Great family-friendly neighborhoods on Minneapolis (St. Louis Park, Excelsior: home, safe neighborhood, good schools)

[familyoffour!!]

My family and I are strongly considering a move back to MN, focusing on Minneapolis. My husband and I have both have lived in Minneapolis, but it has been almost 12 years since we have been in the city. We have two children, ages 5 and 7, so good schools are a top priority. Other things on our wish list are as follows: safe neighborhood with access to parks (biking distance with kids- less than one mile), close access to shops/restaurants (again within biking distance), a "neighborhood" vibe where you feel like you know your neighbors, and good housing stock- 3 bedroom home for $275,000 or less. Thus far my focus has been on SW Mpls- using zip codes 55417, 55419, and 55410. Are there any areas I am missing? Any suggestions on where to hone in? We will be visiting next week and are tentatively planning a move next June.

[uptown_urbanist]

Those are the areas I'd have suggested. If you want to expand your search a bit, the part of St. Louis Park directly adjacent to SW Minneapolis (just west of France) has decent, affordable family-friendly housing and easy access to parks and shops, too, and sort of flows into the outer edges of Linden Hills (and SLP schools are also quite good). My friends lived in that area when I was growing up, and it was very convenient for biking/walking to the lakes, the stuff at 50th and France, as well as the businesses on or near Excelsior in SLP (including their huge rec center with its ice rinks and pool). It's not Minneapolis, but I think in practical terms it shares many of the same features and has a similar feel to much of SW Minneapolis. Enjoy your visit!

[Glenfield]

Going in the other direction, the area near the Mississippi River between, say, Lake St. and Minnehaha Falls is really quite nice, and reasonably affordable. North of Lake St is the Seward neighborhood. I don't have much personal experience there, but have heard it is quite nice, as well.

[familyoffour!!]

Thanks to both of you. I am going to keep doing some research as we have time. When I was at the U of MN I lived in NE Mpls for a spell. Are there any areas that you may know of that fit my criteria over in that neck of the woods? Especially the schools and parks.

[Pisces69]

Maybe look in St Anthony neighborhood in Minneapolis and Nicollet Island too (both are in Northeast Minneapolis). You can use sites like Zillow.com to find listings by map and walkscore.com to find walkability. Hope that helps!

[Beenhere4ever]

All the neighborhoods around Lake Harriet are very nice. Not sure of the price of a 3-bedroom house. There's a very nice shopping district on Upton Ave. Also, I think Tangletown down at the southern end of Nicollet Ave is good.