Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 105

tr Austin Supplement For nearly 60 years this well-established French Place: neighborhood has been quintessentially Austin Best described as a mixture of the past, present and future, French Place is a hodgepodge of greenery, homes, businesses and people. Small, one-story houses intersperse larger, multiple-story dwellings along wide streets, shaded by a wide variety of trees, bushes and in some places, bamboo. Children play in their front yards under the morning sun, as parents stand by. Residents are outside watering their lawns, walking from place to place and greeting nearby neighbors. French Place is often mentioned in conjunction with the neighborhood Cherrywood.

It is in actuality a subdivision of Cherrywood located in zip code 78722, and includes the pricier Wilshire Woods. Cherrywood is defined by Wilshire Boulevard on the north, Manor Road on the south, Airport Boulevard to the east and Interstate 35 to the west. It is located a few miles from the University of Texas and downtown Austin. French Place was originally owned by the Giles family in the 1940s. Once known as Giles Two, the area expanded slowly until the 1980s, a period of change and extreme growth in the neighborhood.

Today, French Place houses a diverse group of residents, ranging in ages and backgrounds. Its central and convenient location, coupled with the environment residents have cultivated, make French Place one of the most attractive neighborhoods in central Austin for home buyers. Residents have quick access to neighborhood restaurants, grocery stores and other retail services. Among a few neighborhood highlights are the supermarket Fiesta, and the local eateries Hoover's and Pato's Tacos. French Place is generally known as one of Austin's older neighborhoods, containing a great deal of "starter homes," mostly two-bedroom, one-bathroom homes of 900 to 1,200 square feet of living space.

Prices for the homes range from $150,000 to $300,000. Realtor Tom Polk, of Stanberry Associates, says he doesn't think there is any one type of purchaser. "It has to do with what French Place does for the purchaser. It has a really neat name, it's kind of a cool area to be in," Polk says. Children in the neighborhood attend Maplewood Elementary, Kealing Junior High School and McCallum High School.

Area parks include Alamo Parkland Recreation Center and Patterson Park. Utilities are provided by the City of Austin. Polk says the high demand of French Place residences is shown through the low availability of homes for sale. "It's not a big area. These homes are older and have character, and over the last years people have placed their own personal value in them," he says.

"They remodeled them, kept them up, and when you put that together with a nice looking, vintage neighborhood, the extreme convenience of it, you have a RESIDENCES CALL 445-4000 I statesman.com MANOR ROAD PLAZA SINAL HA 1888 Vista 35 1N 620 North River 2222) 2N way Lake Austin 1A Manor 2 (183 Yager Honey Ln. 290 Bear Creek 8W 1B nig 8E 3 3E Decker Creek (360 969 Lake Rd. Barton 35 71 Colorado River 5E SW SD Ln. To Slaughter 10 11 71 SE Bastrop Slaughter Slaughte Sunday, May 29, 2005 5 By Donna Lin Special to this section SINAL HA French Place Average $150,000 Size Approx. 900 to Area Maplewood Kealing Junior McCallum One of Austin's older neighborhoods, French Place is home to a number of two-bedroom 'starter above, ranging in price from $150,000 to $250,000.

French Place residents have their choice from among a host of neighborhood establishments, including restaurants and retail outlets, left. Price Range: to $300,000 Range: 1,400 square feet Schools: Elementary High School High School.