Washington Avenue runs west from downtown Houston for a few miles between Buffalo Bayou and I-10, toward Memorial Park. Once lined with warehouses and small industrial buildings, the corridor now holds restaurants, bars, townhomes and mid-rise apartments, with the Rice Military and First Ward neighborhoods along its edges. Its biggest draw for renters is location: downtown, the Heights, Memorial Park and the bayou are all close by.
Washington Avenue at a glance
The avenue itself is the commercial spine, with restaurants and bars concentrated along it. To the south, Memorial Drive and Buffalo Bayou Park run parallel. To the west, Memorial Park, roughly 1,500 acres, begins just past Westcott Street. Rice Military, between Washington and Memorial Drive, is dense with three-story townhomes. On the east end, Sawyer Yards, a group of converted warehouses near the railroad tracks, is home to hundreds of working artists' studios.
On our site, the area covers ZIP code 77007. The Census figures below come from ZCTA 77007 in the American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020–2024).
Getting around
Walk Score rates the Washington Avenue–Memorial Park area 68 out of 100 ("Somewhat Walkable"), with a Transit Score of 48 and a Bike Score of 61 at the time of writing. Restaurants and bars along the avenue are walkable from many buildings, while groceries and other errands may take a short drive.
There is no rail line here. METRO local buses run along Washington Avenue and connect to downtown, and the Buffalo Bayou trails and the MKT Trail (on the corridor's north side) make cycling to downtown or the Heights realistic. By car, I-10 runs along the north edge, Memorial Drive and Allen Parkway lead straight into downtown, and Loop 610 is a few minutes west. The Census puts mean travel time to work at 24.0 minutes for ZCTA 77007.
What's nearby
Parks. Memorial Park has running trails, a golf course, the Houston Arboretum and the Kinder Land Bridge over Memorial Drive, which opened in 2023. Buffalo Bayou Park, about 160 acres, runs along the corridor's south edge with trails, skyline views and the Waugh Drive Bridge bat colony.
Arts. Sawyer Yards' studios open to the public for Second Saturday Open Studios each month.
Shopping. MKT Heights, a set of repurposed warehouses with shops and restaurants near North Shepherd Drive, sits just north of I-10 on the MKT Trail.
Food. Truth BBQ on South Heights Boulevard holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and ranked No. 9 on Texas Monthly's 2025 list of the state's top barbecue joints. da Gama Canteen, an Indo-Portuguese restaurant on North Shepherd, earned a 2025 Bib Gourmand. Burger Bodega on Washington Avenue made the Houston Chronicle's 2025 Top 100, and the Chronicle named Kitchen Rumors, a modern Indian restaurant on Decatur Street, among its best restaurants in spring 2026.
The apartment landscape
- Mid-rise buildings, typically four to six stories wrapped around a garage, along Washington, Memorial Drive and the streets between. Most newer apartments fall into this group, with pools, fitness centers and controlled access.
- Townhomes for lease, especially in Rice Military, usually three stories with a ground-floor garage, owned by individual landlords.
- Older garden-style buildings and small multiplexes, fewer in number, often with larger floor plans and fewer amenities.
The Census reports a median gross rent of $1,969 a month for ZCTA 77007 (ACS 2024 5-year), and about 54% of its occupied homes were renter-occupied. Gross rent is the Census measure of contract rent plus estimated utilities, and it covers every rented home in the ZIP, from older duplexes to new towers, so treat it as a baseline rather than a quote for any one building. Call us for today's numbers on specific buildings.
Tips for renting near Washington Avenue
- Visit on a weekend night. Some stretches of Washington are busy with bar traffic on Friday and Saturday nights. Ask which side of the building a unit faces and hear it for yourself.
- Ask about the railroad. Freight tracks run near parts of the corridor. Ask whether trains are audible from the unit you are considering.
- Get the full monthly cost. Ask for base rent plus parking, pet rent, trash, utilities billed by the property and any amenity fee.
- Compare effective rent. When a building offers a concession, ask how it is applied and on which lease terms. Many communities reprice daily, so get the quote for your exact move date.
- Read the flood disclosure. Texas Property Code §92.0135 requires landlords to disclose in writing whether a unit is in a 100-year floodplain and whether it has flooded in the past five years. With Buffalo Bayou along the south edge, read it closely and ask about the garage.
- For a townhome, confirm who handles repairs and yard care, and whether HOA rules limit parking or pets.
Start your search in the Washington Avenue area
Our neighborhood guide to the Washington Avenue area maps every 4-star-and-above building we work with in the area. When you are ready, tell us your budget, move date and must-haves on Find Your Apartment, or call us at (713) 357-6339. We do in one conversation what takes most renters weeks on their own — and the properties pay us, so it costs you nothing.
Sources
- www.walkscore.com/TX/Houston/Washington_Avenue-Memorial_Park
- www.memorialparkconservancy.org/visit/places_to_see/kinder-land-bridge
- buffalobayou.org/
- www.buffalobayou.org/waugh-bridge-bat-colony/
- www.sawyeryards.com/campus/artists
- www.mktheights.com/
- www.ridemetro.org/about/plans-projects/current-metro-projects
- guide.michelin.com/us/en/texas/houston_2986624/restaurant/truth-bbq
- guide.michelin.com/us/en/texas/houston_2986624/restaurant/da-gama-cant
- www.houstonchronicle.com/project/top-100-restaurants-houston/
- www.houstonchronicle.com/project/best-houston-restaurants-spring-2026/
- censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B25064&geo_ids=86000US77007
- statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.92.htm