Good suburban downtowns (houses, new construction, school district)

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by nashvols

Franklin, TN. Most of the city is typical suburbia (but pretty nice)...the historic downtown is well preserved and filled with many local and independent businesses (restaurants and boutiques).

Photos (my shots):
http://www.city-data.com/forum/18627290-post94.html

Downtown Franklin is charming. Other suburban downtowns I love:

Decatur, GA
Mountain Brook, AL
Winter Park, FL
Highland Park, TX
Bronxville, NY
Scarsdale, NY
Lake Forest, IL
Highland Park, IL
Mill Valley, CA
Scottsdale, AZ
Shaker Heights, OH

[Katarina Witt]

Another CNN Money #1 Best Place:

Best Places to Live 2011 - Top 100: Town details: Louisville, CO - from MONEY Magazine
Louisville Colorado has a nice downtown with tons of restaurants (some would say *too* many; the public library; a bandshell where a festival is held every Friday in summer and used as a warming area for the ice rink next to it in the winter; city hall; county office buildings, etc.

Other Denver suburbs with downtowns, in alphabetical order:

Arvada
Castle Rock
Golden
Lafayette
Littleton

Of the above, Castle Rock's is probably the largest in terms of retail/restaurant activity.

Then, of course, there's Boulder, neither independent city nor suburb.

[Phyxius]

Silver Spring, MD is located outside D.C. The area has seen new development over the years with more high-rises. There are development currently in planning in Silver Spring. Silver Spring is the home of the Discovery Channel Building.

[BellevueNative]

Bellevue, WA

[Deezus]

Pasadena, CA

[fennec2009]

Chagrin Falls, OH
Hudson, OH

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Downtown Franklin is charming. Other suburban downtowns I love:

Decatur, GA
Mountain Brook, AL
Winter Park, FL
Highland Park, TX
Bronxville, NY
Scarsdale, NY
Lake Forest, IL
Highland Park, IL
Mill Valley, CA
Scottsdale, AZ
Shaker Heights, OH

Good call on Shaker....one of the first master-planned communities in the country, driven by TOD.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by fennec2009

Chagrin Falls, OH
Hudson, OH

I realize Chagrin Falls is probably considered a "suburb", but it was really its own small town and has just recently been swallowed up by the Cleveland metro area. There are a LOT of charming small towns like these that are now part of metro areas that I don't think should be considered "suburbs" for this purpose. Otherwise, numerous beach towns like Sausalito, CA would be in the mix and would blow away most of the candidates listed thus far.

When I think of "best suburban downtown" I'm thinking of a city (suburb) that exists only because it is part of a larger city/metro, not its own small town. I'm not sure what the OP desires however...

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3

Chicago and Detroit burbs.

Specifically for Chicago:

-Evanston
-Winnetka
-Naperville
-Geneva/St. Charles/Batavia
-Wilmette
-Riverside (1st planned community in America)
-Lake Forest

[FromGA]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

.....

When I think of "best suburban downtown" I'm thinking of a city (suburb) that exists only because it is part of a larger city/metro, not its own small town. I'm not sure what the OP desires however...

OP here. Kind of agree. When I looked at Franklin, TN, I first thought that looks like a town by itself. Not a suburb. But then it was 15 miles from Nashville. I assume it might be considered a suburb of Nashville at this point.

BUT, I think at this point of time, many of these places are likely suburbs of the larger metro. So, I think we *can* include suburbs that developed independently as well, but now part of a larger metro.

Wonderful list. Thanks to all contributing.

EDIT: LET US DEFINE SUBURBS AS ANY PLACE (THAT IS NEAR A METRO OF 1 MILLION PLUS) DESIRABLE FOR FAMILY LIVING. WITH GENERAL AVAILABILITY OF SCHOOLS THAT WOULD BE RANKED FAIRLY HIGHLY.