The trendy area of Lower Broadway, which was little more than flophouses and porno shops a decade ago, now boasts the highest apartment rents in the city, and some of the highest rents in the state, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The California-based housing firm Yardi Matrix studied thousands of ZIP codes in Texas, and says the 78215 ZIP code, which starts on Broadway north of downtown, heads north past the Pearl Complex, past Manchke Park and up to Brackendrige Park just south of the Witte Museum, has the most expensive rents in the city, at $1575 per month.
Not far behind is the blossoming SoFlo area around South Flores southwest of downtown, which has an average monthly rent of $1560.The booming apartment scene in both of the urban areas marks a stunning turnaround for two stretches of the city which not long ago were urban wastelands.
The trigger for the growth of the 78215 ZIP code, of course, is developer Kit Goldsbury's effort to refurbishing the old Pearl Brewery into a center for innovation and commerce. It is now the center of the city's booming tech industry, and home to the Hotel Emma, which is regularly listed as one of the top hotels in the entire world.