles — and most muscular. The Asian American Business Council estimates that land values along the Bellaire strip have soared between 25 percent and 50 percent since 2004, and says that more than 2 million square feet of new construction, including high-end condos, is expected over the next two years. And as the last of the open land is developed, those once-cheap rents are likely to rise.

Even so, Houston's Chinatown seems likely to remain a bargain compared to others around the country. "Flocking from SoCal to Houston," trumpeted a Los Angeles Times headline in December. "Vietnamese Americans are lured to the Texas city by cheap real estate, a lower cost of living and a burgeoning cultural enclave." Sell your house in Los Angeles, Houston Realtors urge, then buy a bigger one here for a third the cost and invest the rest in your business.

The gold rush appears to be on, and new settlers are setting up shop in the boomtown.

Interestingly, southwest Houston's boomtown has managed to boom without light rail, major sports facilities, a Pavilions project, convention center complexes, Discovery Green, or, dare we say it, excessive planning!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/08 09:49 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (7)

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