Lee's Summit, MO (Kansas City, Blue Springs, Overland: low income, apartments, city hall)

[kcmo]

Lee's Summit is a suburb of KCMO, about 25 miles southeast of Downtown. It's a large and fast growing suburb of 93,000 residents.

For as large as Lee's Summit, is, the city has been able to maintain a very charming historic core while developing some of the more interesting suburban subdivisions in the metro.

Lee's Summit is not the cheapest suburb, but it's not the most expensive. From what I can tell, a comparable home in LS will cost a little less than Overland Park, but a little more than Blue Springs. Taxes are generally on the high end, but Lee's Summit offers a quality of life that most people have no problem paying a little more in taxes because it's not really your stereo typical suburb in many ways (in many other ways it is though).

I think the biggest assets of Lee's Summit are the vibrant Downtown district, the lakes, the schools, the parks and the lakes. Did I mention the lakes?

Downtown Lee's Summit Amtrak Station
http://photos.imageevent.com/kcphotos/kansascitymissourisuburbs/websize/CRW_0763_2.jpg (broken link)

Lee's Summit is served by Amtrak which is quite handy. My youngest son had a birthday party at Fritz's one year and he took all his friends there via Amtrak. It was a blast. It's like six bucks to take the train to Union Station and then you can catch one home that afternoon. But it's also great for UCM students in Warrensburg or to travel to St Louis.

Lee's Summit's new downtown city hall


Downtown LS has a couple of pretty big festivals, but the big one is Downtown Days which is pretty good for a suburban festival.
Lee's Summit Downtown Days
http://www.voteallangray.com/images/concert%20at%20city%20hall.JPG (broken link)

There is also Lakefest which I mentioned in the Blue Springs thread (BS and LS are attached at the hip).
Jackson County - SPOTLIGHT: Lake Fest Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Lake Jacomo

There are plenty of restored homes in LS as well as newer apartment and condo type buildings making the city quite attractive to those that want a more walkable, urban/small town feel yet would like to be in the suburbs.
Downtown Lee's Summit Main Street, Inc. -- Lee's Summit, MO <-- It All Starts Here!

For more info on downtown, you might contact member TabulaRasa, who lives there.




Market Street Lofts - Downtown Lee's Summit, Missouri


But it's not just downtown that offers traditional housing and walkable neighborhoods. Lee's Summit has some of the largest new urbansim communities in the metro. I'm sure New Longview is the largest by a long shot.

New Longview Lees Summit New Homes, Office Space & Retail Center[/quote]

New Longview
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Longview Farms School
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There is also Arborwalk on the far south side of town

Arbor Walk Lees Summit New Homes Villas Townhomes (http://www.arborwalk.com/ - broken link)



Of course Lee's Summit has tons of the more standard suburban housing too (single family and apartments). My only recommendation is to avoid the areas north of 50, east of Todd George and south of Langsford. That's the ugly part of LS IMO. The city has a lot of really nice, but more upscale housing in just about every other part of the city set in rolling hills or around lakes and parks.

Speaking of parks, LS shares Flemming park with Blue Springs which again, has Lake Jacomo and Blue Springs Lake and includes marinas, a beach, bike trails, an RC Airport etc. Lee's Summit also has Prairie Lee Lake, Longview Lake and the James A Reed Wildlife Reserve area and lakes. Plus LS has many lake communies like Lakewood, Lake Lotawana, Raintree Lake and Lake Winnebago.

Lakewood
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Lake Jacomo
http://photos.imageevent.com/kcphotos/kansascitymissourisuburbs/websize/IMG_2051.jpg (broken link)

Nearby Unity Village
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The schools in LS are really nice and some of the best in the state. Like Blue Springs, Lee's Summit is constantly passing bonds to build and upgrade schools. All the high schools are state of the art and the district is a top sports competitor in the state.
Plus LS has Longview Community College in their back yard, one of the largest community colleges in the metro.

LS recently built one of the largest and nicest city parks in the metro, Legacy Park.

Speaking of parks, LS has Paradise Park which I think is the best family fun center in the metro for kids as well as places like Tunnel Voyage and Xtreme Gymnastics.
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Paradise Park Family Fun & Adventure

Lee's Summit it also the closest part of metro KC to Powell Gardens, Kansas City's Botanical Gardens is a really neat attraction.
Powell Gardens


There is plenty of shopping in LS too with Summit Woods and Summit Fair, plus others. One thing about LS is that there is almost no vacant retail space. Even all the strip malls along 291 or 50 tend to be pretty much full and the strip malls are well maintained. But again, Downtown LS has lots of unique shops and restaurants that seem to coexist with the typical suburban retail also offered in the city.
I think that sums it up, others feel free to chime in.

[northbound74]

New Longview is really cool. One of the best suburban developments in the area.
They also have some retail in that area now.

[TabulaRasa]

I agree...if we weren't "old home" people, and were looking specifically for new construction, that whole area is development done right.

[zammies45]

So that area N of 50, E of Todd George and S of Langsford is not a good area of LS? Can yo explain what makes it bad? Too much crime, graffiti, drugs, urban blight or what? What about the SW area?

[kcmo]

No, it's a fine, safe area. That was not my intention. Lee's Summit is a suburb, but a suburb that tends to defy many of the stereotypical images of suburbia. With an active and vibrant downtown and sense of community, walkable neighborhoods in both historic and newer areas and the general topography of the area with the rolling hills, forests and the many lakes and parkland, Lee's Summit's best qualities are the things about it that are not your run of the mill suburban development.

That area of Lee's Summit is pretty much your run of the mill suburban development. Lots of houses (nothing ultra upper bracket, but by no means nothing low income either), in smaller lots with few trees. It's a very flat, monotonous area where many of the homes look the same etc. I know people that live there and it's a fine area with some great homes, but my point is this is probably one of the more "average suburban" places in Lee's Summit and many people choose LS to be in a suburb while at the same time avoiding areas like this which can be be found just about any place on the planet. That's why people choose to live in LS and commute clear across town, because Lee's Summit is sort of a lifestyle choice for many.

Having said that, even this area has started to develop differently recently. The newer construction taking place now out that way is more upscale, especially the closer you are to Legacy Park. But for the most part, the development you can see from US-50 is pretty ugly typical midwestern sprawl and Lee's Summit offers much more than what you see from the highway.

I personally like Northern Lee's Summit around I-470 between I-70 and US-50. Also the south side of 470 along 3rd Street or Longview and the downtown area.

[JKMTT01]

For academic reasons, would you choose Blue valley school district over Lee's summit district? We're planning to move from Denver,CO to either Overland Park or Lee's Summit. We personally liked Lee Summit area along the SW 3rd street. My only concern is if the Blue valley district is somehow better than Lee Summit.
Also I was looking for enrichment activities for my children who are in elementary school like MATHNASIUM, MATH MONKEY but couldn't find any in LS.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! THANKS!!

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by JKMTT01

For academic reasons, would you choose Blue valley school district over Lee's summit district? We're planning to move from Denver,CO to either Overland Park or Lee's Summit. We personally liked Lee Summit area along the SW 3rd street. My only concern is if the Blue valley district is somehow better than Lee Summit.
Also I was looking for enrichment activities for my children who are in elementary school like MATHNASIUM, MATH MONKEY but couldn't find any in LS.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! THANKS!!

That's a loaded question on this forum!

We moved last year and researched public schools extensively all over the metro. We chose BV and I have been absolutely blown away. I wish we had moved years ago.

Some will insist that LS is "just as good" as BV and all of the suburban districts are very competitive. Since we didn't end up going there (and even if we had) I can't insist that BV is the best choice for everyone. It has worked out VERY well for us and I recommend to people who are looking for the "best schools" to look into BV and Shawnee Mission public schools.

[TabulaRasa]

As mentioned previously, I live in Lee's Summit (moved from KCMO, and we purchased a home in one of the historic districts off SW 3rd/downtown), but we don't have kids, so I have no experience with the district as a parent. But I do work in private education, and work with students and educators who hail from districts all over the metro, including Lee's Summit and Blue Valley, and both are excellent districts. I wouldn't feel badly choosing one over the other; you're not losing out, either way.

[kcmo]

Took a few new photos of Downtown Lee's Summit. It was about 105 degrees when I took these, so that's why there are not many people out.

[kcmo]

Here are some aerials of the Lakewood area of Lee's Summit