Mayfield Heights? (Solon, Lyndhurst, University Heights: middle-class, best city, apartment complex)

[newmommy7890]

Could you please describe this town for me. We were told to look at this town as a possible place to live. I posted about relocating to Beachwood.

We are mid to late 30s with one child. Good schools would be very imporant to us. In addition, I'd like to know a little about the following.

Families or seniors?
Low income or middle/upper class?
Diverse?
Good schools?
Safe?
Things to do?
Good distance to Beachwood

Thanks!

[sped]

I use to live in Mayfield Heights and here's my take:

Families or seniors? Both.
Low income or middle/upper class? Mostly working middle class.
Diverse? More diverse than Beachwood.
Good schools? Yes, but Beachwood and Solon schools are ranked higher.
Safe? Yes.
Things to do? Very convenient to shopping, restaurants, North Chagrin reservation park.
Good distance to Beachwood? Yes, very close.

Housing costs are a lot less than in Beachwood.

[nlschr0]

I've never lived there, but have spent a lot of time there through work, so I'll answer your questions but take them with a grain of salt

Families or seniors? A mix of both, but definitely a lot of families
Low income or middle/upper class? middle-class for the most part
Diverse? much of the known diversity seems to come from the immigrant and international families that are living in the apartment complexes, but for the actual neighborhoods, I would say not so much (anyone have any better stats?)
Good schools? Decent, but not as good as Solon or Beachwood...but certainly workable.
Safe? For the most part, like any other busy suburb near a large city...you'd want to lock your doors and not keep valuables in your car, but that's pretty standard for most of the suburbs. You could certainly feel safe living in most of the neighborhoods I've been in there.
Things to do? In the city itself there are a lot of shopping centers and chain restaurants. It isn't a bad drive into nearby areas for more interesting opportunities
Good distance to Beachwood - very close.


My impression of Mayfield? A decent, solid, older middle-class area. Nothing outstanding about it except perhaps that it is pretty safe, has decent schools, is pretty convenient to many things, and is generally more affordable than Beachwood or Solon, for example. It doesn't have the charm of the inner-ring suburbs like Shaker or University Heights, and it also doesn't have the prestige of some of the more expensive areas like Beachwood, Solon, Pepper Pike, etc. But overall, it would be a good option to consider unless those things really bother you.

[newmommy7890]

Thanks everyone!

If anyone else has any input I'd welcome it.

[nebulous1]

Oh I miss that city. My daughter was born there. We lived on Washington Blvd.
I liked it a lot. Had the nicest neighbors in the world.
It wasn't pretentious either.

[sapling]

I moved to Mayfield Heights about a month ago I'm a single mid-20's female working as a professional in Beachwood.

Families or seniors?
- I live in an apartment complex and it is mostly seniors with some younger singles. The house neighborhoods I believe are more family-oriented.
Low income or middle/upper class?
- I'd say middle-class mostly.
Diverse?
- Mm, not so much. The stats on city-data, if I recall correctly, say it's about 95% white, which from what I've seen holds true.
Good schools?
- No kids, so I'm not a good person to answer this.
Safe?
- I feel completely safe going shopping and walking to and from my car in the evenings. Of all the places I looked, I can honestly say I felt the safest in Mayfield Heights. And I'm not a "big city" girl who feels safe wandering around New York at 2am - I'm pretty paranoid.
Things to do?
- Not so sure on this one. There's the "big box" stores (Target, Wal-mart, Marc's Supermarket, Circuit City, Microcenter), and there's a fun place called "The Boneyard" about a mile down the road that's like a Dave & Buster's (one area is a bar/pub style and the rest has games like skiball, minibasketball, trivia, and so forth. It'd be fine to take your kids in the afternoon/evening and just not go to the bar). Other than that, not a lot that I can tell, but I haven't had a chance to look around.
Good distance to Beachwood?
- It takes me ~12-15 minutes on a good morning to get to and from Beachwood on the interstate with rush hour traffic. On a bad morning like one time last week when there's a wreck, it took about 45. But I understand that's pretty unusual.

[newmommy7890]

You guys are great. Thanks for all this information.

We haven't had the job offer yet, but we're expecting it so I'm preparing myself for the move. We want to make sure we're picking the best city for our needs.

[cleveburg]

Originally Posted by newmommy7890

Could you please describe this town for me. We were told to look at this town as a possible place to live. I posted about relocating to Beachwood.

We are mid to late 30s with one child. Good schools would be very imporant to us. In addition, I'd like to know a little about the following.

Families or seniors?
Low income or middle/upper class?
Diverse?
Good schools?
Safe?
Things to do?
Good distance to Beachwood

Thanks!

I really loved Mayfield Hts. I lived in Highland hts. (next door to Mayfield) for 5 years. We have two kids. My daughter was a baby, but my son was in the Mayfield school system (highland hts. & mayfield are on the same system).

It is a mix of families, seniors, and working professionals. Mostly mid-income. Mayfield Village is mostly high income. We are in our late 30's and early 40's.

My opinion is that it is diverse in terms of of Italian, Russian, and Polish.

Very Safe.

Your close to a lot. Supermarkets, Target, Home Depot, Kohls, Office max, fast food, restaurants, coffee shops, banks, Beachwood Mall, Legacy Village, etc. Hillcrest Hospital is around the corner with great pediatricians. My spouse worked in Beachwood at the time (i had a home office), so we used to meet for lunch in Beachwood . . . 10 min. About 20 min. to Little Italy
and the Art Museums. My daughter has a chronic disease, so we spent a lot of time at Hillcrest, University Hospitals - Rainbow, Babies & children's .. . all are close.

Things to do? Metroparks were right down the street from where I used to live. We'd picknick and sled ride down there. I also had a Harley-Davidson and used to ride all the time! Love it (Yes, I'm a feminine woman - hee, hee). They had nice story times and stuff to do at the library for the kids.

Really . . . I truly enjoyed the area. Mayfield hts. is a mix of housing prices; highland heights can be expensive; and Mayfield Village is pricey. All three are on the same school system.

I really found the people to be extremely nice and not at all pretentious. Very real and down-to-earth.

PS: By the way . . . La Fiesta Mexican restaurant ROCKS!

[airics]

I have lived in Mayfield Hts for the last 30yrs, so here is my take on it...

Families or seniors? I notice more seniors in the better areas of Mayfield Hts, behind hillcrest hospital especially. If you are lucky enough to get a house there (even with this market, houses dont take long to sell (7-14 days if they are priced right and if they are updated. Yes there are a few houses that ran out of contract, but if you saw them you would know why)

Low income or middle/upper class? Definitely more middle upper class in Mayfield.

Diverse? I disagree with city data which says whites 95% other 5%, i believe it is more like 80/20

Good schools? Yes Mayfield has an excellent school system HOWEVER they are proposing a monster of a levy for the schools which would raise taxes dramatically. Enough so, that i would consider a mover.. Taxes are very high, i have a $160k home and pay over $4k a year in property tax. Not as bad as Shaker or Beachwood

Safe? For the most part, yes.. It is the surrounding areas that are starting to worry me.. Lyndhurst, Richmond Hts, etc (saw for the 1st time in my life a gang related incident at Richmond Town Square -mall in Richmond Hts).. If i dont have to, i will no longer go to that mall.

Things to do? Yes there is a fair amount to do.. i am 39 married no kids.. some good eating places (La Fiest Mexican, yuck!) and some coming.. We just lost Buca di Beppo (closed suddenly) but rumor is Winking Lizard is coming (yes!), The Mayfield Boneyard is on the verge of closing (good! bad crowds, terrible management).. and we just lost our theatre. Mayfield Regal Cinemas.. i did not see that one coming.

Good distance to Beachwood, 5-10 minute via 271

hope that helped.. also traffic will be insane again in the Spring due to construction on Mayfield Road (322).. this is what is closing the businesses.. it was very bad planning on how the traffic is being diverted.. it is faster to be pushed in a wheelbarrow to the hospital instead of taking an ambulance down Mayfield Road..

Be careful if looking for a house around the Mayfield Hts/ Lyndhurst border and for an apartment avoid Marsol Towers (i know its been renamed, but i cant think of the name off the top of my head.. located on Marsol Road).. lots of pedophiles live there according to the police websites.

[Traveler87]

I believe Mayfield Heights is cheaper than Beachwood, but I don't think by much. Have you checked out Brecksville? LOL don't want you to start looking into all these other areas, but Brecksville is very nice.