The San Diego zip code that includes the neighborhoods of Logan Heights and Barrio Logan appears to be one of the most rapidly gentrifying enclaves in the entire country, a new analysis finds.
The 92113 zip code — which also includes Shelltown and Southcrest — ranked 21st on a list of zip codes in which the white share of population grew the most from 2000-2010. The list was put together by an education think tank, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Over the 10-year period, the percentage of whites in 92113 zoomed from 12 to 33 percent. No other California zip codes made the list of the top 25 zip codes ranked by influx of whites.
Gentrification doesn’t always automatically translate to flight by ethnic minorities who can’t afford higher rents. But in many cases, wealthier residents move into older neighborhoods as they become more upscale, and those wealthier residents are often white.
What’s going on in 92113? A story we published last year offers some hints. Back then, we explored changes in the Sherman Heights neighborhood, which is next to the 92113 zip code, where the rents are going up and Latinos are leaving as whites take their place.
Why? Because the neighborhood is a hot property, just like the 92113 zip code. So are other close-to-downtown enclaves such as Memorial and Golden Hill along with downtown’s own East Village neighborhood.
“The community’s character is changing as low-income Latinos leave,” our story reported. “The old, faded homes they once rented around Sherman Heights are being refurbished and prepared for sale or rental to people with higher incomes.”
Our story noted that it’s unusual to see a neighborhood in San Diego lose Latinos rather than gain them:
The signs of that shift are visible on nearly every residential block in Sherman Heights, where one after another, aging and faded Craftsman or Victorian homes are being gutted and restored. They’re being converted from multi-family properties — once rented by Latinos — back into single-family homes.
Our story noted an irony: as rents go up in Sherman Heights and push longtime residents out, it’s still seen as “the last affordable housing left in San Diego,” as a real-estate agent told a new homebuyer.
These days, some Latinos are moving east to neighborhoods like City Heights, while the new residents enjoy a thrilling view in Sherman Heights.
“You can go up on the balcony and see the Coronado Bridge on one side and Petco Park on the other side,” a new homeowner told our reporter. “You can’t get that anywhere else.”
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.