In what has been a primarily industrial warehouse district, East Houston is showing potential to become just as popular as West Houston for residential and retail spaces, according to GlobeSt.com. The newly constructed Grand Parkway expansion and new master-planned communities are helping spur a population growth rate of 2.5 percent in 15 ZIP codes in the east, southeast and Port of Houston communities.

The strongest growth is expected along the East Beltway near Sheldon and Summerwood. This is similar to the growth rate expected in some west Houston suburbs with the Bureau of Labor Statics estimating 60,400 residents being added by 2021.

There are a number of developments underway throughout East Houston including Ancorian’s East Village development, plus a new H-E-B is underway in Baytown with a fall 2017 opening planned and a new Kroger that was recently completed in the area. There are also a number of multifamily buildings going up including Circuit Lofts and Sampson Lofts in East Downtown.

However, there is still a significant amount of industrial demand in the area as the petrochemical industry is mainly located in East Houston. There are a number of rail, barge and highway expansions also occurring in Southeast Houston, which is helping the area’s economic growth.

“Houston developers have shown a shifting focus from west to east as expanding demographics’ economic growth caught their eye,” Robert Kramp, director of research and analysis for CBRE Texas/Oklahoma, said to GlobeSt.com. “There has been an unprecedented amount of downstream investment dollars funneled into East Houston throughout the last five years, and we anticipate even more commercial development in the future.”