Need help picking a suburb

[4122]

Buffalo Grove- No downtown; lots of families; best parks out of towns you mentioned in your previous post, there's a great festival every Labor Day weekend called Buffalo Grove Days that people from all over the north suburbs go to; not really many restaurants or stores in Buffalo Grove, but close to other towns that do; a bit tough to find something in your budget, but not impossible; I've seen some nice sized 3 bed 2 bath houses;

Wheeling- No downtown; restaurant row (an area on Milwaukee ave full of restaurants and there are a lot of excellent restaurants); most affordable between Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights, and Buffalo Grove

Arlington Heights- Nice downtown; good restaurants; pretty tough to find a house in your budget

Glenview- Most expensive, very hard to find a nice house within your budget; 2 downtowns, the Glen which is a nice downtown area, and downtown Glenview which is ok

[wjj]

Originally Posted by 4122

Buffalo Grove- No downtown; lots of families; best parks out of towns you mentioned in your previous post, there's a great festival every Labor Day weekend called Buffalo Grove Days that people from all over the north suburbs go to; not really many restaurants or stores in Buffalo Grove, but close to other towns that do; a bit tough to find something in your budget, but not impossible; I've seen some nice sized 3 bed 2 bath houses;

I have lived in BG (Lake County side) for over 25 years and 4122 pretty much hits it on the head. The vibe in BG is quiet neighborhoods and open space (in addition to all of the parks, there are two golf courses and a large working farm that is surrounded by the village (this farm draws huge crowds in the fall for various fests - especially around Halloween - and has great fresh produce right off the vine). As for walking, the parks tend to abut one another so long strolls through the open space is easy. For example, Green Lake Park starts a little south of Aptikistic Road. Walking south through the park, you cross Deerfield Road and are immediately in Rylko Park (large open nature area in addition to the park and health club, skate park, roller rink (ice rink in the winter)). Keep walking south through that park and cross the foot bridge over McHenry Road and you are in Willow Stream Park, the largest park in BG. Continue walking south through Willow Stream and you hit BG Golf Course. Walk around the golf course and cross Lake Cook Road and you are in Emmerich Park (which is where BG Days is held). All that time, you may not see a single store since you will be on walking/bike paths in the parks the entire way.

But that is the way the residents like it. It is not urban at all - by choice. There is a large commercial/industrial base, but it is mostly east of the tracks with almost no residential properties in the area save one apartment complex on Deerfield. Recently, there was a proposal to develop part of the golf course into a glitzy village town center. Protests arose immediately, including the formation of a PAC to challenge anyone on the board who supported it. The deal died but the village president and several on the board are being challenged in next week's election anyway just for considering the proposal, even though they eventually rejected it.

In BG, expect to drive to get anything, but the drive will only be 5 (to local grocery stores) to 15 (all of the Vernon Hills shopping) minutes. There are many on this board who sing the praises of walkable urban-like downtown areas in certain suburbs, but that is definitely not Buffalo Grove - by design. A big bonus if you live on the Lake County side is District 96 K-8 schools and Stevenson High School. Both at the very top of schools in the Chicago suburban area, and in the case of Stevenson, the country.

[hiidee53]

Wow, great information wjj and 4122... very much appreciated!! I love the sound of all the parks. Growing up in WI we're very used to driving everywhere so that wouldn't be an issue for us.

On the flip side, I'm thinking at this stage in our life we may still want the restaurants and downtown though. Sounds like we'll need to make a trip to Arlington Heights to check it out and consider an increase to the budget.