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(03-09-2018 12:11 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  These things go in cycles. Generally, older areas in accessible locations, often with cool old architecture that has gotten run down, are discovered. People buy into them cheap and start to refurbish them. Others notice that the neighborhood has started to turn for the better and buy in. Property values increase.

My wife's niece bought a home in Crestwood twenty-five years ago, and paid $35k or so. They put in some sweat equity, redid the kitchen, painted, planted. They made it into a nice home that they wound up selling for over $100k. Same thing happened in Avondale.

Often you can look at where the artist's studios are as a marker. They're good at finding good space cheap, and are often the cutting edge of incoming gentrification.

There are some really nice home in Norwood that can be bought for a song, or you used to be able to anyhow. Hell, there were nice old houses that could have been had for the back taxes. They'd need money to make them right, but after it was done they'd be worth a lot more than the asking price. Yeah, the neighborhood surrounding is a bit rough, but there are a lot of people down there doing exactly this. It's how it works over time.

Exactly. The problem is there are community leaders that don't want people moving in, restoring old homes and raising property rates. They don't want new businesses like Avondale Brewing setting up shop and Saw's Soul Kitchen selling $10 lunch plates because it's too expensive for the existing residents to enjoy regularly.
This is why I don't understand the vitriol toward a project like the BJCC, which creates a location for development in an area that is already designated for business and entertainment. It will generate tax revenue that can then be used in the neighborhoods to benefit current residents and attract businesses that cater to the existing residents, if that's what they truly want.