exciting suburbs (Lexington, Louisville, Richmond: section 8, motels, house)

[timelesschild]

Yes, Leestown Road is a very good suggestion.

[lexingtony]

Originally Posted by stx12499

I don't think you get what I mean by walkable. Walkable, in urban terms, means that there are main pedestrian corridors with lots of pedestrian activity most hours of the day. It assumes good supporting transit (ie bus in Lexington's case, which is a very very poor system). It also assumes good ancillary services are within walking distance of one's home. This includes but is not limited to diverse grocery options, a movie theatre, shopping, both boutique and chain, and a diversity of restaurants and nightlife. This is usually coupled with an area that has some history, gentrified housing, and possibly, a nice park.

Gratz Park and Ashland Park only have half the package of a walkable urban neighborhood. In many cases, people from larger cities would consider them almost "suburban" in character. In fact, they remind me of some of the historic outer ring suburbs of Chicago like La Grange, IL. They have the park, some nice restaurants and nightlife you can walk to (a few, but not too many), but no real corridor of pedestrian activity, and no supporting services within walking distance. To be honest with you, even the areas adjacent to UK's campus are not very walkable in these terms. Go to a college town like Bloomington, IN and you will see what I mean by walkable. All of Kentucky's universities have this problem, and this includes UofL (which has even less walkability), WKU, EKU, and NKU (especially!).

As for college students equaling riff raff, you know very well this is the case! How many working professionals would want to live in an old rehabbed house on Woodland nestled among college rentals where there are kegs left over on the front porch from last weekends parties?

Anyways, until you posted a very sarcastic response to my post, my point to the OP is that Lexington is not some super large city where he has to live in the suburbs to feel safe. In town areas close to downtown offer a nice feel and appeal, and IMO, superior houses and architecture to the cookie cutter stuff off Man O' War. And yes, a quick real estate search shows plenty of homes in his price range. Even if the OP is not working downtown, living closer to the center of town, and say working in Hamburg, he will be a reverse commuter and miss much of the traffic!

My apologies; I didn't realize you were using a very specific urban planner definition of "walkability." I was just assuming the simplistic definition "able to be easily walked" (which I would think most people would also assume). If I heard that a neighborhood wasn't "walkable", I'd think lots of traffic, poor or no sidewalks, minimal greenspace, etc. This is somewhat the same criteria that Walkable America (www.walkableamerica.org) uses when determining a neighborhood's "walkability."

And please also forgive any appearance of sarcasm; I suppose I'm somewhat tired of reading off-handed comments from non-Lexington residents that appear to say something constructive but are tinged with negativity (and I'm not just referring to you or to this thread).

However, I cannot agree with you that college students are riff-raff. I absolutely refuse to paint any class or group of people with a wide brush stroke. Are there some college students that could be called riff-raff? Sure. But there's plenty of grown, working (or non-working) adults that could just as easily fit that bill. Two of my next door neighbors are graduate students at UK, and they couldn't be more considerate. They're quiet and respectful.....just plain, good neighbors.

Lastly, I would agree with your proclivity for older neighborhoods closer to downtown. I prefer them myself, and currently live in a neighborhood adjacent to Ashland Park. However, since the OP specified "new" developments, I thought of areas outside of the city core; unless, of course, they are interested in one of the new condo developments in downtown.

The Leestown road corridor is a good alternative, as would be some of the neighborhoods on Todds Road, past Andover. But, Hays Boulevard really isn't that far out -- just past Jacobson Park -- and offers easy accessibility to two of the city's main arteries, Richmond Road and Man O'War Boulevard, as well as to I-75.

Happy new year, and my apologies to the other forum members for the momentary discord on this thread.

[censusdata]

Stx, if you think Hays Blvd is a long ways from Downtown you should check out the half dozen new gated communities along US 68 in Jessamine County. When I say gated I mean it - if you pull in and start taking pictures a security immediately tells you to leave

[InLondon]

Originally Posted by algee

I am a professional person. We live in Charleston WV,
and would like to relocate to the Lexington, KY, area.
I need some ideas on what areas in/around Lexington I should look at
to buy a house. --Approx $200-220 k.
Need to be in newly built area. Have no school going children.
Any ideas ??? Thanks.
Happy NewYear.

* Hays Blvd area off Richmond Rd (Chilesburg Point, Chilesburg Cove, Walnut Creek Subdivisons)
* Polo Club Blvd area off Man O War Blvd
* Masterson Station area off Leestown Rd

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Stx, if you think Hays Blvd is a long ways from Downtown you should check out the half dozen new gated communities along US 68 in Jessamine County. When I say gated I mean it - if you pull in and start taking pictures a security immediately tells you to leave

Census, I guess I sort of exaggerated. Hays Blvd is not "far" from downtown. Heck, it practically is downtown (ok that is another exaggeration its ten minutes ). That is the nice thing about Lexington, it really isn't that big of a town, and the traffic thing is probably overplayed. However, I do agree driving down Nicholasville Rd during rush hour is painstaking. The problem is the city transit is weak and there are no alternate routes like freeways.

Even with the growth of Lexington's MSA, it still doesn't feel like there are true suburbs. Georgetown and much of Jessamine and Woodford counties feel like rural counties with an old historic town base that is growing like Nicholasville and Versailles. Still, they are very nice, clean, safe areas with good schools. And if all you need is a vinyl sided house, a yard, and a Walmart, then by all means, look at at those areas. Different strokes for different folks.

Here's my thing. It is well known that I tend to try to get people to look downtown. I think Lexington has a nice, livable downtown. Sure it's not one of the most walkable areas I have seen as I defined it but there are some homes, both NEW and old in places like Ashland Park that just make sense to live in in a town like Lexington. Lexington is starting to see a LITTLE new home and condo construction in older areas, so you can get new construction in older areas if you know where to look.

Lexingtonians are very proud of the Hamburg area. They are finally starting to see some of the national chains you see in larger cities...but is that really makes the larger cities special? Nope, every city has at least one if not dozens of Hamburgs and even more chains that that. It is the older nabes, the urban hood, the grit, the shopping, the arts, and the entertainment that makes a place unique. It is the urban environment where you can interact with people. I see that vibe developing in Lexington but it needs a corridor to establish. Yes, Lexington needs a Highlands or Hyde Park or Broad Ripple or Short North, or Lincoln Park, or Wicker Park, West End (Nashville), or Central West End (STL), or even Beale Street. So, I do apologize if it seems I am steering the OP toward the older areas of Lexington, but I do want him to know that they exist and they are nice!

[censusdata]

I wouldn't say that every city has a Hamburg Pavilion. I have actually never seen one area with so much shopping, restaurants, and motels as HP - not Shelbyville Rd in Louisville or anywhere in Indy, Nashville, or Cincinnati. HP isn't done growing either, there are plans to DOUBLE its existing retail space and residential units along Sir Barton Way towards Winchester Rd.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by censusdata

I wouldn't say that every city has a Hamburg Pavilion. I have actually never seen one area with so much shopping, restaurants, and motels as HP - not Shelbyville Rd in Louisville or anywhere in Indy, Nashville, or Cincinnati. HP isn't done growing either, there are plans to DOUBLE its existing retail space and residential units along Sir Barton Way towards Winchester Rd.

Are you being serious? Don't make me bust out the retail trade area maps...each of the three cities you mentioned have MULTIPLE retail trade areas with more population, hotel square footage, commercial and office square footage, and retail square footage than Hamburg could dream of. My point is, these areas aren't special, no matter what their size or square footage. It is the same cookie cutter development as in any city....

[InLondon]

Hamburg is quite large, I haven't seen anything as large as Hamburg in other cities.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by InLondon

Hamburg is quite large, I haven't seen anything as large as Hamburg in other cities.

By itself, yes. But when you look at retail trade areas as a whole ( I realize this is commercial real estate talk), you realize Hamburg isn't all too big at all.

[stx12499]

We can do this by anecodotal evidence, or we can compare it to a regional city which really doesn't have that big of malls either, but has many more retail areas. (Louisville)
Thomas Enterprises - PROJECT DESCRIPTION

http://www.shopfayette-mall.com/SITEPL~1.NSF/0/17199530FC745FBE8525703800608285/$File/FayetteMall_08_LS.pdf?openelement


Fayette mall claims largest in the state. Indeed it is, but only by technicality. 2,130,000 square feet of retail are what is located in Oxmoor and St Matthews combined, which are effectively one mall, owned by the same company, and separted by a half mile of freeway interchanges. Fayette Mall is less than 1,500,000 square feet all in one facility.

By comparison, there are several retail trade areas in Louisville with more population and a similar regional shopping square footage than Hamburg, which is only one million square feet of retail:

GGP: Mall Directory

GGP: Mall Directory

http://www.greentreemall.com/assets/...green_tree.pdf

http://www.bayerproperties.com/files...okJune2008.pdf

http://www.shopjefferson-mall.com/SITEPL~1.NSF/0/CB5084800391869C852570380060D0F0/$File/JeffersonMall_08_LS.pdf?openelement


It should be noted that Jefferson Mall is expanding too, and Jefferson Development Group will build a nearly 500k square foot lifestyle center adjacent to it, giving that area in South Louisville the same retail square footage as Fayette Mall.