pittsburgh northern suburbs (Franklin Park, Bellevue, West View: chapel, new home, school district)

[asdf]

Is Ohara like fox chapel? In what ways is it different?
Is there opportunity for a new home in fox chapel, or is it all older homes?
Is it true that sewickley does not have convenient shopping (specifically grocery)? I do not want to pay designer prices for oreos.
My impression of the north hills was that there were alot of strip malls. I am looking for a place with a centralized shopping district so I don't have to get the kids in and out of the car too much.
Our home search is leading us to the fox chapel area, but we are open to suggestions and opinions of those in the know.
Any suggestions?
My opinions are based on a whirlwind several hour tour of northern suburbs, and so I am working with a paucity of info (except for what I have learned on this forum).

We are interested in newer larger home (4+ or 5BR) on about 1 acre or more within 20-25 min of city in very good school district. Older homes with nice updates would be considered, but because we are a pretty busy family, I can't see us getting into a home that needs alot of updating. We dislike very transient communities with strip malls.

[guylocke]

Stay away from North Hills. If you have to travel McKnight Rd every day you'll kill yourself. Sewickley has a Giant Eagle in close range, not sure why people think they have no where to shop.

[claremarie]

I grew up in Ross Twp, and though I've lived in the DC area for 20 years, my parents and inlaws still live in the North Hills. There are many different communities in the North Hills in all price ranges, ranging from modest older West View and Ross to the McMansions in Fox Chapel and Franklin Park and beyond.

McKnight Road is not nearly as bad as boylocke contends, and though it's not the place where I would shop for daily necessities, it has all the big box retailers, plus Ross Park Mall. I have never found the traffic to be unmanageable, even on weekends, but traffic is relative, so it all depends upon where you live now.
Fox Chapel has long been one of the most desirable communities in Pittsburgh, but I don't think there are lots of new homes there. Generally, communities of newer homes on an acre or more may be outside your 20-25 minute commute zone. Most newer North Hills communities have plenty of convenient grocery/drug store/hardware store shopping available, but they will be in strip malls. Older communities like West View, Bellevue, Sewickely will have more traditional "downtown" shopping areas, but the stores will be smaller than in the newer suburbs, the parking much less plentiful, and the homes much older.

[Smoker]

Fox Chapel will meet your needs if you don't have to have brand new. It will be easier to find a 5 BR home there than anywhere else, especially for the amount of land you'd like. If it's an older home you probably wouldn't know it when you're inside. Downtown and the stadiums are 15 minutes away, after you get to the highway. It has a good school system. My guess is that all the vacant lots have been bought up by investors, maybe not. Fox Chapel has its own shopping centers with two large food/ supermarkets. The newest and largest mall in Pittsburgh is 15 minutes away. It's hard to estimate times because FC is a large area and it depends where you live. Fox Chapel is one of the top 100 communities in the country for a variety of reasons.

Leaving Fox Chapel and entering Ohara Twp., it's not easy to see a difference except their street signs used to have their name on them and maybe still do.

North Hills can be a nightmare. The main road goes for miles with strip malls on each side, lots of traffic lights, lots of traffic.