The fourplex at 45th and Avenue B split $1,650 rent four ways in 2003 with nothing but a handshake from Ron the landlord, who lived three houses down and once fixed a busted water heater at midnight because "that's what neighbors do"; the same address is now The Bungalows at Hyde Park Grove, where $2,995 gets you 620 square feet, a resident app that scores your "community participation," and a $250 fee if your guest's car lingers past 10 p.m.
6 min read
The four-bedroom at 38th and Duval once housed five roommates, two stray cats, Thursday night noise violations, and rent under $2,000 total; now The Duval Collective features keyless entry that snitches on guests, a wellness garden where the halfpipe stood, and rents over $4k where the old porch parties happened.
7 min read
Stood in the former carport of 4508 Duval while the agent bragged about "adaptive reuse" of the 1947 duplex footprint; the place that once housed a mailman, two UT dropouts, a revolving cast of cooks, and one very loud parrot for under $400 a side is now four "bespoke residences" starting at $4,295 with a $275 monthly amenity fee and a rooftop deck no one will use.
6 min read
Survey stakes appeared overnight in the side yard where Mr. Alvarez kept his fig tree and his '82 El Camino; the new "Canopy Residences" billboard promises 22 boutique units starting at $2,795 with smart-home fruit bowls that will never match the real ones that used to drop on the sidewalk for free every August.
6 min read
The concrete slab where we once parked a '92 Civic with a trunk full of Shiner bottles and argued about whose turn it was to buy breakfast tacos is now occupied by a desk, an iPad stand, and a 26-year-old in performance fleece asking if I want the 'flex unit' with the Peloton hookups; the whole complex starts at $2,475 for 620 square feet of what used to be four actual lives.
6 min read