Link Valley, Houston

Link Valley is a community in southwestern Houston, Texas that consists of many apartment complexes. In the late 1980s it was nicknamed "Death Valley" due to high levels of drug-related and violent crime. Since a 1989 raid Link Valley has not had significant criminal activity.

The apartments were developed in the 1960s, when the area was considered to be suburban. Originally athletes, medical students, airline employees, local people, and young professionals lived there. At the time the 610 Loop had been newly constructed. At one time 5,000 people lived in the apartments. Robert Cullick, a member of the Houston Chronicle Austin bureau, said that as the apartments were built, residents of nearby residential subdivisions shunned them because the apartment residents were transient and of a lower socioeconomic status. The residential neighborhoods were deed restricted, preventing rental units from being built within. This caused apartments to be concentrated in the same areas. The apartments did not have recreational facilities. Cullick believed that the isolation caused Link Valley to become a crime-ridden area in the 1980s. In the 1970s through the mid-1980s Link Valley remained middle class.

As Greater Houston developed, newer and more luxurious apartment complexes further away from the city core opened. Gradually the Link Valley apartments lost favor. The large number of apartments in Greater Houston caused prices of renting apartments in Link Valley to decrease. As a result of the 1980s oil glut, Houston's real estate market declined. The landlords were forced to further reduce rents, but there were insufficient tenants to keep the apartments profitable. In Link Valley many of the apartments were bankrupt and foreclosed. Jeff Kunerth of the Orlando Sentinel said that a "general abandonment" occurred. The apartments became known for drug dealing and vagrancy. After an elderly woman in a nearby community was murdered by residents of the area, homeowners put pressure on the city to clean up the community. A 1989 raid removed many drug dealers, vandals, vagrants, and drug addicts from the Link Valley community.

In 1991 the City of Houston financed the demolition of several derelict structures in Link Valley. In 1993 a developer offered to buy 75 acres (30 ha) of vacant land south of the apartments, near West Bellfort Road, and also to buy out some of the old apartments, so residential and commercial projects could be built. The developers hoped to obtain around 125 acres (51 ha) of land. By 2004 several streets near Link Valley had townhouses each worth around $200,000.

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