Canadian moving south! (Kansas City, Center, Westwood: apartment, rentals, condos)

[edxmit]

We're ditching our arctic winter coats and are super excited to be moving to KC this summer!

When I visited the city a couple of months back for my interview I was impressed with the genuine friendliness of the city - the degree to which I have never seen in any major US city. From the interviewers to the fast food joints / restaurants to the cab driver all were really, really nice.

So, my family and I will be moving this summer. This is where I have a question. From looking at various websites, I can't seem to find the neighbourhood that has a good mix of what we're looking for, so we're asking for your advice.

We're looking for three things in a condo rental:

- Exceptionally safe neighbourhood! That trumps everything. We've thankfully never had anything stolen, been harassed or felt unsafe at night in our lives. That's something that is critical for us to maintain. (yup, we're the typical Canadian).

- Walkable - my wife and infants would very much appreciate a walkable/discoverable neighbourhood with parks/coffee shops etc. She's going to be raising the kids fulltime for the next few years, so it would be wonderful if she could for strolls with the kids during the day and enjoy the good life while I work and bring back home the bacon, err barbecue.

- Close to Children's Mercy on Broadway AND the main Children's Mercy. I'll be working at both sites, but mostly 3101 Broadway- It would be great if I could bike occasionally to work, so something like 5-10 miles to Broadway Bldg/Children's Mercy

So with these three things, would Mission Woods, Westwood and Westwood Hills be suitable? I can't seem to find rental information on Mission Woods Condos though.

I should add that we don't have a price range limit.

Finally, I did look through the forum over the last week for similar threads, but the relocating questions deal primarily with school and general neigbourhoods and don't address the three points of safety, crime and proximity to Broadway Bldg/Children's Mercy.

Thanks again.

[edxmit]

I wonder if the Plaza is a better location? Unclear about safety though and the availability of amenities.

[RadioSilence]

We'll practically be neighbors; I work at 31st and Southwest Trafficway.

You should look into the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri too. That is the area south of the Plaza, with a central shopping location at 63rd and Brookside Blvd. It's extremely walkable, with parks and little shops, and a combination of young families and young professionals. It will probably take you ten to 15 minutes to drive to 3101 Broadway from there.

Mission Woods, Westwood and Westwood Hills are all good places too, little municipalities that really shouldn't exist. They are expensive, but your public school options in the future will be better. All of those locations are safe.

Kansas City is not bicycle-friendly. You might see bicycle lanes, but it is a car-centric metropolitan area.

[MOKAN]

The South Plaza area comes to my mind. That neighborhoods is very safe and walkable, plus you can take extended walks to the Plaza and Loose Park, KC's best, is in the neighborhood. Still, you may or may not be able to find an ideal condo or apartment, especially as a rental. South Plaza is fairly urban and upscale. A lot of the condos are in highrises.

There aren't many condos in Brookside, Westwood, Westwood Hills, and Mission Woods. There are more in Prairie Village, but probably only some are walkable.

[edxmit]

Thanks for those suggestions. I'll look into Brookside and South Plaza. Really appreciate the suggestions from both of you - when searching for rentals online, all listings make it sound like it's walkable and amazing, even those right next to highways... And thanks for the Loose Park suggestion. There seem to be a fair number of parks, but as we all know some are better than others.

Hey, this is why I'm excited!

It's an absolutely shame that the city is not bike friendly. I'll have to reconsider biking to work as I find the most aggressive drivers are those who commute to work morning and evening.

Sorry for my ignorance, but the South Plaza is defined as south of Brush Creek? There are a few places north of the creek on W 46 that look great (46 and Penn). Is that safe/walkable? How's Mill Street Park? I was thinking of emailing the property manager, if you both think it's a good neighbourhood.

Also, based on what you're both suggesting, would the area west of Loose Park to Broadway be a safe bet?

By the way, even though this will be much much warmer than where we currently are, I'm fairly surprised to find that temps can plummet to 20 at night. It also seems that it snows? Is this the snow that turns very quickly into mush and makes a big mess or does it last for a while?

[Minnesota Spring]

Ummm. It can get a lot colder than 20 at night. KC isn't in Florida
Snow depends on the winter. A few years ago it snowed in May.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

Yes, it can get cold and snow in KC. The average high in January is 38 with a low of 18 - and we always seem to get at least one blast of cold that can bring lows to 0 or below. Winters can vary from year to year and we have had some cold and snowy ones lately where snow remained on the ground for a while. However, it seems like it usually melts within a few days, and some years we only get a minimal amount of snow.

I don't know if there is an official cutoff between the Plaza and South Plaza, but I would put it just south of Brush Creek, with the Ward Parkway on south of Brush Creek still being part of the Plaza. North of Brush Creek on 46th St is a good area. Definitely walkable with easy access to the core of the Plaza shopping district.

Mill Creek park is a fairly popular and busy park, mostly due to it's proximity to the Plaza rather than the features of the park. JC Nichols fountain on the south end of the park is a KC landmark that often serves as a gathering point for events, rallies, protests, etc. The rest of the park is mostly a walking/jogging path with some exercise stations. Loose Park would definitely be considered nicer and more of a destination for most people.

While KC is not very bike friendly and definitely lacks bike lanes (although that is slowly starting to change a bit), I wouldn't consider it unsafe to bike on most streets in the city. However, KC does have more hills than most people might expect.

I would suggest looking at the new apartment development opening soon in the South Plaza at 51st and Main St., cleverly named 51 Main. I think that location might be the ideal balance of walkable amenities along with safety/family friendliness.

[MLSFan]

I would go the other direction, and say north kansas city. It's slightly farther from Children's Mercy, but if you are walking with kids, the sidewalks are better up there than brookside. Or rather, the sidewalks are continuous and not broken fragments unless brookside/waldo fixed this from the last time I was there. And the yards are bigger for them to play in too, and there is a park in NKC. I know there are parks near waldo but I don't know their condition (haven't been to them).

I worked at Truman (next door to Children's) and while the area around it is nice, I don't know how oriented it is for small kids/families. Could be the people I was around were all young singles/couples (no kids yet) but I rarely saw families with kids. I'm talking around the pendleton heights area and river market area.

The plaza area is hillier around the area you mentioned. Not sure how well the kids can play outside either since there isn't an "outside" except in parks. The area is all concrete. And lots of traffic so unsafe for them if they are running around. And weekends have the Westport crowd getting drunk/loud sometimes. Not every weekend but it happens more in that area due to the bars.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by WiseOwlSaysHoot

Yes, it can get cold and snow in KC. The average high in January is 38 with a low of 18 - and we always seem to get at least one blast of cold that can bring lows to 0 or below. Winters can vary from year to year and we have had some cold and snowy ones lately where snow remained on the ground for a while. However, it seems like it usually melts within a few days, and some years we only get a minimal amount of snow.

.

That is true, most of the core of the Midwest northward is far colder with more snow than KC. Those averages for January are for the southern reaches of the metro. Northland defaults to KCI, official recording station for KC. Averages there would be 35F and 16F for January. Averages keep getting milder with increasing global average temperatures, though.

[TabulaRasa]

I used to live at 46th and Pennsylvania, north of Brush Creek. Had a yard, everything on the Plaza was essentially steps away. Great place. A pretty steep hill, though.

It gets "cold," here, sometimes, but nothing bad or lasting, by upper midwestern and/or various comparable Canadian standards (where in Canada are you coming from?). I got married on Jan. 25th in Kansas City last year, and it was 40 degrees the day of my wedding, no snow, and my bridesmaids and I were fine standing outside the church in strapless gowns. And two years ago, we had back-to-back blizzards in Feb., and snow in May. Long episodes of utterly frigid weather aren't mega common, though. But, yes, it absolutely snows.

I used to work at Truman Medical Center next to CMH, and I wouldn't bike there, personally. Recreational biking in KC is pretty spotty, esp. road biking. But there are some trail systems that are okay. For family fun, the Trolley Track Trail in Brookside and Waldo is nice and safe.

I now live just over the State Line, near some of the locales you mention, like Mission Hills and Westwood...they're walkable enough, but thete's simply not much to walk to, unless you just like strolling around residential areas...good for walking the dog, etc., but there isn't a preponderance of shops, etc.