Moving to Fort Lewis... (Seattle, Tacoma: real estate, apartment, rental homes)

[lprodrig]

Hi everyone,

We are relocating to Fort Lewis in august/Sept 08... I'm looking for some information on areas to live and good schools. My husband will be at Fort Lewis, but i'll be working in Tacoma-downtown. I'm a soon to be license architect and will be looking for a job. We have a 4yr old daughter and we are looking for a good/safe/nice area to live. I need to check on Pre-k schools. I've read about DuPont area, and we will be renting a house/ condo. I'm not sure what schools are like or how much time it will take for me or my husband to commute to work. I need help!!!... we are relocating from Georgia!!!

[Ultrarunner]

You can Google Olympia and Rental Homes or Hometown Rentals Olympia and find several sites with good descriptions of available Rentals...

I'm sure the Base Housing Officer will also have lots of information available...

Dupont has lots of new housing and Lacey does too... There is some funding controversy regarding the North Thurston School District and the upcoming Property Tax Levy...

The entire area is very supportive in general... except of for pockets of Protests that have occurred at the Port of Olympia...

Welcome to the Evergreen State

[vette-dude]

Originally Posted by lprodrig

Hi everyone,

We are relocating to Fort Lewis in august/Sept 08... I'm looking for some information on areas to live and good schools. My husband will be at Fort Lewis, but i'll be working in Tacoma-downtown. I'm a soon to be license architect and will be looking for a job. We have a 4yr old daughter and we are looking for a good/safe/nice area to live. I need to check on Pre-k schools. I've read about DuPont area, and we will be renting a house/ condo. I'm not sure what schools are like or how much time it will take for me or my husband to commute to work. I need help!!!... we are relocating from Georgia!!!

Hi, so where are you in GA? I was @ Fort Lewis a few times when I was in the service, it's a nice fort and has about anything you would need....the PX is great, like a city mall without the rif raf..... Olympia/Lacey comes to mind for a nice place to live with good schools..not knowing how far you may want to commute to work...we are talking approximately 30 or so minutes depending on the traffic on I-5..... There are also some good schools in Tacoma...just do some checking around first, also you may want to contact the Chamber of Commerce in Tacoma and Olympia for some detailed information....Another city not too far away but is nice is Puyallup.....east of Fort Lewis... Hope this helps some.... Enjoy your tour....pm for some detailed information if you want....vette-dude

[Sandy Nelson]

Iprodrig,

The housing office at Fort Lewis (next to Waller Hall) has tons of information on home and apartment rentals. The website of the Dupont Northwest Landing Residential Owners Association also lists rentals in Dupont. Dupont is a master planned community right across the highway from main post Ft. Lewis. It's divided into 3 equal parts of commercial spaces, residential spaces and park spaces. The quaint downtown consists restaurants, cafes and small businesses. There is a park-and-ride from which to catch the bus to Tacoma if you don't want to drive the car. Your husband's commute would probably be 5-10 minutes, depending of where he works in Ft. Lewis. The drive to downtown Tacoma would be 20-30 minutes. If you choose to live in the Tacoma area, you might like to check into the North End, or University Place communities.

Welcome.

Sandy

[lprodrig]

Originally Posted by vette-dude

Hi, so where are you in GA? I was @ Fort Lewis a few times when I was in the service, it's a nice fort and has about anything you would need....the PX is great, like a city mall without the rif raf..... Olympia/Lacey comes to mind for a nice place to live with good schools..not knowing how far you may want to commute to work...we are talking approximately 30 or so minutes depending on the traffic on I-5..... There are also some good schools in Tacoma...just do some checking around first, also you may want to contact the Chamber of Commerce in Tacoma and Olympia for some detailed information....Another city not too far away but is nice is Puyallup.....east of Fort Lewis... Hope this helps some.... Enjoy your tour....pm for some detailed information if you want....vette-dude

Thanks for the info. We are relocating from Augusta, GA... we really enjoyed this area, except for the allergies!
I'm really focusing on finding a mid point between the fort and Tacoma's downtown area. I really don't rely in the information the housing office might give, since all the information is relied on the person who is helping you at that time. I really enjoy this forum since I can get different points of view. I really appreciate if you can give me any other information. So far de Dupont area is the one that looks more mid-distance than Lacey or Pullayup....

Lprodrig

[rissaib]

I have been contacting all the chamber of commerce surrounding the base and i am thinking that Lakewood looks nice for the next couple of years.. anybody have any different information? coming from VA i am just nervous about the rain!

[marita]

How about spanaway?Spanaway, Washington (WA) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders
I live in Spanaway/Parkland.It takes me 20 minutes to get downtown Tacoma.I use Pacific which is one straight road with nonstop stores for all youe needs.No I-5 Interstate needed.A Bus stop on every corner.
I also get to the center of Fort Lewis in 20 minutes from spanaway without using I-5.
Let me know if you need more info.

[jjjmr02]

Dupont is a beautiful area. It's only about a five minute commute to the base from the southern most gate off of I-5. There are some gorgeous houses there, but they are a bit pricier. The area down near the sound is gorgeous. There is a park down on the water, Shoreline Park, that we frequented when we lived there. But there are restaurants and shops in the area, as well. I would definitely recommend the Dupont area if your job will be in Tacoma. I wouldn't recommend any other areas near the base in that direction, at all. South or east of the base would be the only areas we considered, and east would be too much of a commute for you. Good luck!

[cobolt]

Good God. Stay away from Spanaway and Lakewood. Too many spotty areas. Dupont, Lacey, Steilacoom are all good bets the commute will be easy.

[1armymom]

I have a similar question, but on behalf of my son, who is also relocating to Ft. Lewis in September. We live in Seattle and he asked me to do research on non-military neighborhoods. He would like to straddle Tacoma (work) and Seattle (social life). From what I read on this website, North Tacoma might be a good area for a single officer who wants a nice apartment with a somewhat urban feel. I think south of Ft. Lewis would put him too far from Seattle for weekends. What about Federal Way? I have to admit to complete ignorance about this area, even though we've lived in Seattle for 30 years.