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Hello all. Thank you so much for your help and I only need it this one last time before going on my trip this Friday. We will be looking at new construction on Saturday and here are the areas in Louisville and Southern Indiana we will be looking. Please let me know what you think of these areas and if one area is nicer than the other and what you know that is good or bad about the areas. The builder said the the area in Indiana might be better and he couldn't really say why but we so wanted to stay in Kentucky. Thank you so much. I will also be posting on areas in Lexington to hear some feedback as well. This weekend will break or make it for the big debate on my mind over Louisville or Lexington but I am excited and again thank you so much ...without you I wouldn't have a clue at all.
Village at Wildwood – Louisville, KY
The beautiful Village at Wildwood is a quaint community in southwest Louisville. With easy highway access and close proximity to shopping, dining and entertainment, it offers the best of small-town living and big-city conveniences.
Directions
Take I-71 to I-264 West - Waterson Expressway. Take I-264 West to the Bardstown Road South exit. Go south on Bardstown Rd. 2-3 miles to Fegenbush Ln. Turn right on Fegenbush. Village at Wildwood is on the left.
Adjacent communities:
Bannon Crossings
Bannon Crossings North
Village at Armstrong Farm, Jeffersonville, IN
Village at Armstrong Farm is a charming community in Jeffersonville, IN, just 5 minutes from downtown Louisville. With easy highway access and close proximity to shopping, dining and entertainment, it offers the best of small-town living and big-city conveniences.
Directions
Take I-65 North from Louisville to Exit 5 (Veterans Parkway). Turn right on Veterans Parkway off exit ramp. Take Veterans Parkway to Armstrong Road. Turn left at light onto Armstrong Road. Village at Armstrong Farm is immediately on the right.
Hi ler! I'm not very familiar with the Wildwood subdivision, and I just know some general information about the area, but maybe enough to get you started.
First of all, I think the "Villages" neighborhoods by Dominion technically fall under the condo/managed properties laws, even when they include separate, single family homes. I don't know for sure if it is, or what it means for residents, but it might be something to ask about.
Second, the area is pretty centrally located in south Louisville, near the Watterson. You will be very close to the large GE plant (just down Fegenbush) and the beginnings of an industrial park if you turn from Fegenbush to Fern Valley. There is also a large cemetary (Resthaven) that I think borders the neighborhood, and two nearby country clubs. Norfolk is the area on the opposite side of Fegenbush. Lots of townhomes, rentals, duplexes, etc. 15 years ago or so, Norfolk was not a very nice place, with higher crime and drug problems, but I have NO current information about it now. Continuing down Fegenbush, you head towards the Highview area, which has a lot of established, moderately priced older homes. There was a mall nearby, Bashford Manor, but I don't think it is still there. I think there is a Lowe's and Target there now.
At one time, this area was "struggling" a little more than surrounding areas, but I don't know what the current outlook is for it. Perhaps Stx or some of the other Louisville people can give you an accurate update about what to expect now. I have seen several new construction neighborhoods in the surrounding areas, so that might be a good sign of up-and-coming progress. They recently completed the Hurstbourne Pkwy extension to meet with Fern Valley, and I know that there is a lot of growth anticipated for that corridor.
And unfortunately, I know nothing about the neighborhoods in Indiana. Good luck, though, on your trip!
Hi Ler,
It might be beautiful, but from what everyone told me, the east side of Louisville is the most desirable for families. You'll only know if you see it first hand. Good luck and enjoy your trip.
Hmmm...doesn't sound so appealing...yikes!!! Thank you though..
Hopefully someone else can validate or correct my statements. I would hate to steer you away from something based on outdated information!
The Buechel area (just up Bardstown Rd) used to be a bustling retail corridor, with the mall I mentioned, a large cineplex, etc. It is still pretty busy - it heads towards the Highlands and still has office buildings, medical offices, etc, but I know that during the 90's a lot of the commercial businesses were struggling and some of the neighborhoods were iffy.
Just down Bardstown Rd, away from the city, you will head towards the Fern Creek area, which is really booming with housing, shopping, etc, especially targeting families who want something a little more affordable than the higher east-end prices but still offers nice neighborhoods and amenities.
I would stay away from the Indiana development, but maybe that's just my Louisville bias talking. It's a tough commute across the bridges to Kentucky. I will say the housing prices may be lower. (However, whenever housing prices are lower, there is usually a reason.)
Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of the Bardstown Rd / Feganbush / Buechel area. There was a huge shopping complex that went belly up a few years ago and it's still empty. It seems like a congested, commercial area to me.
I'd go in to eastern Jefferson County, but again that is my bias speaking.
Crime...in Fern Creek/Highview? I don't think so! To me, it is not the most visually appealing area, but it is one of the fastest growing and completely safe, middle class, family friendly area. Think of it as a decent "family value" area for those that like the eastern Jefferson County lifestyle but simply aren't willing to pay for it. As you head further south on Bardstown, past Fegenbush, there are large shopping centers with Walmart, Meijer, Outback, and all that jazz. Then you get to newer areas around Glenmary, south of I-265, and a belt of sprawl runs down Bardstown Road to Mount Washington, a middle class suburb in Bullitt County.
OffTopic, Buechel is a completely separate neighborhood, located just south of the Watterson at 264. This area will be 2-3 miles from where she is looking. The defunct Bashford Manor Mall is now a Target, Walmart, Lowes, and a 100,000 sq foot Power Center with several smaller stores. The local cinema, the first suburban one built in the 1960's, closed in the last five years. Mostly, it was just outdated. It will most likely be converted into a church. There is also a Starbucks, Tumbleweed, Chili's, and dozens of other businesses in this area. So, I would hardly even call that strip a defunct retail area, although I agree it isn't visually appealing.
Armstrong Farm, in the north suburbs, is going to be a half an hour from the other development. You are in a different state, and you get a different vibe. It is located in one of the fastest growing retail corridors in Indiana, Veterans Parkway. The Jeffersonsville side has seen little commercial development yet, but this is what is planned:
There is a local joke that this project will never get done, as it has been in development for years. It should be super nice, but beware the fields in front of Armstrong on Veterans will most certainly be commercially developed. On the other end of Veterans from I-65, there has been huge retail developments: Walmart (of course), Target, Best Buy, Old Navy, a Cinema, Olive Garden, LongHorn, IHOP, Panera, Starbucks. Well...you get the idea, a big box suburban haven. All of this is less than 10 minutes from downtown Louisville. People overplay the traffic on the bridges into Louisville. Unless you will be traveling everyday at 8:00 AM or 5 PM from I-65S to I-64E, there are hardly any problems.
Beware that those two neighborhoods only have about 1,000 residents combined. Seeing as the area has 1.2 million residents, I would be careful to form opinions of the entire region based on them. That said, looks like you have found some decently located, affordable developments. Of course, there is much more to offer. I would highly recommend checking out the area bounded by I-264 on the west, I-64 on the south, Oldham County on the east, and the river on the north.
Judging by what you are looking at, it sounds like you would be a good candidate for Jeffersontown. It is close to where you are looking now, and I would recommend going north on Hurstbourne from Bardstown Road and turning right on Six Mile lane. There are very nice, affordable subdivisions all around there, and you won't pay the east county prices, even though you will be close to the mammoth commerical corridor that is Hurstbourne. It isn't too densely developed, and it is nearly exclusively families.
Crime...in Fern Creek/Highview? I don't think so! To me, it is not the most visually appealing area, but it is one of the fastest growing and completely safe, middle class, family friendly area.
Actually, Bashford Manor is just about a mile from the neighborhoods ler posted, and the heart of Buechel is less than that, compared to Highview or Fern Creek which are further. I wouldn't consider either Fern Creek or Highview to be "crime-ridden" but they really aren't in the same area as the neighborhoods mentioned here. I consider this area much more part of Buechel than either Fern Creek or Highview. And I would have serious questions about the Norfolk neighborhood, which is immediately across the street from the mentioned neighborhoods. Like I said in my post, I don't have recent information, but I know that a lot of the social work cases for Norfolk involved drugs, crime impacts, etc.
Actually, Bashford Manor is just about a mile from the neighborhoods ler posted, and the heart of Buechel is less than that, compared to Highview or Fern Creek which are further. I wouldn't consider either Fern Creek or Highview to be "crime-ridden" but they really aren't in the same area as the neighborhoods mentioned here. I consider this area much more part of Buechel than either Fern Creek or Highview. And I would have serious questions about the Norfolk neighborhood, which is immediately across the street from the mentioned neighborhoods. Like I said in my post, I don't have recent information, but I know that a lot of the social work cases for Norfolk involved drugs, crime impacts, etc.
Bashford Manor nor Buechel is high crime. There is a somewhat sketchy apartment complexes off Goldsmith and Peabody Lane, most notably Turtle Creek:
Per mapquest its 3 miles from where she is looking to those areas. The area around Bashford Manor and the Buechel business district is not dangerous at all. Generally, Fegenbush lane is considered the start of Fern Creek, but no one gets technical with those definitions.
On the otherside of the GE appliance park, you will notice an area called Petersburg, and then Newburg. These have traditionally, over the last 40 years especially, been African American communities. Recently, many middle class people have left, and what you are seeing is some of that Newburg element creeping around the appliance park.
As you can see from Census 2000 data, the area she is looking at is a crossroads of sorts. Her home would be located in a zipcode (40228) and area that has a family household come well above the national average at 60k-85k per year (the national median was around 40k for 2000).
Directly across Fegenbush, on Norfolk, the median family income drops as you get into a new census tract. This is largely due to the fact that much of this tract includes aformentioned lower income area on the west side of Appliance park, and it ranges from 28k-41k, still around the national median at its highest bracket. Obviously those lower incomes skew the data lower.
Income is not always postively correlated to crime, but in this case I think it does. This analysis gets more tricky in urban areas, where there is less of an overnight residential population.
Are you planning on making this a long-term stay in the area, or will you be moving on? Part of the problem with Indiana is the traffic getting into Louisville if you are working there. Getting over the bridge can be difficult during rush hours. Be aware that they are working on the expressways this summer, so the commute can be quite difficult. A plus for Indiana is that it does have a small town flavor, and the people are quite nice. Most people that live in Southern Indiana are from Southern Indiana. If you have children, and are planning on staying for a long time, there's something to be said for being able to pay instate tuition for Indiana universities. There has been a lot of growth in that area, and there's lots of new shopping, new housing, etc. that have gone in during the last two years.
The area out towards Fern Creek is undergoing some development towards the edges. The Fern Creek area is becoming more diverse than other areas, and is attracting lots of new businesses, residents, etc.
I live in the center of Louisville of Bardstown Rd. (Cherokee Park area) and find that I would think nothing of hopping on the expressway to go shopping in Southern IN (Veteran's Parkway has the only IHOP in the area). Which location is more convenient to where you or your spouse be working?
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