Fabulous people of Southlake/Westlake... do you love it? (Dallas: leasing, townhouse)

[fourtoesshowing]

We're moving back to Texas soon (woohoo!) and narrowing down where we'll live in the Dallas Metroplex. Those of you who live in the Southlake Area...
Do you love it?
Do you drive into the city of Dallas often?
If so... what do you drive into downtown Dallas for?
Is it awful to drive to Plano to see a client? How bad is that drive?
Is Southlake traffic as bad as they say?
Do you feel a sense of community?
Do you like your neighbors?
Are there areas that you can live where you can walk to shops, Starbucks etc?
Do you feel it is "Texan" enough?
Are those planes flying overhead really an issue?
Does it (as the suburb-haters claim) feel like one strip mall after another... or are they just jealous of your suburbian paradise?

We're torn between this area and University Park. We our own business and can work from home our office. We have a 17 month old daughter and want excellent schools (both areas offer this). I love the idea of walking to get to cafes and shops, but few neighborhoods in suburbs offer this. Frankly, as long as the area is gorgeous and the neighborhood has sidewalks and friendly people I can survive driving to get coffee. ha!

There are so many anti-suburb comments on this forum, that I know I'll draw some negativity from this post. And that's okay. I want to know from those living in SL/WL area love it and would recommend it to a mid-thirties yuppie couple with a toddler.

Tell me, fabulous people of Southlake... what are your thoughts? Are there specific areas of Southlake you'd recommend?

[Cupcake77]

We're moving to marshall Ridge which is keller/westlake off 377. We were told they are building lots of little shops all along 377. Also there is supposed to be a mall built around there soon. Was supposed to be 5 years ago but I heard they are still planning on building a shopping resort.

Little planes fly overhead all the time but they aren't loud, so it's not a big deal.

The traffic out here IS bad.

There is nothing really walkable from your house over here, unless you fancy playing real life ******* on the highways and then running through a cows and angry buffalo to get to southlake townsquare.

[fourtoesshowing]

I love the idea of those little shops. I'm probably being too idealistic thinking I can have suburbian heaven and walkable shops.... we just don't want to have to drive 20 minutes to get around.

traffic is a concern... husband lived in Los Angeles and the traffic drove him out. Just too much stress. Clients could be anywhere in any of the metroplex's business centers, but we only go visit them for meetings when necessary.

Cucake, do you feel "way out there" in Southlake? Do you ever go to Plano? When you do, is it a major ordeal?

[Spree]

You should post this on the Ft Worth board as well, as Southlake is more of a suburb of Ft Worth.

University Park would be where I would go especially if you're going to be going into Dallas a lot. It's a great area.

[fourtoesshowing]

Spree, we are definitely looking at UP/HP. It makes logical sense, since we'll be seeing clients all over the metroplex. We also love the proximity to Love Field. We'll be making regular trips to the DFW (about once a month) for the next few months before leasing something to live in while we work with a realtor to find a home. I'm just trying to do some of the legwork ahead of time.

Great suggestion re: the ft worth forum. I have not yet visited that. Thank you so much for the quick response. It's greatly appreciated!

[Kyle Southlake]

Four Toes - We are a family with a 10 month old and recently moved to Southlake from Chicago. We love it here. To answer your questions - I work in Dallas and drive in everyday. The commute is not bad, it takes about 32 min in the morning and 28 min in the evening from the parking garage at the office to my garage at home. It is not hard to get to Plano, 121 cuts over that way. Also you do not have to worry about stopping for tolls anymore as they have zip cash, which they just take a picture of your license plate and send you a bill later. Southlake traffic is not bad at all. The only thing is if you are headed to Dallas in the morning 114 backs up from Wall street//Southlake blvd to the merge with 121, after that it is smooth sailing. Yes, there is a real sense of community. You can see your neighbors at the grocery store or Starbucks or the town square. Everyone is so friendly and help each other out. We love our neighbors. The neighborhoods are arranged into HOA's so that everything is taken care of real nicely, it is peaceful, quiet, great for walks... Yes, you can walk to Town Square (shops, cafes) if you live in the "Brownstones" - these are townhouse style housing next to the town square. Otherwise, depending on where you live you may be able to walk to something, there are bike trails and walking paths around to facilitate this. For us it feels Texan, although most of the neighbors are not from Texas, interestingly enough as Southlake is the premier area to live in DFW for suburban lifestyle. The people that I work with (most are Texan) live in areas like Carrollton, Farmer's Branch, Irving, Arlington, etc. However, these areas are not as nice as Southlake and the primary reason they live there I imagine is they cannot afford Southlake. Therefore I am a bit perplexed as to why the wealthy Texans aren't here, as the area is wonderful. No, planes are not an issue. The only time I hear planes is when driving to work, never at home. No, there are very few strip malls. The Town Square is very tastefully done, it is an outdoor mall, but the buildings are unique and look like separate stores. It is all very upscale. There is as much shopping and restaurants as you could want. Personally, I do not feel Southlake is as much as suburb of FW as it is Dallas. I have only been to Fort Worth a couple of times and am in Dallas every day. The Mercedes dealer is out towards Fort Worth on the airport road, so I head down there for that, but otherwise there is no need to go south, everything you need is on 114 in Southlake or Grapevine. The Galleria is the upscale mall, which is on 635 out towards Dallas. Southlake is a wonderful, quiet, family-oriented, safe, upscale community.

[nsumner]

I too moved from Chicago to Southlake about 15 years ago. We really loved living in SL and we saw it grow. We drove into Dallas very often, for a play, sports venue and of course to do some shopping at Eatzi's. My job requires me to drive all over the metroplex including Plano. The communte to Plano can be long but it all depends on the time of day. There are alternatives if you get into a bottleneck.

We had a very active community. Ladies clubs such as bunco, play dates, as well as gentlemen's outing for golf etc. Had progressive dinners, the holidays were always very busy. We knew all the neighbors and surprisingly very few of them were from Texas. No I didn't feel that it was Texan enough.

Southlake is not "way out there" at all. It is very close to major highways.

UP/HP is very different. I know that people that live there love it but I don't think they are as active in the community as people in SL are. It is much richer than SL too so I think that has something to do with it.

Naima

[loves2read]

frankly there is not really a reason to drive into Plano if you live in Southlake unless you are really hard to please
great restaraunts/shopping/movies/dentists/doctors/hospitals in the area

[jm_in_texas]

Not sure why nsumner thinks UP/HP people are less active in the community. This is where I live and I think people are quite active and quite friendly. She has a tough decision to make. I think she will ultimately make her decision on the pedestrian aspect and cost. UP/HP also has the big trees, population density, and proximity to more diverse people which I really like. Having said all this, I have many friends in Southlake, Grapevine, and Coppell and they love it. They are all outstanding areas with many benefits and great schools.

[Cupcake77]

If you have the money move to up/hp. You will be much happier there.

Southlake is not bad but not great, nothing out here really and 70% of the residents if you placed them in another state would be living in a shoebox compared to what they live in here, lol. Westlake is a lot nicer but same as southlake nothing out here. You have southlake townsquare and that's it.

up/hp is where I would go if I could.