House in the Shooks Run area downtown (Boulder: houses, safe neighborhood)

[ckdub]

Hi All! First, I just want to mention that thoughts and prayers have been sent your way as the city deals with the recent fires. I pray for relief very soon...

I had a question about a house my hubs and I found today in the Shooks Run neighborhood downtown. It is a renovated home on E Platte between N Wahsatch and N El Paso very close to the Shooks Run Trail. The front of the house faces E Platte but it looks like it's on a frontage road, and I was curious if it would be very noisy from the traffic? E Platte looks like a relatively busy avenue, but we LOVE the area. Is this a pretty safe neighborhood? Is it considered a desirable area? Is is in the D11 school district.

Both of us like to ride our bikes to various venues, and with the trail nearby, my hubby could ride his bike to work at a nearby hospital. We also like that it is close to downtown and other cafes, restaurants, etc in apparent walking distance. Any input is appreciated!

[otowi]

That sounds like it is right next to the Palmer High School gymnasium. I don't think that's a frontage road, I think it just has a wide median. That would be a rather noisy high traffic area, relatively safe, relatively desirable but not necessarily "top of the line". If you like to be right in the middle of the things, that's not exactly dead center but fairly close. Shooks Run Trail to the north is quite nice, but south of there it gets into kind of a weird neighborhood - very quiet but almost industrial. I would investigate it carefully before hanging out on that part of it by myself at night.

[ckdub]

Yes, the house is a few homes east of the baseball field/track right there. I don't think we would be interested in looking at properties south of E Platte at this point, so not too worried about the southern part of the trail. We would mostly travel on it north, it seems. Hmmm... we definitely don't want to be in a loud area due to traffic. We may have to reconsider the house.

[Mike from back east]

Platte is a major E-W arterial street, it will have plenty of traffic. Try to avoid it. Should be more homes in that area to choose from.

Search for homes on ppar.com as it has a neat map-based search with decent filtering abilities.

[Miss Hepburn]

I know that area like the back of my hand.
If noise is an issue, yes it will be "noisiER" than many other streets to chose from
with not much relief at 2 am. Sorry to say.
The frontage Rd. Would be a drop less, sure...Great location for your activities.
Something most people don't know...shh...termites abound in that whole area...even blocks away from the creek. I owned and sold property walking distance from you
between Wahsatch and Institute.
And, oh boy.

A side street going N and S would be SO much better if noise is an issue and
just privacy.
Sorry.

[ckdub]

Thanks, Mike. Yes, I love ppar.com. I actually found this house on that site.

Miss Hepburn, is there a termite issue that couldn't be helped with regular spraying or whatnot? We live in TN where there is also a massive termite problem if you don't treat the house. Par for the course... In other parts of the city, are the termites not as much of an issue or is it everywhere?

[Miss Hepburn]

Termites...so many people have no idea...maybe bec it is dry here
and they think they can't exist...but when you study them...and ya do when ya get them
You find out they are subterrainian....so they follow this water all the way up to Austin Bluffs and Academy!!

I'm just saying, have your inspector look for signs.
The signs can be covered up cleverly.
Yes, they can be repelled...
Never exterminated as u prob know. Not as long as the Queen is underground.

You will see big holes in foundations around there that have had insecticides pumped into them and patched up...so the termites go to the next house.

[jillnjim]

Go to street view on google maps. What appears to be a frontage road is really an old-style on-off for which is, I think, El Paso. Like others said, very close to a large high school, head shop, and lots of late night activity.

[allprolab]

Personally I would look a little more north. Upper Shooks Run does not have as much street action and noise and is a very nice quiet little neighborhood. I see a lot of people out doing things to their yards and houses every weekend. IMO it's an up and coming neighborhood with great potential.

[ckdub]

Thanks so much, guys. Yes, it seems like a great area with lots of perks and potential, but we are definitely looking at practical/resale issues for this home purchase, too. I think we would ultimately like to have a property on a lot that also has a small rentable cottage or guest house that backs up to an alley. Looks like there may be several options for that kind of lot in the Upper Shooks Run area and surrounding neighborhoods.

We love that it is close to downtown and some of the other neighborhoods with great character like OCC and ONE. Like I mentioned before, we also like that it seems to be in a decent walkable/bikable section of town. I think we will look a little farther north and off a main artery.

Along that note, do other east/west avenues like E Cache La Poudre, E Boulder, & E Uintah have the same type of feel to them? Are any of those a little more residential friendly?