Huge housing boom coming to Woodbury

[iNviNciBL3]

Originally Posted by TotallyTam

I grew up on a farm, very similar to the area that is now modern Woodbury. It's sad to me to see the natural land being gobbled up by more McMansions in this area of the Twin Cities. Nearby Cottage Grove has new homes sitting vacant/unsold as so many other more recently developed suburbs of the Twin Cities. It makes no sense to me to develop more land in Woodbury (there cannot be much left!) when so many other suburbs already have a good supply of new homes for sale. Pretty soon Woodbury will extend all the way to the St. Croix River! And...as far as my rant about the typical Woodburian---this is the way I see the suburb--no apologies. (I am not a "hater" as the one poster wrote. I have friends & family who live in Woodbury and I love them very much--thank you very much!). It simply doesn't appeal to me for many reasons. It's a Stepford-like suburb where everyone has the same interests, earnings, same outlook, same clothes, same furniture, all sitting on roughly the same 60 x 100 foot lot, in a house so big it costs a small fortune to furnish and heat the darned thing.....etc. Most kids cannot walk to school, and everyone is dependent on their car to shop, go to work, visit friends, etc. To me, Woodbury is NOT the model we should be following for new suburban development.

No hater, it is obvious you never lived there. Woodbury city limits only go as far east as Manning road (no where close to the St Croix river).... And no, Woodbury citizens don't all wear the same clothes and own homes that all look alike. This forum isnt for you, go find another forum to have your crazy rants. just remember ranting isnt going to bring your precious farm back.

[TotallyTam]

Re-read what you wrote. Talk about hate. I don't hate people who live in Woodbury, I just dislike the homogeneity of this suburb and those like it. And I was being facetious about the Woodbury city limits because of the growth.

Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3

No hater, it is obvious you never lived there. Woodbury city limits only go as far east as Manning road (no where close to the St Croix river).... And no, Woodbury citizens don't all wear the same clothes and own homes that all look alike. This forum isnt for you, go find another forum to have your crazy rants. just remember ranting isnt going to bring your precious farm back.

[uptown_urbanist]

I hate the modern suburban autocentric model, but the new Woodbury development doesn't look nearly as bad as some of the stuff that has come before it. It sounds like it does incorporate a few new urbanist ideas, or at least has some mixed-use options and different housing types (although still mostly segregated) and there is talk about it being "walkable." The "urban village" references seem to be pushing it, but even so, this is a big improvement (I think) from many Twin Cities subdivisions. I'm skeptical that they'll really be able to sell SO many homes in such a short period, but I would imagine that the suburban style and location coupled with some ability to walk places will appeal to many people.

[HKB]

Originally Posted by The Northerner

Wife and I visited the MSP metro in September with designs on possibly relocating there, and Woodbury was her favorite area that we toured. I immediately knew all those new homes were out of our price range, but it was still a nice place to look at.

Not all of Woodbury is expensive. I live in the older part of Woodbury (near Woodbury HS), and homes are much more affordable on this side of town (and have more convenient access to I-494 as well). Most of the homes in my neighborhood have been selling in the $200-$250 price range. Granted, the houses aren't as huge as the newer homes in the central/east side of town, but they are still very livable and functional for a family, and have nice size yards. In fact, most of the 40 year old homes in my neighborhood are in much better condition than some of the newer developments in Woodbury that were cheaply built during the 1990's housing boom.

[iNviNciBL3]

Originally Posted by TotallyTam

Re-read what you wrote. Talk about hate. I don't hate people who live in Woodbury, I just dislike the homogeneity of this suburb and those like it. And I was being facetious about the Woodbury city limits because of the growth.

Just because everyone wears jeans from Buckle doenst mean they all have the same personality.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by TotallyTam

It simply doesn't appeal to me for many reasons. It's a Stepford-like suburb where everyone has the same interests, earnings, same outlook, same clothes, same furniture, all sitting on roughly the same 60 x 100 foot lot, in a house so big it costs a small fortune to furnish and heat the darned thing.....etc. Most kids cannot walk to school, and everyone is dependent on their car to shop, go to work, visit friends, etc. To me, Woodbury is NOT the model we should be following for new suburban development.

Obvously a subset of people want to live as far away from other people who are homeless, have ear gauges and tattoos up and down their arms, march in gay parades, etc. Sound harsh? I tried. Like you, they are ignorant and pre-judge people as well (a.k.a. prejudice).

[PullMyFinger]

Originally Posted by TotallyTam

I grew up on a farm, very similar to the area that is now modern Woodbury. It's sad to me to see the natural land being gobbled up by more McMansions in this area of the Twin Cities. Nearby Cottage Grove has new homes sitting vacant/unsold as so many other more recently developed suburbs of the Twin Cities. It makes no sense to me to develop more land in Woodbury (there cannot be much left!) when so many other suburbs already have a good supply of new homes for sale. Pretty soon Woodbury will extend all the way to the St. Croix River! And...as far as my rant about the typical Woodburian---this is the way I see the suburb--no apologies. (I am not a "hater" as the one poster wrote. I have friends & family who live in Woodbury and I love them very much--thank you very much!). It simply doesn't appeal to me for many reasons. It's a Stepford-like suburb where everyone has the same interests, earnings, same outlook, same clothes, same furniture, all sitting on roughly the same 60 x 100 foot lot, in a house so big it costs a small fortune to furnish and heat the darned thing.....etc. Most kids cannot walk to school, and everyone is dependent on their car to shop, go to work, visit friends, etc. To me, Woodbury is NOT the model we should be following for new suburban development.

I live in Woodbury and I also grew up on a farm. I can tell you that this was crappy farmland. It's nothing but clay and I struggle to keep my grass growing with a sprinkling system the soil is so bad.

Woodbury was the PERFECT place to build houses. From what I understand there were a lot of cattle pastures and pig farms around here because the land was not great. Clay and rocks. That's why you see so many "beautiful rocks" in landscape projects around here

BTW, I have no idea of the rest of your rant. You obviously have issues with Woodbury. Nothing new, I've heard it before. All I know is that my taxes are reasonable, I have walking paths galore around my house, the schools were great for the kids as were the sports ect. We have made many great friends.

I'm 12.9 miles from work and there is pretty much no crime to speak of.

Woodbury is a community, much more so than some of the old traditional neighborhoods in the city.

[PullMyFinger]

Seriously? 20 lots to be developed at 1million+ and he's calling it "Woodbury Estates"? That sounds more like a trailer park.

Million-dollar homes on the horizon? | Woodbury Bulletin | Woodbury, Minnesota

[davephan]

Originally Posted by The Northerner

Visiting MN and driving through Woodbury in particular a couple months ago, my wife and I couldn't help but think out loud "Who are all these people making 300-800k to fill up this SEA of new houses??" We're successful career people, but we obviously went into the wrong professions! We had never seen so many new homes built in one spot before. Don't get me wrong......we'd love to be able to afford one, but just can't.

There are a lot of expensive homes in Woodbury. Although these homes are much cheaper than the million or multi-million dollar homes that are commonly found in other areas of the country. If you check out the Woodbury demographic info on the web, you will find that the Woodbury family income is much higher than the medium income in the State of Minnesota or nationally.

Many of the people are probably professionals in some field. My wife and I are both IT professionals.

It is possible to afford that type of housing if you invest in yourself. I used to work in a low pay, miserable job, working second and third shift, working almost every holiday, with horrible working conditions. Late in my working lifetime, I went back to college for an IT education. If you really work hard, and you have the ability to learn, you can master almost any subject. The common mistake many people make is to go to college and major in a field that does not have a good "payback". About 90 - 95% of the majors have a very poor return on the investment. It is more important to major in a field that has a good return on investment than a major that you enjoy. Lucky for me, I really enjoy IT. The Internet has a lot of free education too, such has Khan Academy and MIT University colleges courses, all for free. Of course, the free education has no college credit, but it can supplement your colleges courses. You can change your life, if you are determined and willing to invest in yourself, not just by spending money for college, but actually mastering the subject matter though hard work.

Dave