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All I know, is that a LOT of Chicagoans are settling in the Pleasant Prairie area in WI. A lot. Here, they get to enjoy Milwaukee and Chicago, because they're, basically, in the metro of each.
I would consider Pleasant Prairie to be a Chicago suburb. I just don't see the connection to Milwaukee you suggest.
Seriously. There are certainly some very nice suburbs of IL but after living in Munster, IN for several years now I wouldn't trade my community for the vast majority of the IL suburbs, especially anything on the south or southwest sides. No thank you. I will just keep my great schools, lower cost of living, 5-minute drive to Whole Foods suburbs thank you very much. Meanwhile I will be able to fully fund my children's 529 college fund.
People just write NWI off b/c they only think of Gary. This is not unlike the national perception of Chicago just being full of gang-bangers across the city. It is unfounded but is a perception that is out there for people that don't know any better.
In a sense NWI is doing IL a favor b/c it offers an alternative of staying in the region if you have had it with IL politics and you aren't up for the IL tax increase which is sure to come in the near future. Better to keep people in the region than to lose them completely. NWI, SE WI and IL are all intertwined.
Is there any portion of NWI that is walkable the way many other suburbs are? For example, living in Elmhurst, I walk to the Metra to get to work. On my way home I can easily stop at Jewel or Fruitful Yield if I need groceries. There are many bars/restaurants that I can walk to. I can walk to drop off and pick up my daughter from daycare. During the workweek I barely use my car. From what I can tell, that cannot be replicated anywhere in NWI. Especially the Metra commute, which is a huge positive in my daily life.
I would consider Pleasant Prairie to be a Chicago suburb. I just don't see the connection to Milwaukee you suggest.
Not even remotely would it be considered a suburb- it's still a bedrooom community at best. This is merely a community that provides a lower cost option for many IL residents to stay in the general vicinity of jobs in the northern/nw suburbs.
The connection to Milwaukee is larger than you assume. Some folks have moved there from communities around Milwaukee where one earner works on the WI side of the border, while another takes advantage of IL opportunities w/o the headaches of IL taxes.
Is there any portion of NWI that is walkable the way many other suburbs are? For example, living in Elmhurst, I walk to the Metra to get to work. On my way home I can easily stop at Jewel or Fruitful Yield if I need groceries. There are many bars/restaurants that I can walk to. I can walk to drop off and pick up my daughter from daycare. During the workweek I barely use my car. From what I can tell, that cannot be replicated anywhere in NWI. Especially the Metra commute, which is a huge positive in my daily life.
Nothing like downtown Elmhurst. NWI leaders want to replicate that and there is a plan for it with the extension to Munster (they have funding mechanisms for TOD development lined-up along with the train funding). The SS train (runs partially on Metra tracks) currently goes through the older, more industrial portions of NWI which are not "upscale" like Elmhurst. We have small pockets of "walkable" downtown areas but nothing I would label as "nice" directly off the train line.
I really like Elmhurst and we gave it a hard look when we were suburb shopping. But basically to be in a typical suburban family-sized home in that "walkable" area that you are describing (where using your car could be optional) the cost for the type of home we were looking for was going to be in the $700K-$1M range (we didn't want to buy something which could basically be a tear-down in a few years). We looked outside of the core area but it just ended up feeling more "typical suburbia" and in my mind that "suburbia" type feel is pretty interchangeable and there is no reason to pay a price premium for it if the schools are more of less commensurate. Believe me, I get the draw to a place like downtown Elmhurst. It is just that even most people who live in Elmhurst can't afford it.
We landed in Munster at around $440K (well below budget) but yes there is a trade-off that I can't walk to the grocery store. It's 5 min to a Whole Foods via car. I can bike around the neighborhood and nearby trails but I can't readily walk to Starbucks. It's also a 5 min drive to the East or West for that....like I said, more typical suburbia.
Nothing like downtown Elmhurst. NWI leaders want to replicate that and there is a plan for it with the extension to Munster (they have funding mechanisms for TOD development lined-up along with the train funding). The SS train (runs partially on Metra tracks) currently goes through the older, more industrial portions of NWI which are not "upscale" like Elmhurst. We have small pockets of "walkable" downtown areas but nothing I would label as "nice" directly off the train line.
I really like Elmhurst and we gave it a hard look when we were suburb shopping. But basically to be in a typical suburban family-sized home in that "walkable" area that you are describing (where using your car could be optional) the cost for the type of home we were looking for was going to be in the $700K-$1M range (we didn't want to buy something which could basically be a tear-down in a few years). We looked outside of the core area but it just ended up feeling more "typical suburbia" and in my mind that "suburbia" type feel is pretty interchangeable and there is no reason to pay a price premium for it if the schools are more of less commensurate. Believe me, I get the draw to a place like downtown Elmhurst. It is just that even most people who live in Elmhurst can't afford it.
We landed in Munster at around $440K (well below budget) but yes there is a trade-off that I can't walk to the grocery store. It's 5 min to a Whole Foods via car. I can bike around the neighborhood and nearby trails but I can't readily walk to Starbucks. It's also a 5 min drive to the East or West for that....like I said, more typical suburbia.
If the plans pan out and parts of NWI become walkable, that would be a huge benefit to the region. You are right that the cost to love in a walkable area is high. We paid that premium because it is worth it for us, but I agree that once you are outside the downtown core most suburbs are pretty interchangable.
Whether most of the people around me can afford to be here, I honestly have no idea. We can afford it comfortably but my husband has a very good job and I have a profitable business.
If the plans pan out and parts of NWI become walkable, that would be a huge benefit to the region. You are right that the cost to love in a walkable area is high. We paid that premium because it is worth it for us, but I agree that once you are outside the downtown core most suburbs are pretty interchangable.
Whether most of the people around me can afford to be here, I honestly have no idea. We can afford it comfortably but my husband has a very good job and I have a profitable business.
Not quite a downtown but it seems someone is listening. Munster's Centennial Village which is under construction will be a step forward with shops, restaurants and even condos in an urban setting!
I know this view is outdated but I think when people from Chicago think of NWI they thing stink and sort of backwards people. I know that is not right now but years ago when you drove from here to Michigan it was so polluted and stinky you had to hold your nose. And I think the people from Chicago and its suburbs tended to look down on those there as backwards or maybe blue collar. I do recall a few years ago going to an event in NWI I think it was in Merrillville at a restaurant and everyone still smoked. I thought WTF. Nobody in Chicago smokes and the restaurants banned smoking a while ago.
I know this view is outdated but I think when people from Chicago think of NWI they thing stink and sort of backwards people. I know that is not right now but years ago when you drove from here to Michigan it was so polluted and stinky you had to hold your nose. And I think the people from Chicago and its suburbs tended to look down on those there as backwards or maybe blue collar. I do recall a few years ago going to an event in NWI I think it was in Merrillville at a restaurant and everyone still smoked. I thought WTF. Nobody in Chicago smokes and the restaurants banned smoking a while ago.
Smoking is banned in Indiana restaurants; however, not in bars.
As far as a "stigma", I agree as one who lived my whole life in Illinois I was shocked when my husband suggested we move from the SW suburbs to Indiana. However, now living here a little over a year I realize that most people only know what they see off the toll road. Or they think of places like Gary and East Chicago and think the entire is state is like that. I mean really, I can say the same for parts of Chicago but we all know the entire state of Illinois isn't one big ghetto! How many people from Illinois have ever been further into Indiana to places such as St. John, Schererville, Valporaiso or Crown Point? These town are beautiful and only 35 miles from downtown Chicago! And most of the people living in these towns are white collar workers, not blue collar. Of course many people already know Munster is a popular NW Indiana town, but unless you really look at what NW Indiana (and Indiana in general) has to offer then you really don't know. Is it walkable?
I can tell you that it's not for everyone. Most of my neighbors (us included) work in Illinois, so there is a commute, but we paid WAY less for a home equal to what we had and I don't need to say anything about the taxes! My children's schools are better then they were in Illinois as well. Is it walkable? For the most part no but there are areas that are. And to be honest, most parts of Illinois are not walkable either unless you're near the city.
We're happy, just as many others that are moving here from Illinois are!
There are several walkable enclaves in the region. Tops for me are Michigan City which has a rapidly improving downtown and even bigger plans in the pipeline, accessible by South Shore train; Valparaiso, which has done an interesting job connecting the old downtown with the university district, and Whiting, which is truly an urban gem. Others include Highland, Griffith, whose downtown has received some good press, even in Crain's; Hobart, loads of potential with a lovely lakeside setting but sort of hidden away by itself. Even East Chicago has seen great streetscape improvements (downtown is home to a kickass Jamaican joint), and my neighborhood of Miller Beach has seen steady improvements all around the neighborhood in the three years I've lived here.
Northwest Indiana is IMHO, the best part of suburban Chicagoland, lowest cost of living, cleanest state government, lowest taxes, an incredible rich diversity of towns, cities and rural area, the metro area's only National Park, most beautiful nature, greatest biodiversity. I chose to invest here because of what I see as a very very bright future. My house has already doubled in value and the taxes, won't even tell you how low, almost embarrassing. And for what it's worth, I grew up on the North Shore, would NEVER EVER trade the South Shore for that never-ending rat race of money, I'll stick to my dunetop house next to a six-mile beach surrounded by a national park in Gary, Indiana Gary, Indiana!
I know this view is outdated but I think when people from Chicago think of NWI they thing stink and sort of backwards people. I know that is not right now but years ago when you drove from here to Michigan it was so polluted and stinky you had to hold your nose. And I think the people from Chicago and its suburbs tended to look down on those there as backwards or maybe blue collar. I do recall a few years ago going to an event in NWI I think it was in Merrillville at a restaurant and everyone still smoked. I thought WTF. Nobody in Chicago smokes and the restaurants banned smoking a while ago.
And the closest business to downtown Chicago in NWI is..... a cigarette store.. wonder why...
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