Sun City is not a walking town (Phoenix, Scottsdale: 2014, home)

[ndcairngorm]

This is not a criticism of the town; I would like to get resident's opinions on this. We are thinking of purchasing in Sun City but we love having the ability to walk everywhere - to shops, to activities, etc. - and I realize this probably cannot be the case in Sun City as it is so spread out.

Driving is not our favorite thing (although we own two cars by necessity) and we would like to live in a place where we did not have to jump in the car for every little thing. We love the idea of all the activities and wonder if we would be driving right up to the top of the town for one particular activity and right down to the bottom for another one, every day. We have visited there recently, staying with my brother in his house, and the drive to Fry's grocery was ok but the traffic was like any big city.

Any comments?

[exit2lef]

I always thought of Sun City as a golf cart town.

Sun City residents celebrate new golf-cart law

[Mouser]

Welcome to the forum ndcairngorm

If the amenities of a 55+ community are not as important as walking to
places I'd suggest you look into Verrado just west of Sun City
Verrado | Around Town - Verrado

Traffic is a bit more easy from April to September.

[thinkalot]

There is no place in Sun City where you can walk everywhere. You may live near a few stores or a rec center but that would be it.

You would only be driving to the top(Marinette) for a few crafts, pickleball, and basketball. At the bottom(Mountain View) I don't think there is anything that is not offered at other rec centers. I mostly go to Fairway and Sundial, occasionally Bell and Lakeview. All 7 have pools and fitness rooms. You can get a list at the visitors center to see what is offered at which rec center. It is also on the web site.

Traffic is only bad on Bell and Grand. Once in awhile on Thunderbird. You can always cut through neighborhoods so you come out on those streets near where you are going.

I had the same concerns about what was offered where before I moved here. After I came here I found that wasn't a factor.

[ndcairngorm]

Thanks for all your comments. I looked at the Verrado site - it seems very interesting, but maybe more of an artificial small town make to look like a real small town - not exactly what I wanted to say, but anyway we saw a youtube of the town made by a disinterested person and there were a lot of cars downtown but no people walking anywhere.

I've been lowering my expectations in order to find something workable in Sun City and have about decided it's possible to get near either a supermarket or a rec center fairly easily (but not both) and manage that way. I don't want to give up my idea of walking lots of places.

[thinkalot]

A street separates Fry's and the Oakmont Rec Center. Oakmont has Fitness room, pool, spa, lawn bowling, lapidary, ceramics, water volleyball, canasta, bunco, weaving, and more. That is the largest shopping area in Sun City with Fry's and the stores in that plaza and many other stores in the other plaza plus the places at the end of the parking lot by Grand, Dairy Queen, KFC, banks, etc.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by ndcairngorm

Thanks for all your comments. I looked at the Verrado site - it seems very interesting, but maybe more of an artificial small town make to look like a real small town - not exactly what I wanted to say, but anyway we saw a youtube of the town made by a disinterested person and there were a lot of cars downtown but no people walking anywhere.

I've been lowering my expectations in order to find something workable in Sun City and have about decided it's possible to get near either a supermarket or a rec center fairly easily (but not both) and manage that way. I don't want to give up my idea of walking lots of places.

Verrado is not walkable. Well, I suppose it is if you live close to the fake downtown, but there is little there that you would want to walk to. Most of your shopping would be in Buckeye on the other side of the freeway or in Goodyear several miles up the road. Sun City and Verrado are very different kinds of places. Sun City people ride golf carts and Buicks and Cadillacs. It's a retirement place and the traffic moves at that kind of pace.

[engineman]

Check out Sun City West, it is not as stretched out as Sun City.

[wit-nit]

SC West is stretched out more than SC and definitely not walkable. You need some type of transportation to get to the few small shopping areas the have. Unless you live next to a shopping center you do have to travel a bit.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Short of downtown, Old Scottsdale and parts of Tempe, the term walkable should not be used to describe Phoenix area as a whole. As Ponderosa said, Verrado is anything but walkable. In fact, get ready to drive a lot. I would have picked it as my 1st choice but the lack of store and restaurant selection was the exclusive reason why I passed on the area.

The best you can do is pick a home in SCW or SC that is closer to restaurants and a grocery store. Plan on cruising with your gas or electric golf cart and that's the best that you can expect.