Wilsonville? (Portland, Salem, Beaverton: houses, employment, new construction)

[Redrover]

I have been researching cities/towns between Portland and Corvallis for a prospective move. I'm looking for one that has easy access to Portland but has lots of amenities on its own. Wilsonville keeping popping up on my short list and I sure would like someone who has first-hand information about the city to give me some insight into its charms and warts. Specifically, are there plenty of things like grocery stores, dry cleaners, video stores, coffee shops etc. as well as doctors, dentists, a good hospital, a library, parks etc.? Also, what does the housing market look like there - new builds especially? How's the traffic and how's the access into Portland & PDX? Anything else you can think of that might be useful would be greatly appreciated also. I am not totally unfamiliar with Oregon although most of my exposure has been confined to Portland, Corvallis and Newport. Thanks.

[bobmulk]

Wilsonville has a lot of new construction going on right now. However, be forewarned, Wilsonville is a corporate town. There's more jobs than people in Wilsonville due to all the corporations there--Sysco Foods, Nike, Hollywood Entertainment, Coca Cola, InFocus, Mentor Graphics--just to name a few. As a result, the housing being built is all executive housing--$400K and up. There's a new subdivision called Villebois that is absolutely fabulous, but very pricey. It's difficult to find anything in town for under $300,000.

Wilsonville is a very new community so most everything there is under thirty years old. It's right on I-5 so Portland is only about 20 minutes. Like any normal community it has grocery stores, doctors, dentists, video stores, etc. Costco and Target are there. There's upscale shopping within fifteen minutes along with good restaurants. A hospital is five minutes north in Tualatin.

[Redrover]

Thanks bob for the info on Wilsonville. Hard to imagine there are more jobs than people, why aren't they coming in caravans to a place so full of employment opportunities? Is it a different situation in McMinnville? Also, can you tell me who some of the homebuilders are in Wilsonville (you can skip those whose bottom price is $500,000).

[bobmulk]

The reason Wilsonville has so many jobs is because it developed as a corporate town. All these companies located there years ago because the land was cheap and plentiful--the metro area hadn't really reached Wilsonville at that time. By the metro area, I mean development.

As a result, there wasn't a push for housing. Housing is picking up substantially and in a few years, you'll probably see more of an equilibrium between residents and jobs. Bear in mind that not everyone who lives in Wilsonville works there, of course. My cousin lives there and works in Lake Oswego. Wilsonville has been trying for years to bring more housing into town and it's working. Twenty years ago the population was 3,000. Now it's 17,000 (1600 of that is from the prison).

McMinnville is much different. It's an older city, founded over a hundred years ago whereas Wilsonville isn't even forty years old. McMinnville is the county seat of Yamhill County so you'll have more government jobs there. Mac also has a college and some substantial industry there. Mac has become much more of a commuter town the last fifteen years as people discovered the wine country and the wonderful atmosphere there.

As for builders in Wilsonville, the only ones I can think of are those building in Villebois where everything is half a mil. I don't know of any other real developments coming in. I would suggest contacting the city. Personally, I love Wilsonville and wish I could afford to live there.

[Redrover]

Thanks bob for the historical prospective. We are coming up there in April and will have a chance to see both towns up close and personal and see what the drives would be like into Portland and to PDX. Truth be told, I sorta like the idea of a town that has already established its personality and has a little history so sight unseen, McMinnville leads the pack. Another issue is that although we will be officially retired, I would lose my mind if I had to sit at home all day so hopefully I will be able to find at least part time employment. My husband will be more "semi-retired" and will continue to work remotely for his current employer. We both love the idea of being in Oregon's wine country, especially my husband who not only collects wine but teaches classes in the subject. Every day I wake up and think, "One less day until we move to Oregon!"

[bobmulk]

Redrover: I envy you!! Welcome to Oregon, even though you're not here yet! Wish you had been the last few weeks to luxuriate in our breathtaking Indian summer.

Traffic into Portland will be very heavy on I-5 from Wilsonville--that is, during rush hour. Same to PDX. Even so, it's still better than from Mac because there's no freeway out there. You need to take Hwy 99W into the metro area. Or, you can take one of the highways to I-5 and go north.

From what you say, I think you'll probably prefer Mac. The downtown is glorious and will immediately captivate you. Wilsonville doesn't really have an identity yet. It's all very new and yuppified. Nevertheless, I love Wilsonville.

I doubt that you'll have any trouble finding part time employment, of course I don't know what you're looking for. My experience with head hunters and HR people is that there's a severe labor shortage. Anyone who wants to work is working. The rest either don't have any skills, or they're as dumb as a box of hair, or they can't pass a drug test or background check. Sad, isn't it?

Oh yeah, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE the wine country. Driving through it is a religious experience. Just think of Napa Valley without the crowds and the prices. Plus, we get more rain, of course.

[Redrover]

So bob, do you actually live in Wilsonville?I had written away for a relo packet from both McMinnville and Wilsonville and the Wilsonville one showed up yesterday. I was amazed at just how many resources there are there although I do think maybe Mac would have more. There are a lot of sizeable employers in the area so I get your point about the availability of jobs. This amazes me as the Portland board frequently has people bemoaning the lack of jobs in their field. I have a good friend who just moved to Portland at the end of August and she hasn't been able to find anything in her field. She is a corporate recruiter and would love to go to work for a big company with good benefits. She lives in Hollywood and so far has not found anything, in spite of the fact that she is very bright, outgoing and very hardworking. What gives up there?

I know that we will love the wine country. We were up there in 2006 over the Memorial Day weekend for all the open houses. We managed to cram in 16 wineries over the course of three days. Without a doubt, St. Innocent was the cream of the crop. Their wine is devine and their cassoulet is to die for. Actually, the Oregon wine country is a lot more like Sonoma than Napa - much more rural and far less commercial. Since I'm a huge fan of pinot noirs, I anticipate having many "religious" experiences once we get there.

Time and distance-wise, how long would it take to drive to PDX from both cities? I do know what the traffic is like on I-5, having made a number of trips between Portland and Corvallis where my sister lives. But after living with the hideous Houston traffic for most of my life, and having just returned from a week navigating the many freeways of So. California, I-5 will be a piece of cake.

(This is looking like a private conversation here, no one else seems to be interested...)

What is it that you do, bob? If I have an email address for you I could contact you when we get up there and remind you of this exchange regarding the availability of jobs in the area.

Can't wait!!!

[lifes2short]

I think Bob gave a great description of both Wilsonville and Mac.

I live in Sherwood and visit both towns several times a week. My husband commutes into downtown Portland for work, and it takes him only about 30 minutes. He takes a backroad over to Wilsonville, then up I-5. So the traffic really is not bad, unless there is an accident or construction, and then he just takes alternate routes.

It is about 45 minutes to the airport (not in rush hour traffic) from here, so from Mac add another 30 minutes.

[Redrover]

Great, someone else has joined out conversation. If you don't mind telling me, what was it about Sherwood that caused you to choose it over other communities in the area such as Mac and Wilsonville? Obviously, proximity to Portland was one reason but were there any other tangible reasons to choose one over the other? And on the subject of time to PDX, is there any such thing as a shuttle from any of the towns in the general area? When we are down in Corvallis visiting my sister, she picks us up when we come in (we spend the night in Portland and shop) but we take a bus shuttle from Corvallis right to the curb at the airport. I would love to not have to drive and park.

[lifes2short]

I was born and raised here in OR (Salem), but after college graduation I married a military officer so we moved all over the country. When he retired, we knew we wanted to stay in the PNW. So we had a leg up when it came to househunting, even though areas had changed so much over the years.

We did look at Wilsonville, and I liked it , but my husband hated it. He refers to it as the worlds largest strip mall. I tell him no, that that title belongs to Beaverton Seriously though...we both have very different opinions on the town. We did not even look at Mac since a daily commute was more than what we wanted.

I always refer to Sherwood as Mayberry The community is amazing, for all ages. Our schools are very good and have fantastic support from the entire community, not just families with young children. We have the Robin Hood Festival in July, the Cruisin car show in June, and a small but very good farmers markets on Saturday mornings. In the summer on Wed. nights there is Music on the Green in Stella Olsen Park. Free music, food available, and just a nice excuse for socializing.

As far as a shuttle, there are a couple. We have used them, and they are ok, but feel they are very expensive. When we lived in Seattle they had an awesome shuttle with reasonable rates. The ones here just do not come close, in service and rates, IMO. So we just drive and park. The last time we took a shuttle, it was around $50 per person each way.