new to the Ft Riley area soon (Kansas City, Topeka: housing, rent)

[N Depape]

We’re moving to Fort Riley. I would love to get some information about living in and around Junction City or Manhattan. I’m browsing realtor sites, but I can’t tell what areas to stay away from, where traffic is the craziest or what school districts are best (we have two elementary-school-age kids).

Any advice? Suggestions?

Nadja

[kosnebbear]

Consider Manhattan first. Getting onto Ft Riley coming from Manhattan to me is easier as this is the back gate. It also makes getting to the hospital and clinic area easy.

[denverian]

On the plus side, Manhattan is a college town, so you get more "culture" than a typical Kansas town/city. It's also in the Flint Hills, so interesting geography.

Negative, it's kind of remote. It's about a 2.5 hour drive to Kansas City, with Topeka being the closest city - still about an hour drive, I believe.

[RLFuller]

We chose Junction City. Specifically for the schools, which are better than Manhattan's. We ended up getting a bigger house in the deal too! :P

Being military I never have a problem getting through the gate in the morning, for PT or work. The Ogden/Manhattan Gate looks like Fort Hood's entrance in the morning. Most of my Manhattan friends now go around to 'my' entrance because it is easier for them.

Junction City has just built up its entire west and north-west side. New schools - I live 8 houses from a brand new elementary school and the brand new middle school is on my PT run route.

Neighboorhood has a mix of military (officer and enlisted) and civilian.

Spring Valley Addition. Check it out.

Oh yeah...all that 'culture' you get in Manhattan? None of it is for you if you are military. You're an uncultured brute. The most you get is ignored. Manhattan saves its love for the college students. You get what's left.

[Sceptic$$$]

Originally Posted by RLFuller

We chose Junction City. Specifically for the schools, which are better than Manhattan's. We ended up getting a bigger house in the deal too! :P .

Who was evaluating the schools? JC schools suck big time. As a military you(we/they) might have lower standards you expect from educational institutions. But JC is no go if you want your kids to go to private college later on.

Crappier the city, lower the rent/lease. E=mc2

Junction City has just built up its entire west and north-west side.

Right. And now magic Bluffs are on sale for $12 mln

Oh yeah...all that 'culture' you get in Manhattan? None of it is for you if you are military. You're an uncultured brute. The most you get is ignored. Manhattan saves its love for the college students. You get what's left.

Good point. However, the truth is...nothing is left for military here in KS. There is huge fake "Support our troops" thing in Geary/Riley/Clay counties (which seems to me as a cheap marketing trick). But, evidently, no one gives a >U<K about you around here...whether you are a Spouse, a Soldier/ Servicemember.

[RLFuller]

Wow. Bitter much?

Not sure what you are using to evaluate the schools with. We just used the JCHS vs the National Average vs Manhattan test scores and then visited both areas extensively to include visiting with many of the teachers from both towns.

The programs were better, the teachers were better (more articulate about their goals for their students, etc), and we liked the diversity we saw.

Another consideration was crime. To be brutally honest there is less crime in JC than their is in Manhattan. Manhattan has about as much crime as I would expect in a city four times its size.

Are you in the service? You sound pretty bitter. I have always found military run school districts to have significantly higher scores on tests than their civilian counterparts. JCHS isn't military run; but it's pretty good. The students score well and a good percentage of them go on to college.

Not sure what your correlation is between JC and a private college. No private college I ever attended or applied to gave a hill of beans where I went to school; it was what I did there and how well I did it.

[egmartin]

does any one know anything about clay center ks ,my son is looking at renting a house there and just wondering if its a good area and how long it takes to get to fort riley from there.

[RLFuller]

Google says about an hour... but that route takes you all the way around the installation to the entrance off of I-70.

If you use I-77 and travel south past the MPRC (the gunnery range) you can shorten that time by about 25-30 minutes.

I know it takes some people I worship with about 40 minutes to get from Clay Center to Manhattan. If you use I-77 Fort Riley would be about 10ish minutes less time of a drive than that.

Hope that helps.

[dredio05]

Originally Posted by N Depape

We’re moving to Fort Riley. I would love to get some information about living in and around Junction City or Manhattan. I’m browsing realtor sites, but I can’t tell what areas to stay away from, where traffic is the craziest or what school districts are best (we have two elementary-school-age kids).

Any advice? Suggestions?

Nadja

A lot of people consider Manhattan more cultured and they area right however there is a price for that culture. I live in JC and I get to work just fine no hassle, also Manhattan is only a 5 -10 min drive. Housing prices jumped for a bit in JC because of the influx of troops but they're falling now and will be pretty low for a while. However they're expecting to add about 18000 troops here so the prices will jump again. Also in the works ans approved is Smoky Hill Market Place, it will be a retail, mall with soccer arenas etc. the housing prices in JC are much lower than Manhattan and it's only 5-10 mins away plus closer to the base. There isn't much culture, but the city is in the process of serious growth. You'll noticed a lot of building. Even with the housing market bad, builders have no choice here, but to build to accommodate incoming troops. there are quite few companies including an IT company moving right up the street also. The cities website is ripe with information on it's growth City of Junction City, Kansas. I complain about lack of things to do, but everyday they're building more and more things. Another club opened recently right off post and others that were closed have opened back up. The city is having trouble keeping up with it's population growth.

[dredio05]

Originally Posted by N Depape

We’re moving to Fort Riley. I would love to get some information about living in and around Junction City or Manhattan. I’m browsing realtor sites, but I can’t tell what areas to stay away from, where traffic is the craziest or what school districts are best (we have two elementary-school-age kids).

Any advice? Suggestions?

Nadja

Remember the Grant Ave Gate is rarely ever packed. I use it every morning, never been backed up, usually 1 maybe 2 cars in front of me, both sides of the gate open...