The East Cesar Chavez neighborhood—bounded on the north by East Seventh Street, I-35 to the West, Chicon Street to the east, and the river on the south—has for years been a locus and a flashpoint for civic conversations around gentrification, and ethnic displacement in particular.
Last year's Jumpolin controversy—in which a piñata store in the traditionally Latino neighborhood was destroyed overnight, apparently without the vendors' being notified, and eventually replaced with a (twist of the knife alert!) cat café—was, after all, smack dab in the middle of the area. More generally, neighborhoods and individuals decry the loss of their generations-old culture there and fight undesirable zoning and other changes on every level.
It can be interesting, then, to look at the numbers attached to the influx of monied interest in the neighborhood. The chart below, by NeighborhoodX, focuses on individual properties and gives a better sense of the range of home prices behind the averages.
In March, for instance, the average listing price for the neighborhood was $396/sq.ft. Prices for individual listings, however, ranged from $300-547/sq.ft. That's still not great for the average home buyer, who might have sticker shock if he or she has lived in the area for a while. But it does convey that there's some room on both ends.
On a per-square foot basis, the least expensive property on market was 1801 East Second St. #2 ($300/sq.ft.), while the most expensive property on the same basis was 1616 Garden St. ($547/sq.ft.).
As always, you can see the full chart on NeighborhoodX's website.
• East Cesar Chavez: How much do prices /sq. ft. vary in the neighborhood? [NeighborhoodX]
• CEO resigns after demolition of East Austin piñata store [KXAN]
• Austin’s First Cat Cafe Signs Lease on East Side [Eater Austin]