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I am a chiropractor from Michigan looking to purchase a practice. There is one in Fishers, and one in Fern Creek. I have been comparing not just these two cities but the Indianapolis and Louisville areas.
We have 3 kids under 6. We are not interested in the nightlife. Our interests are more along the lines of raising our family, things like safety, activities for the kids, a good church, healthy food choices, and places to hike or be active.
The offices have their own Pros and Cons that of course I will work out but the more I can understand about these areas the better. Any help, ideas or suggestions are appreciated.
I am a chiropractor from Michigan looking to purchase a practice. There is one in Fishers, and one in Fern Creek. I have been comparing not just these two cities but the Indianapolis and Louisville areas.
We have 3 kids under 6. We are not interested in the nightlife. Our interests are more along the lines of raising our family, things like safety, activities for the kids, a good church, healthy food choices, and places to hike or be active.
The offices have their own Pros and Cons that of course I will work out but the more I can understand about these areas the better. Any help, ideas or suggestions are appreciated.
Louisville all the way. More family friendly , more church oriented, and just a friendlier and historically way more interesting city. Throwing nightlige out, the food, museums, and festivals are more interesting in Louisville.
Indy is a nice city but bland with way more traffic and sprawl. Indy does have pro sports, Nordstrom, and a better children's museum . Other than that, having lived in both (especially if you plan to go to church) then Louisville hands down
Indy has nothing like Jefferson Memorial Forest or Bernheim for hiking. Louisville is located closer to better lakes and has a FAR supieror park system. The City of Parks initiative and parks like Floyds Fork Cherokee, abd Waterfront do not exist in Indy.
The two cities are equal on safety with both having large ghettos but very safe central city districts and suburbs. Fern Creek is safe although not my favorite suburb (I like Prospect and Anchorage)
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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I pretty much agree w/ Peter's post. I'd give Indy the edge in overall economy being slightly better (their metro area is growing a bit faster) and having pro sports teams, equal on safety and kids activities and churches, but Louisville's park system blows Indy's away. It's just a matter of topography: flat land cities can't simulate hills and forest. Louisville is ringed by hillside and forest and has a park system that makes good use of them (both sides of the river). There are forested parks SW of Indy probably an hour+ away from Fishers on the North side though
Short hiking trips are one of my hobbies. Just inside Jefferson Co there are at least 50 miles of hiking trails, mostly in Jefferson Memorial Forest (S of the Gene Snyder and W of I-65). Trail quality is good and well marked, many trails have recently been upgraded. In the past couple of years an new park system has opened in eastern Jefferson Co just outside the developed area. They have one hiking trail in Beckely Woods Park that I frequent, they opened a similar size one I haven't been on in Big Beech Park.
Also a note: Fishers is the alpha suburb of Indy. Fern Creek is a very nice, safe, upper middle class area but it is apples and oranges to Fishers, which is more comparable to Prospect or Middletown or Oldham Co (which is more rural feeling though just as affluent as Hamilton Co IN
I would most definitely not call Fishers the alpha suburb of Indy. It may be one of the largest, but is typically viewed as mostly just faceless suburban sprawl plus Conner Prarie. Decent schools and safe areas, but not much character and nothing else that really defines it. Zionsville has the upscale village charm and anti big box stance, Carmel is the top dog suburb with the Arts and Design district, Palladium, Monon, etc. Looking at the metros as a whole, you can in general certainly find everything you listed in the original post in both places. Louisville has a better food scene overall, but if you're just looking at "healthy food choices" you can make either place work.
The only category where there is a major difference is in places to hike and be active. Indy does have the Monon Trail (16-ish miles?), the Canal pathways from Broad Ripple to downtown, Eagle Creek park, and Benjamin Harrison. That's about it though. As mentioned, Louisville has much better topography for the parks. Iroquois has an overlook of the city from higher elevation in addition to some other great aspects. Cherokee is gorgeous, hilly, has a couple mile loop, and makes you completely forget you're in the middle of the city. Waterfront Park covers at least 1.5 miles along the Ohio River east from downtown plus has a walking/biking bridge that is a mile each way (including ramps) across the river to Jeffersonville. There are also several miles of the 100+ mile Louisville Loop bicycle path done including a good stretch through the newly opened Parklands of Floyds Fork on the east side and miles of trails through some heavily wooded hills in Jefferson Memorial forest. Though technically not Louisville, Bernheim Arboretum and Research forest is also only 25 minutes south of Fern Creek.
People tend to mention Brown County as a place to go hiking when people move to Indy and it is absolutely gorgeous there. Unfortunately, it's also at least 80-90 minutes from Fishers in normal traffic. As a reference, that's only about 10 minutes closer than it is to downtown Louisville.
If you end up choosing the office in Fern Creek, that's not a bad neighborhood, but I would stay south of 265 or north/east of Bardstown Rd in the Jeffersontown area if you want to live close. There are nice homes east of 265 out Taylorsville Rd as well if you're looking for slightly more rural. There are some nice suburban type places out that way too like in Shakes Run where they had Homerama this year https://bialouisville.com/signature-...photo-gallery/)
There are other great neighborhoods in and around the city too if you're looking for something different
I grew up in Louisville (17 yrs) and lived in Fishers for 10 years. There is significantly much more civic pride in the city of Louisville than there is in anywhere in Indianapolis. I found Indy to be insanely boring. The flat landscape has something to do with that. Indy gets more tornados, more snow and has a few interesting attractions nearby (I really liked Turkey Run state park, but that's about an hour west of the city near the Illinois border on I-74). The Indy Children's Museum is a gem that Louisville cannot match, but you could also drive up from Louisville for a weekend trip to do it.
In fact, much of the good things about Indy can all be seen in a weekend. There's a reason it was called Naptown. I love Louisville, but the job market just isn't really strong with the exception of a couple of industries. If you're purchasing your own practice, you don't need to worry about such things. Louisville is simply just a much better place to live and if the market was better for my wife's and my industry, we'd probably move back there at some point.
Be prepared to be inundated with college basketball talk though...
I grew up in Louisville (17 yrs) and lived in Fishers for 10 years. There is significantly much more civic pride in the city of Louisville than there is in anywhere in Indianapolis. I found Indy to be insanely boring. The flat landscape has something to do with that. Indy gets more tornados, more snow and has a few interesting attractions nearby (I really liked Turkey Run state park, but that's about an hour west of the city near the Illinois border on I-74). The Indy Children's Museum is a gem that Louisville cannot match, but you could also drive up from Louisville for a weekend trip to do it.
In fact, much of the good things about Indy can all be seen in a weekend. There's a reason it was called Naptown. I love Louisville, but the job market just isn't really strong with the exception of a couple of industries. If you're purchasing your own practice, you don't need to worry about such things. Louisville is simply just a much better place to live and if the market was better for my wife's and my industry, we'd probably move back there at some point.
Be prepared to be inundated with college basketball talk though...
Great post about the pros and cons of Louisville. Although I may add Louisville has been adding some really good white collar jobs lately. Apparently Kindred is building a HQ tower and a couple corporate relocations are to be announced soon. The Eurofins boomed company relocation was a huge coup.
On a side note, Louisville has a great science museum, and IS getting a children's museum:
This is being started by a mom who moved there from NYC, and apparently the founders were involved with the museum there. Look for this museum to get an actual space open in the next 5 years.
Great post about the pros and cons of Louisville. Although I may add Louisville has been adding some really good white collar jobs lately. Apparently Kindred is building a HQ tower and a couple corporate relocations are to be announced soon. The Eurofins boomed company relocation was a huge coup.
On a side note, Louisville has a great science museum, and IS getting a children's museum:
This is being started by a mom who moved there from NYC, and apparently the founders were involved with the museum there. Look for this museum to get an actual space open in the next 5 years.
Kindred is simply another healthcare company and Eurofins (correct me if I'm wrong here) is another food service company. If you don't work in healthcare, foodservice, or logistics, or don't have any desire to work in those industries, then adding a ton more white collar jobs doesn't help the city as much as it should. It certainly doesn't help me (I work in bank/FI technology). The diversity of white collar jobs is necessary, unless you want the city to become completely specialized. I would prefer that Louisville doesn't become the Toledo of Kentucky, because I still love the city.
I really like the attempts at revitalizing downtown and see some progress on Main and Market compared to what it was like when I lived there. (my family is still out on the east end, so I am back 3-4 times a year) 4th St Live doesn't seem to have lasted as long as people thought though - it seemed very "meh" when I was there last over Derby weekend.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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4th Street Live is still doing well, I couldn't see it closing up like the galleria. It hosts quite a few concerts and fan gatherings. That said I'm not a big fan of our gov't subsidizing some business while others must operate in the free market. The Highlands, Frankfort Ave, etc all arose organically. 4th Street Live has been pumped up with millions of tax dollars.
What Louisville's downtown needs is density. Way too many parking lots. It needs to be filled in with low rise buildings rather than more skyscrapers (thankfully the oil rig inspired Museum Plaza fell through). Studies show pedestrians are most comfortable when buildings "box in" the surroundings. All of downtown should feel like W Main near the museums feels.
Since this is an Indy thread I would mention that it has a denser feeling downtown and market square is neat.
Since this is an Indy thread I would mention that it has a denser feeling downtown and market square is neat.
Market square is being redeveloped but has been an empty surface lot for several years. Do you perhaps mean monument circle?
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