Young family looking for an urban home. (Dallas, McKinney: for sale, apartment)

[jessmax717]

My husband and I are looking for a home in the DFW area that will be walking distance to restaurants and grocery stores. What neighborhoods will offer a vibrant diverse community with arts and culture nearby? School districts are not an issue since we home school. Concrete suburbs like flower mound are what we are trying to avoid. We would like something a little more eclectic.

[TurtleCreek80]

The Uptown area in Dallas would be the closest place in the Metroplex to meet your needs. It is a cluster of neighborhoods directly north of Downtown Dallas and is one of the most walkable areas in DFW. Let me be clear though that it is still not as densely urban as Manhattan, Chicago, or San Francisco (ie, you won't walk past a grocery story every 4th or 5th block).

The Dallas Arts District is at the northeast tip of downtown (find the intersection of Pearl and Flora on a map). Here, you will find the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum & Sculpture Garden, the Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Symphony Center, the Opera House, and the Wyly Theatre. Within Uptown itself, there are dozens of art galleries, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, and several wonderful small theatres (Theatre Three and Theatre Too).

Restaurants line almost every street, and range from the finest dining in the city to inexpensive quick-service places to cute little coffee houses.

The housing choices are varied, but generally on the expensive side due to the location. A 2br apartment would start around $1600 in a newer building, 3br's are more scarce and would be in the $2500-3000 range. Many condos are in the area (small complexes and high rises). 2 br's start around $200k, 3br's around $280k and can go up into the $1-5M range. Single family home options are more limited and more expensive- $500k to the $1-3M range. You will find a good bit of contemporary/ modern architecture here, if that's your thing.

There are not a ton of parks with playgrounds in the area as the majority of residents are young professionals, although more & more families and empty nesters seem to be moving in. There is one at Cole Park (along McKinney & Cole, just south of Fitzhugh). The area is decently racially diverse, mostly white, but you certainly see lots of Hispanic, black, and Asians, too. What it is not is economically diverse (again, due to the expensive location).

I would not call the area "eclectic" or "artsy". If those are higher on your priority list, you may want to look into North Oak Cliff (around Bishop Arts District) or in Little Forest Hills in East Dallas. These are funkier neighborhoods where artists have studios, but they do not meet your walkability requirements at all- other than a dozen or so restaurants & shops that may be within walking distance.

Check zip codes 75204, 75205 (only the parts not zoned to Highland Park ISD- which is a lovely place to live, just not what you're looking for), 75219 (east of Oak Lawn Ave- captures the high rises along Turtle Creek Blvd) for Uptown.

[pepper131]

This is tricky, but State Thomas would be the best area - there are some single family homes still standing that haven't been taken over by townhouses, condos, etc. Not sure if there are many for sale.

The nearest grocery is Albertson's and a (WalMart) Neighborhood Market. Neither choice stores, imo. I'm a Whole Foods girl.

You can easily hop onto the McKinney Ave Trolley are get down to the Arts District.

A more eclectic neighborhood is Junius Heights - you can walk to Whole Foods, the people are very diverse and friendly. Zip is 75214 and that covers most of Lakewood, but you want to concentrate on Junius Heights.

[Lakewooder]

Junius Heights is great! Also wonderful schools if you decide to use them. Cochran Heights and Vickery Place might also work - off Henderson Avenue (75206). Also there are a lot of places around Lower Greenville Avenue - the eastern border of Vickery Place.