[workinggal]

hi everyone. my husband and i are looking at moving to the shippan area of stamford. we are from out of town and are not familiar with any of the "good areas" of stamford, so we wanted any advice that anyone has! is this a good area? how is the commute to nyc? does anyone commute using amtrak?

thanks!

[HelloSam]

Depends where on Shippan. The further away and toward the water, the better the area. Shippan Point proper is very upscale and exclusive. In fact, in high school, kids who lived in Shippan got their own label: they were known as "Shippanies".

You're nice and close to the main train station. It used to be that you had to drive through a dumpy area to get to Shippan, but I think everything has improved overall down there.

Shippan is some of the nicest real estate in Stamford, next to North Stamford. It has the benefit of being closer to downtown. You don't need to commute via Amtrak - MetroNorth runs more frequently (every 30 minutes) and takes you right into Grand Central Station.

You can also look into Dolphin Cove.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by HelloSam

You can also look into Dolphin Cove.

To each their own, but i don't see what's appealing about Dolphin Cove. It borders a light industrial neighborhood and Greenwich Ave. and Selleck St. are right around the corner.

[dziner]

Hi there! I live in Shippan and would be happy to tell you about it. My husband and family moved here 14 years ago and are now in our third house here. We've been part of the "Shippan Shuffle" which involves moving into, fixing up...all the while coveting another, and repeating the cycle. However, we now have just two children at home, and have downsized to our third and final (?) house. You don't say if you have children, but it is a great safe place for kids. Most people would say that the schools are not great....but there are a lot of options in that regard. There are many many people in the neighborhood that send their kids to the public schools, and the majority of them are extremely involved. This is a great place for boating, biking and close enough to ski areas in the winter. My husbands commute to the city was 40 minutes by train, with the Stamford station just up the road 10 minutes. I"d be happy to discuss ad nauseum, also have a great realtor if you need one.

[workinggal]

Thanks so much for your response! We are considering this area vs. areas in New Jersey. My husband is an avid sailor and grew up on the ocean so it is definitely his preference to live in Shippan. My main concern is that we are planning on starting a family in the next year and both of our families live far away. I understand that there is the airport in White Plains but it does not offer direct flights to our families' hometowns. Is the trip to JFK reasonable? Our parents are planning on visiting often, but it would be a pain for them to connect on flights to get to us. Do most people use JFK, or is there another option I am not thinking about? Thanks!

[dziner]

I guess I would say White Plains is more of a corporate airport, short flights. JFK and LaGuardia are the two major airports in NY...and depending on what time of day, can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hrs to get to. Some use Hartford, which is about (again traffic) 1.5 hrs going north. I wouldn't let the airports sway you too much as no matter where you live here, the airports are a pain in the butt. How do you know of Shippan? When we moved here, the realtors barely acknowledged it's existence and kept showing us property in North Stamford. We only found out about it from our neighbor in Dallas (where we were living at the time) as he previously lived in Wilton and sailed in Stamford. Long story short, we love Shippan.

[HelloSam]

LaGuardia is closer to Stamford than JFK and offers direct flights to many, many cities. There's usually short walks to the gates (compared to other airports I've seen). For flying out of the NY area, I prefer White Plains in a lot of cases, even if there's a connection vs. no connection. Security is quick and easy. It's also easy to check in closer to flight time if you happen to be running late. White Plains used to service mainly Chicago, Philly, DC, Boston and the like, but now has direct flights to Cincy, Cleveland, Atlanta and several cities in Florida.

[Dplaz1]

Love Shippan!!! - 20 years

Check out this link

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/realestate/02living.html?scp=5&sq=shippan%20point&st=cse[/url]