Lets talk about the growth of the Corpus area... (Houston: real estate, 2013)

[Neshomamench]

The good, the bad and the ugly.

The area is growing. The area is changing. This brings problems. traffic, crime, jobs, wealth, new people, construction, and a lot of other things.


What are your thoughts? What is good? What is ruining the area?

[Slash345]

Can’t think of anything good, but plenty of bad::

Too much traffic, traffic lights are not timed to let more than four cars through at a time, potholes are horrendous, drivers are rude and customer service everywhere is nonexistent.

[Dr.Mcninja]

Good: New restaurants. New things for kids to do. New reasons for young adults to stay instead of fleeing to new cities.
Bad: Corruption and poor city management is now obvious. Commutes that were 5 minutes are now 10, and people won't shut up about it.
Progress is never bad. People who argue it is are averse to change.

[jackalope48]

The good news is once the ramp reversal is done on SPID they can time the major streets crossing it. With the short distance between the ramps TxDot has not allowed timing the lights because it has to keep the highway underpass lights triggered to prevent cars backing up on to the highway. Without those timing the rest was pointless so we should see timed lights in the next few years.

Once went to an economist talk for a title company and he said he gauges the local economy anywhere he goes by going to burger king and ordering an iced tea at the drive through. He then hands the cashier $2.37(way more than necessary since they are under $2 everywhere). He gauges how good the economy is by how long it takes them to figure out correct change. He said it took the kid here five minutes with the assistant manager(second longest ever). His point was if the person at the fast food place is a total idiot that means everyone who isn't has a better job and your economy is good.

[A Former Member]

I'm curious as to why the city strictly concentrates only on S.P.I.D. With the southside rapidly growing more businesses should be headed towards the London area or along that area. Where buildings go up the people will flock, especially a growing part of a city. S.P.I.D. is getting way too congested. I wonder if there aren't any incentives going on for businesses to head that way. Yall's thoughts?

[jackalope48]

Originally Posted by A Former Member

I'm curious as to why the city strictly concentrates only on S.P.I.D. With the southside rapidly growing more businesses should be headed towards the London area or along that area. Where buildings go up the people will flock, especially a growing part of a city. S.P.I.D. is getting way too congested. I wonder if there aren't any incentives going on for businesses to head that way. Yall's thoughts?

Commercial development goes on SPID because it's the highest traffic street south of San Antonio and is near the population center of the city. Traffic counts on Crosstown going into London are 1/10th of SPID numbers and half to a third of the traffic volume of streets like Staples and Everhart in the core parts of the city. The closest total traffic corollary is Alameda.

Retail follows rooftops and London just doesn't have them yet. I

[BBslider001]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mcninja

Good: New restaurants. New things for kids to do. New reasons for young adults to stay instead of fleeing to new cities.
Bad: Corruption and poor city management is now obvious. Commutes that were 5 minutes are now 10, and people won't shut up about it.
Progress is never bad. People who argue it is are averse to change.

Absolutely incorrect. Where do you think corruption comes from? The idea that we constantly need "better, newer, bigger, shinier" has been the recipe for ruin in many wonderful places. I have watched it happen in my hometown and other places around the country. The idea that progress is only good is archaic thinking at best. Ask people in San Diego County, or Fort Worth, or San Antonio, or the Hill Country....it's a cancer and a plague when over done, which it always is.

We were considering Corpus for our relocate, but the "progress" we have read and heard about from the locals has put a bad taste in our mouth, so now we are looking elsewhere.

[dolphin99]

I'm from Dallas, stayed in Corpus Christi awhile in 2013 and back then I already knew it was in bad shape.

It's a dead end town. Not small enough for charm, not big enough to be serious. It can't attract talent or heavy hitters, so it coasts on what it has. Which is pretty much the same as everywhere: sprawled out suburbia and strip malls decaying, too many cars, too much traffic for such a small town.

There were many nice houses along the coast, sure, but the whole city has a sort of end of the road feeling. It's far from everything, and you feel it. Ask yourself: do you get that feeling in any of the major metros: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin? No. Do you get that feeling in proper beach metros such as Miami or Los Angeles? No.

You only get that feeling in America in places like Corpus Christi. There's no tangible benefit to living there, apart from the ocean. Housing is not less expensive, the pace of life is not slower, the town doesn't have any uniqueness.

[TheBigRig]

Bumping this old thread.

I'm looking at purchasing a home in CC. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on how it's held up during the pandemic. Has it grown at all? Any good development on the horizon?

[jackalope48]

Originally Posted by TheBigRig

Bumping this old thread.

I'm looking at purchasing a home in CC. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on how it's held up during the pandemic. Has it grown at all? Any good development on the horizon?

Held up pretty well. The Exxon and Steel Dynamics plants are still underway and there is a few billion in projects in the pipeline. In terms of diversifying the Exxon plant is a cracker(what oil refineries will be post gasoline) and the steel plant is here for cheap natural gas. Rumored recent interest from electronics and steel/car parts manufacturers to support tesla in Austin.

Desal plant seems to be moving along through permitting to secure a more stable long term water supply(seems to have survived the change in political leadership).

Tourism is doing well since nearly 100% of our tourism is outdoor and we are getting a bit more of the end travelers from Austin/SA/Dallas who don't want to get on a plane. Generally being a drive oriented market for in state travel has helped us compared to San Antonio or Austin.

Seem also to be getting some remote workers who want cheap waterfront real estate in a warm place.

Base is doing well but the draw downs in operations in the Middle East have lowered rebuilds of helicopters so it's not booming like it was. They've been getting normal rebuild work from the feds and for allies.

Overall population is growing but we haven't terribly focused on increasing population over the last 20 years. What we've worked on is increasing the number of middle class jobs and improving infrastructure and education. City street budget hit 100 million this year up from 20 million 12 years ago. In income we just passed San Antonio on per capita income.

With the oil field low from last year it kinda leveled off but if prices keep going up there will another round of income increases across the board. We had a big boom in the early 2010's that dramatically increased wages for everyone and it's held even with drilling getting more efficient on labor.