Royal Palms area of N. Central Phoenix (low income, apartment complexes)

[nolagirl]

Does anyone have any feedback on this area? It looks nice, but is it safe? How are the schools, stores, etc?

Thanks!

[observer53]

Don't know anything specific about the schools, but it's a very nice older area. Lots of green, big trees, etc. I would think that it is generally safe (there's some crime everywhere, so "safe" doesn't mean crime free. As far as the "stores", there are the usual stores for everyday shopping, I'm not sure what you are asking in that regard. For malls, you'd have to drive a little or a lot, depending on which mall or power center, but it's a nice area to live in.

[grmi66]

Know a few people that grew up in that neighborhood and one that still does. Plus I have lived within walking distance of Royal Palm within the past year. It's in the Washington School District and everyone that I knew that had kids sent them to a private school or a charter school. Downside to the neighborhood is that less than half a mile away is 19th Avenue which has a heavy concentration of low income housing and apartment complexes. So those kids fill up the local elementary schools.

You also get to see the beauty of Phoenix zoning or lack thereof, you can be in a neighborhood with half million to million dollar homes and walk a few blocks and be in the 'hood. As far as crime, it's like living in any big city. Just make sure that you keep your house locked up, car locked up and you should be fine. There is still a community feel to that neighborhood and people keep an eye out for suspicious cars and people going through the neighborhood.

With all that being said, if I won the lottery I would buy a home in the Royal Palm Neighborhood in a heartbeat. It's only 20 minutes to downtown, 5 minutes from an extensive trail system at the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, there is a Sprout's and a huge used bookstore that is one of my favorite stores. Couple of my favorite Mexican restaurants are a 5 minute drive and someone just opened a microbrewery down the street. I think it is one of the hidden gems of Phoenix.

[BuckeyeBoyDJ]

I went to school in that area from 96-2009. I went to Orangewood Elementary, Royal Palm Middle School, and graduated from Sunnyslope. Orangewood and Richard E. Miller actually used to be pretty decent schools with awesome faculty and great parent involvement but the demographics of the area have changed quite a bit since the new millennium and today if I had kids I wouldn't send them to either school. I don't know how Royal Palm Middle School is now but when I went there from 03-05 it was terrible. It was super overcrowded and there were fights all the time and I really did not enjoy my middle school years there. The Washington School District really isn't a highly regarded school district these days. A lot of parents in the area send their kids to school in the Madison School District and I had a few peers who went to Arizona School for the Arts. Now Sunnyslope High School on the other hand is AWESOME! Send your kids there by all means. It's academically respected and I enjoyed my 4 years of high school there (05-09) the teachers are phenomenal, the school excels academically, and the athletics department is generally decent. All in all Sunnyslope greatly prepared me for college. Speaking of the neighborhood the actual Royal Palm neighborhood is quite safe. Like the above mentioned all the riff raff is concentrated on 19th Ave. Lots of shady apartment complexes that don't attract the classiest of people and a lot of heavy foot traffic in the area. The light rail is also currently being extended in that area so there's a lot of construction also.

[Valley Native]

I don't know much about the schools, but this area is located in one of Phoenix's greenbelts. With that said, it is an older area, but the neighborhood itself is very well kept for the most part. I really like areas like these around Phoenix because of the fact that they ARE older, and not dominated by cookie cutter homes & bland desert yards like many of the newer suburban developments are.