Moving to Seattle from Michigan, tell me about Columbia City (school, zip code) - Seattle and King County Suburbs - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

mea-oh · 11-03-2009, 09:17 AM

The school issue is something we haven't thought about seriously yet. We are interested in adopting at some point, but we're not there yet. I certainly hope Referendum-71 passes today. It would make Washington much less welcoming if it doesn't.

Are there any/many fitness centers in Columbia City? Maybe a YMCA or other type of gym? I've found that the only way I can consistently work out is if a fitness center is extremely convenient. If I have to drive far, I won't last long. Call me lazy, but at least I know myself! ;-)

Ira500 · 11-03-2009, 11:59 AM

There is a fitness center in Columbia City:

Columbia City Fitness Center - Columbia City - Seattle, WA

Also, down the road in Rainier Beach is the Rainier Beach Community Center which has workout facilities and a pool...
And I'm expecting Referendum 71 to pass pretty handily.

mea-oh · 11-07-2009, 08:36 AM

What's the grocery store situation like in CC?

Ira500 · 11-07-2009, 08:56 AM

There's a Safeway at the north end of Columbia City, a more upscale QFC a couple of minutes north, a PCC Food Co-op a couple of minutes east, a Viet Wah asian supermarket a couple of minutes west, and the farmers market, a good bakery, and a good butcher shop in Columbia City proper.
Columbia City itself is actually a very small neighborhood, maybe a few blocks long? where a neighborhood like Capitol Hill or Ballard are quite huge. But the Lakewood-Seward Park neighborhood borders CC, and stays nice as it heads east. My favorite pizza place in Seattle is not far from Columbia City at 50th Ave S. and S. Genessee St.

mea-oh · 11-07-2009, 04:53 PM

Also close to Costco, which is nice! :-)

tobester · 11-07-2009, 06:15 PM

Close to Costco #1 - a source of pride on the south end. Big thing I like about Columbia City/Seward Park is the twenty minute drive to the airport (regardless of time of day). When we have to pick some one up, we tell them call us when you land. We leave the house then. Never any unneeded waiting.

Ira500 · 11-07-2009, 06:40 PM

....and you just go a little ways north to get on I-90 eastbound, making getting to Bellevue pretty easy from Columbia City/Seward Park.

mea-oh · 11-07-2009, 06:47 PM

The more I find out about Columbia City, the more I like the idea of living there. Obviously I'll want to check it out in person before too long, but I really like the sound of it. My partner and I hope to spend around $300k for a home, but know we might have to spend up to $400k to get what we want.

Can you get decent yards in CC? We need something for the dogs. Plus a garage, three bedrooms, and two baths would be great too. I am asking too much?

Ira500 · 11-07-2009, 11:04 PM

Can you get decent yards in CC? We need something for the dogs. Plus a garage, three bedrooms, and two baths would be great too. I am asking too much?

Yeah, at the moment you're asking a little too much. There's not a lot currently for sale in Columbia City...I did a search looking for all homes for sale between Martin Luther King and the lake, from Genesee on the north to Orcas on the south, and there are only a few homes under 400 thousand. You can get decent sized yards, but not with a garage and two bathrooms. Go to a site like redfin.com and play with the maps, changing the parameters to see what comes up. But homes with most of what you want have sold within the last year in the mid 3's...
Don't rule out Columbia City, but you might also want to look at areas 5 or 10 minutes away from Columbia City...

sapphos · 11-15-2009, 03:22 PM

Could I piggyback on this neighborhood with a couple of more questions?

we don't have an issue with kids since we plan to homeschool. It seems like the neighborhood is very diverse ethnically is that true? My husband is French and one of the things we like more about Seattle than Portland is that it seems to be much more ethnically diverse (and if it also a neighborhood that is gay friendly that tells us a lot about the diversity as well

).

How long would it take to get to the cortiva institute massage school? the address is 425 Pontius Ave.

Also how is the water quality in that area and the noise levels as well. Where we live in Miami we have all the noise from the airport. Also, how green is there in terms of vegetation?

thanks!