Thread by @JoshuaOgundu

‘Startup City’: Accelerated Growth Strains Austin wsj.com/articles/start…

A few years ago, some blocks of Austin’s South Congress Avenue featured a castle-themed wax museum and comic book shop, a neighborhood bar with $1 taco deals, an auto shop and, in season, a Santa Claus on horseback.

Those blocks recently reopened with a strip of modern urban buildings with shops offering national brands from Lululemon to Le Labo perfumes. The $2,000+ private membership club Soho House and an Hermès store are on the way.

Char­lotte Sanders, a real-es­tate agent at Ku­per Sothe­by’s In­ternational Re­alty, said that over the past six months, more than half of the homes she has been in­volved with were sold to Cal­i­for­ni­ans. She said she gets one to two new clients from Cal­i­for­nia a week

Many long­time Austin res­i­dents have strug­gled to stay in their homes, par­tic­u­larly on the city’s east side, tra­di­tion­ally home to Black and His­panic fam­i­lies. The area has rapidly sprouted strips of pop­u­lar bars, apart­ment com­plexes

Looks like Austin is building but catering to higher earners right now