New Albany, Westerville, Gahanna, Lewis Center (Columbus, Hamilton: best neighborhood, how much, houses)

[Pharmerwil]

Give me the pros and cons of the above cities. Moving with a family (all kids under 6). Wanting good school district with things to do.

[Rosebush1]

First of all Lewis Center is just a rural mailing address, there is no town. It is in Delaware County, rural subdivisions hodgepodge fashion. It is served by excellent schools, Olentangy school district. The drawbacks are commute times, traffic, no real community to draw people together. Services are provided by townships. Housing prices are reasonable on a per square foot basis. You generally get a fairly large lot.
Most areas get county water from Delco.
Frankly I've never cared for this area. But it is very popular.

Without knowing your housing price range it is hard to compare the rest.

New Albany is upscale housing, well planned community services and neighborhoods, excellent schools, wonderful biking and walking paths, a charming downtown area called Market Street. Houses are expensive.

Westerville is well regarded, very good schools, terrific parks and recreation services, a magnificent community center. It is anchored by one of the most charming downtowns you will ever see, it is called Uptown. Houses are less expensive than a comparable home in New Albany. There is lots of community spirit and pride.

Gahanna is a slight step below Westerville with very good schools and some of the same attributes. Some areas are too close to the airport and will be directly in the landing paths. Some neighborhoods to the northeast are near New Albany and very well laid out. Harrison Pond is the best neighborhood.

[captainclipper]

Try searching for your answer. This gets asked all the time.

[tripmom]

My vote would be for New Albany. However, without knowing your housing budget it is hard to say which communities would be the best fit.

New Albany is a one high school town with a great sense of community. Schools are very strong, nice community pool, Founders Day celebration in May, July 4th parade, and full of families involved in the town. Location is good if you will be using the airport and to get to Easton Town Center.

Gahanna is nice but schools are not as strong as NA.

Westerville is nice but my take was that it doesn't have the sense of community that NA does.

Lewis Center feeds into Olentangy, I believe. LC is kind of meh IMO but it is popular.

You might want to throw Worthington into the mix. Would be worthing checking out.

[Pharmerwil]

Looking at 350K max for a house. I don't know how much that will get in New Albany.

[bgfalcons86]

I'd second what tripmom posted. You might consider Worthington. Schools rate a bit better than Westerville and Gahanna (which are both good), and Olde Worthington is attractive. I'm not a big fan of either Westerville or Gahanna, but it definitely has its supporters here, so I think it is more a matter of taste/focus than anything else and still worth considering.

Lewis Center has awesome schools (Olentangy), but like most others on this thread, I'm not a fan as it feels more like a conglomeration of subdivisions that have been assigned a mailing address. Powell is more attractive than Lewis Center, but a bit more expensive, too. 350K should get you something in Worthington or Olentangy. New Albany is a bit more of a stretch for that price, but you could find something.

[carlek]

As I've said before on many posts, I am kind of the Westerville cheerleader here, but that's because we moved here 2.5 years ago from a more centrally-located, "hip" neighborhood (Clintonville) and I absolutely love it. There IS a huge community spirit here, and it's very welcoming. The City of Westerville is almost manic in its development and promotion of different events, from Parks & Rec type stuff, to parades, concerts, plays, etc. The lovely small businesses of the Uptown district are very well supported by the community, and give a lot back. I have also been very impressed with the schools. I had a very chi-chi private prep school education so wasn't sure what public school would be like for my daughter, but I have been thrilled with her school and teachers (Alcott ES). Westerville is a very large school district, so different schools may score better or worse on places like Great Schools or SchoolDigger (I prefer the latter) due mostly to the varying socio-economic makeup of different parts of the district. The schools that border Columbus tend to have populations with higher socio-economic needs, and some scores reflect that. But I have no doubt about the rigorous standards or strong teaching in any of the schools.

$350k will find you a pretty nice house here. I live in the 43082 zip (not technically City of Westerville, it's Genoa Township but with excellent Westerville Schools--Alcott/Fouse Elementaries, Genoa MS, Central HS), and that's probably about as low as you'll find in this zip (well, maybe $280-300,000 is the entry level, depending on neighborhood), but there is more variance in price in the 43081 zip. I've gotten very familiar with Westerville over the past few years and can honestly say there are very few parts of it I would not be happy to live in. It's just a lovely place!

[wrightflyer]

For a max of 350K, New Albany will be outside your price range. Especially when you factor in the high property taxes that make it look like it should be in parts of the NE (but in reality, it is lower than NJ, CT, MA but it is high for this area). Of course, those taxes provide for great services, programs, schools and safety (i.e. responsive police, fire, EMS).

Westerville is a good option with plenty of programs (both within the city infrastructure and schools), but it can have varying socio-economic areas (for good or bad), mainly because the district pulls from portions of NE Columbus proper and Minerva Park. It creates a more heterogeneous look compared to NA's stratosphere atmosphere, which does create a Jones lifestyle. I love NA, but I couldn't live there because of that (and affordability).

If Westerville is too big school wise for you, Gahanna may be a good option if you need to stay on this side of town. Decent amount of diversity similar to Westerville, but the district is smaller and there is only one large high school as opposed to three medium-to-large high schools like in Westerville. The police are always out, but for the benefit of catching speeders on Hamilton, Granville and US-62. They are also responsive (for the one time I called, which ended up being because the noise from the outdoor prom at neighboring Columbus Academy was too loud. FYI, Columbus Academy is a high-dollar PreK-12 private school, they were there within 5-6 minutes).

Gahanna is close to plenty of shopping at Easton and north of Morse on Hamilton as well as on Hamilton near I-270. Westerville has plenty of shopping as well and sits between Polaris and Easton. Your dollar will go pretty well in Westerville or Gahanna, though it will vary based on where in each area you are buying. My only complaint about Westerville is I feel in the times I've driven the backroads to Polaris through Westerville, it bleeds seamlessly between its district and Lewis Center / Olentangy Schools. A draw back to Gahanna is portions of the city are close (or even under) the east-west runways for the local airport (John Glenn International). While your money will likely keep you well north of the airport (where the runways aren't an issue and where much of Gahanna and Jefferson Township sit), it sometimes can feel too close, especially south of Granville Street / Havens Corners Road.

Worthington could be another option. It is further west on I-270, so you will have a commute along I-270 if you need to be in the NE side or near Easton or the Airport. The schools are good (not NA, but a little above Westerville or Gahanna). Taxes can be a tad high, but again, the services are good. There are two high schools in Worthington and likely no need for new schools as the district is pretty well built out. Westerville and Gahanna are pretty well built out, with Gahanna-Jefferson maybe having a little more land out in Jefferson Township compared to Westerville which has some tracts hugging or east of the Hoover Reservoir.

[Rosebush1]

You will have a lot more NA choices in the 400 to 500k range.
You can get into centrally located NA for 350k but there won't be a lot to choose from. Look into Windsor, Hampsted Green, possibly a fixer up home with no updating in Hampsted Village. Hampsted village prices have dramatically risen the last couple years. Houses will sell quickly in this price range and you may be in a multiple offer situation.
There are two less expensive neighborhoods within NA school district but they are not centrally located. The Preserve and Albany Park.

[kevinbelt]

The schools in all four cities are good. New Albany is probably the best of the bunch, but that's like asking "what's the best pizza?". All pizza is good.

Westerville has the most stuff to do, by far. Uptown Westerville is pretty adorable, and you're right in between Easton and Polaris, the two big shopping areas in Columbus. There's a college, too, so you have a little more energy than a typical suburb.

There's not much downside to Westerville. New Albany has a pretty creepy vibe to me, and it's very expensive, but people who live there seem to like it. Gahanna is OK. I don't think I'd live there myself, but I wouldn't judge someone who did. It's just a little bland. Lewis Center doesn't appeal to me at all. It's all new development built in the last 15 years, no character or history.