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Northeast Austin

Photo Credit: Courtesy of austinexplorer.com kharker

Northeast Austin is home to some of the “best-kept secret” neighborhoods of Austin. As a local realtor explains, at one time many people didn’t want to move east of I-35. But that is quickly changing thanks to strong leadership provided by the homeowners associations in the area. Now the northeast is really beginning to thrive with lots of ethnic and cultural diversity. It's a natural area to be active in your community. People who are choosing to move here are attracted to being close to the University of Texas and the downtown area — it's only a 10-minute drive because there's virtually no traffic. The word is out on Northeast Austin and it’s likely that it won’t be a secret to many for very much longer.

Northeast Austin neighborhoods include:

East Austin | French Place | North Oaks | Pflugerville

East Austin
People who really know East Austin, believe in it. They see a lot of potential and room for growth. And the vibe in the real estate industry in Austin is that the area is “HOT!” Natives are investing in the community, buying rental properties and opening small businesses.

Bound by Sixth Street on the north, Interstate 35 on the west, Town Lake on the south and Pleasant Valley Road on the east, prices in the area have jumped 20% over the past two years. Most of the new home buyers are young couples with no children. According to Thomas Torres, a local real estate agent, about 50 percent of the buyers are investors who refurbish and remodel the homes and then rent them. About 25 percent of the buyers purchase the homes and then refurbish and remodel to sell them. The rest buy the homes to live in.

Ultimately it’s the location that can’t be beat. Downtown is just a few blocks away and the prices are much lower here than west of the interstate. Plus, the neighborhood has never lost the traits being promoted under the new urbanism concept. Children can still walk or ride their bicycles to the corner grocery store for milk and bread. Residents can walk to Festival Beach and Fiesta Gardens on the north shore of Town Lake and use the pool and playscape. Or they can simply enjoy a picnic under the shady pecan trees. The Pan American Recreation Center and the Metz Recreation Center serve as hubs for neighborhood activities.

Natives are either happy or not about East Austin’s new-found popularity. But either way they have to get used to it because it doesn’t look like things are going to change any time soon.

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French Place
Patience and acceptance is what this neighborhood is all about. Acceptance is the recurring theme throughout the neighborhood. Nothing here is too much. Individualism counts. People who live in French Place are who they are, and wear what they wear as a red badge of honor. It’s elegant. It’s eclectic. It’s wonderful!

French Place is an older neighborhood that was refueled and rekindled in the Eighties, and now it’s hot as anyplace else–sales-wise, it’s now a very strong neighborhood. Many people decide on French Place to call home because it’s centrally located are prices are perfect for starter homes.

One resident states “We just didn’t like suburbia, and we wanted to be close to everything we like in Austin. In French Place, we’re only ten minutes from anything that’s cool. It’s really beautiful here, with lots of big trees. We know our neighbors, and our kids play with the other kids in the neighborhood. People here are open to living their lives and open to life. French Place is not a neighborhood where the blinds are drawn during the day and you only see people on their way to work or coming home from work. You see people out all the time outside playing with their kids, or out walking, or out in their yards.”

All in all, French Place is best described as Bohemian. But as residents declare, it’s not so out there that you wouldn’t want to raise your kids here.

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North Oaks
Families are rediscovering North Oaks, a quiet and stable neighborhood with easy access to several major thoroughfares.

Because of its proximity to Walnut Creek, North Oaks is shaded by an abundance of huge trees that serve as anchors for tire swings and canopies for walkers and bikers. The serpentine streets offer the neighborhood a sense of seclusion. North Oaks Park on Plaza Drive is the site for neighborhood gatherings. The neighborhood association holds its annual neighborhood summer picnic there. The park has walking trails, picnic tables and swings.

Neighbors keep a watch out for one another. There's very little crime. The neighborhood has a Neighborhood Crime Watch program and participates in the crime-deterrent Neighborhood Night Out every August.

Overall the neighborhood is stable — its beauty hasn’t changed much at all over the years.

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Pflugerville
Despite the burgeoning growth Pflugerville has recently experienced as a result of the high tech industries settling in the area, Pflugerville has succeeded in remembering its roots as a small town, and prefers to keep it that way. The city’s charm and hometown feeling has remained intact – and that is the secret behind why people love living in Pflugerville, according to realtor and long-time Pflugerville resident Larry English.

What really keeps residents all together as a community is the interest in education. Like most small towns, their life revolves around the schools. “When my family moved here in 1985, we had only one high school. Now we have two, and we’ll soon have three city high schools when the new one being built in the northeast is completed, explains English”

Time and more people have changed some things, but not drastically. The area is still rural with a lot of countryside that you can drive through and see cows, wheat fields and cotton fields

People who move here want that–a small town feeling with the convenience of being near a big city, like Austin. It’s good to raise kids and have them grow up with all the advantages of a larger city, without having to sacrifice that close-knit feeling.

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