Is Winchester Improving? (Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green: rent, violent crime, houses)

[Rapunzll]

I'm still in the process of deciding which state I want to move to after having sold my home in Michigan, and if I decide on KY, I will be living in the Lexington area, but probably not within the city itself. I like Danville, Versailles and Georgetown, but took a quick drive through Winchester the other day and rather liked what I saw. The downtown area has a lot of character, but seeing as I haven't been there more than once, I certainly can't judge as to what's going on there. It seemed slightly on the shabby side, which is ok with me as long as it isn't heading in the really shabby direction.

Is this a town that is on the upswing in your opinon? What about jobs in the town itself? I am going to be looking for a 9-5 type job seeing as I have been working two jobs seven days a week (for the majority of the year) for the last nine years. I wouldn't mind office or even light manufacturing.

So tell me, what do you think of Winchester?

[InLondon]

The really nice part of Winchester is on the Southside. That's really all I know about the town.

[LEXpert]

You will get mixed review about Winchester from this forum. I lived there from 1997-2002. My parents live there still. I am there about once a week. I think it has a small friendly, kind of rural feel. The people seem nice and are more patient with one another than we are here in Lex (Actually, that kind of bugs me, but I am from Lex!) The downside, to me, is that there isn't much retail or restaurants. We were always coming to Lex for selection and to eat. I don't know how the schools perform, but I know they are smaller and probably are a good environment for kids. Houses are a little cheaper there, but utilities were more expensive when I lived there than in Lex. I really don't know the employment scene, but I do know there are a few manufacturing type plants.

I find how people perceive towns has a lot to do with what they are used to. If you are used to small towns, you will like it. If you are used to larger, metro areas, it will initially seem redneck to you.

The Lexington side of Winchester is the more middle class part of town. The downtown and east part seem to be more working class. There is some newer stuff on the Mt. Sterling side of the new By-Pass. I lived in a working class neighborhood. We had great neighbors, but the neighborhood looked pretty run down. (I had a thing for old houses back then........before I discovered that attached garages and all the rooms being the same temperature were awesome things.)

[Rapunzll]

I appreciate the info, really I do, but Lexpert, if you are a RE agent, you ought to be able to tell me if the area is improving or declining. Driving to Lexington for shopping etc doesn't bother me. I was raised in the Detroit area, but have lived in a smaller town environment for a number of years. Heck, for a long while I had to drive half an hour to get to town. I would prefer not to drive to Lexington to work if possible, but I know that might be unrealistic.

The dt area of Winchester does have some charm and is certainly unique. I like a mix of regular businesses as well as gifty type shops. Do you see Winchester as trending towards more of the 'cute and attractive' dt area, or going towards more empty storefronts and junky type shops? I do have to say I would not be interested in the E side of town. Many of the homes that I saw there appeared to be pretty shabby. Being working class doesn't mean you can't take pride in your surroundings, but I didn't see much pride or care in many of the neighborhoods I drove through in that part of town.

[LEXpert]

I appreciate the info, really I do, but Lexpert, if you are a RE agent, you ought to be able to tell me if the area is improving or declining.

You know, all of us regular posters on this forum enjoy helping people who don't know anything about our area. I had that feeling with you up until I saw the above quote. I am sorry that, while taking my time to try to help you, I over looked one aspect of the info you were seeking. If you want people in KY to respond to your threads try being a little nicer!

The downtown area is the same as it has always been. There was one big project to restore a building on one of the corners of Main Street several years ago. Other than that, it is the cheapest rent in the town and always has new businesses coming and going. From what I hear, one guy owns most of the buildings downtown. Right now it looks pretty good since most of the paint is fresh. I don't think it will ever be trendy. We have Midway for the trendy gifty shops in a downtown setting. The vacancy rate seems to be unchanged from when I was first there in 1997.

The rest of the town is pretty stable. Being close to I-64 and Lexington keeps it that way. High gas prices are keeping some Lex buyers from moving there, but that has just slowed down the new construction.

[Rapunzll]

Lexpert, I didn't mean my comment in a snotty way, sorry you read it that way. Thanks for the additional info. it really helps. I liked Midway too, but housing and job opportunities seem pretty limited there.

[JCL01]

Originally Posted by Rapunzll

Lexpert, I didn't mean my comment in a snotty way, sorry you read it that way. Thanks for the additional info. it really helps. I liked Midway too, but housing and job opportunities seem pretty limited there.

Here's how Kentucky breaks down as I see it:
- There's Lexington, Louisville, and the Northern Ky/Cincinnati area - in which steady positive development is basically ongoing;

- There are a handful of somewhat dynamic smaller towns that could be considered on the "upswing" e.g. Danville, Elizabethtown, Bowling Green;

- Everything else, don't expect much change either positive or negative. Outside those areas listed above, change tends to be minimal and slow, which is what the residents of those areas generally prefer. In short, with most of rural and smaller town Kentucky, what you see is likely what you're going to get for the foreseeable future. Whether that is a positive or negative depends on your preferences and perspective. I would put Winchester in this category.

[KentuckyWorker]

Upon reading the messages back and forth I do seem to be a little detered from the one sided reviews. If you want to know about winchester, I now live in winchester, I moved from Lawrenceburg which is not listed as an improving city in the above posting surprisingly considering that Lawrenceburg is one of the fastest growing citys in Kentucky. Lawrenceburg is between Frankfort and Lexington and provides quite a few jobs, however, as for the office or light manufacturing jobs, I am an employee of EDS in Winchester, it is a great environment and we have many different job oppurtunitys as a call center, which can accomidate a office job, however the light manufacturing, I would bet on Versailles as you will see the numerous signs pointing towards Osram Syllvania, where I previously worked, I live in a 2 bedroom with a full basement and pay $525 a month, my electric and water is reasonable, as they both only needed a $100 activation fee, from what I hear in surrounding countys it's going up to $300 for their providers. EDS is also constantly hiring as we are growing to over 200,000 employees worldwide and you can be transfered to other centers, this may be the path you would want to go. Well, hope that helped some.

[Rapunzll]

Kentuckyworker, any idea what those call center jobs might pay? I looked at the website and it doesn't give a clue.

[Gordonstoun]

I grew up there and love the place. I have lived away for 21 years, and will be moving back (finally!) in just a few weeks.

L3 corporation, over at the Army facility at Bluegrass Station ("Avon"), has been hiring a lot of people lately, and they pay well. I don't know about employment generally. I am a Federal employee.

You get a lot more house for your dollar there, than where I live now (Maryland). It's true that there aren't many good places to eat or shop, but Lexington is only 15 minutes away.

The downtown area has a beautiful opera house that most visitors don't know about. It's worth a visit. Beyond that, there isn't much going on downtown. All of the commercial activity has been sucked away by rampant commercial development on the By-Pass. I saw that coming 25 years ago.

If you hunt or fish, you'll find it hard to find a good place to do it locally. I'm giving up a lot of good deer and waterfowl hunting to move back.

Rates of violent crime are quite low there. Oxycodone abuse appears to be a problem (especially on the north side of town), based upon what I read in the local paper, the Winchester Sun. The Sun has an online addition, and it's a good way to keep up with what's going on there:

www.winchestersun.com