What's so great about St. Louis Park? (Minneapolis, Minnetonka: homes, school rankings)

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by snowyowl789

On this forum I see that people often recommend St. Louis Park as a good place to live. Why? It seems like homes there are expensive and small in my price range (around $320K). I'm thinking it might be a nice place to live if I had about twice the housing budget, but I'm just wondering what people like about it. Is it a good place for families?

I grew up near there (Uptown), worked at Minnekahda in the summers & has lot's of interaction with the kids from the area. It was ok, but not as nice as Uptown or Southwest Mpls though. Mpls Southwest was considered a nicer, more prestigious school. The houses tend to be tiny post WWII builds.

What has happened is that Uptown has moved West & the area has been rejuvenated. The people I know who live there are buying their starter homes to stay close to the action of Uptown & then moving out of SLP once their second kid comes along. If I was 28 y/o, single or just married, I'd consider SLP a prime destination. The schools are just ok though & I understand SLP is trying to incentivize people to stay there instead of just using it as stopover point. As a 40-sometihng with kids, SLP is not on my list of attractive destinations. If I'm going to move to the suburbs for schools & to raise a family I'm looking for Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata, not SLP.

[TxTnVtMn]

We are renting in SLP right now, just off Cedar Lake and Texas. While being in the NW of SLP diminishes access to Uptown compared with SLP east of 100, we're still better off in this respect than any other suburb dwellers in the metro. Access to downtown via 394 is incredible - we're at the Basilica or Target Center in 10 min. Lots of highway and surface street options incase of bad traffic situations.

What I don't understand about SLP, given its location, is why it is not even more upscale. Why isn't it the Evanston of MSP? It is surprising to see number of homes not that well cared for, or not very updated. It seems like demand here should be higher than what it is. I won't complain, because it means we are more likely to be able to buy here.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

I grew up near there (Uptown), worked at Minnekahda in the summers & has lot's of interaction with the kids from the area. It was ok, but not as nice as Uptown or Southwest Mpls though. Mpls Southwest was considered a nicer, more prestigious school. The houses tend to be tiny post WWII builds.

What has happened is that Uptown has moved West & the area has been rejuvenated. The people I know who live there are buying their starter homes to stay close to the action of Uptown & then moving out of SLP once their second kid comes along. If I was 28 y/o, single or just married, I'd consider SLP a prime destination. The schools are just ok though & I understand SLP is trying to incentivize people to stay there instead of just using it as stopover point. As a 40-sometihng with kids, SLP is not on my list of attractive destinations. If I'm going to move to the suburbs for schools & to raise a family I'm looking for Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata, not SLP.

Uh, St. Louis Parks schools are supposedly tops in the state, and that is a big reason why people are willing to shell out top dollar per square foot of housing there, including ourselves (we don't live there but that's very likely one of the few places we would be keying our search to). It's also safe, somewhat diverse (not just racially), has great access to attractions and proximity to other assets in the metro area, and it's somewhat affordable.

What's not to love?

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by TxTnVtMn

We are renting in SLP right now, just off Cedar Lake and Texas. While being in the NW of SLP diminishes access to Uptown compared with SLP east of 100, we're still better off in this respect than any other suburb dwellers in the metro. Access to downtown via 394 is incredible - we're at the Basilica or Target Center in 10 min. Lots of highway and surface street options incase of bad traffic situations.

What I don't understand about SLP, given its location, is why it is not even more upscale. Why isn't it the Evanston of MSP? It is surprising to see number of homes not that well cared for, or not very updated. It seems like demand here should be higher than what it is. I won't complain, because it means we are more likely to be able to buy here.

I think homes ARE more upscale than you can see, it's just the inside that gets updated first. This is the case on my friend's block where most of the homes look pretty much the same as they have in 40-50 years on the outside, but on the inside the square footage is all maximized to its potential with updated furnishings and appliances. I think the next step may very well be teardowns and/or major expansions, but I don't know what the city code is for that type of activity and maybe that's what keeps SLP from truly gentrifying the way you are suggesting.

Any city where schools are tops and location is prime absolutely should be very expensive, if not on an overall basis then on a dollar/SF basis.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

Uh, St. Louis Parks schools are supposedly tops in the state, and that is a big reason why people are willing to shell out top dollar per square foot of housing there, including ourselves (we don't live there but that's very likely one of the few places we would be keying our search to). It's also safe, somewhat diverse (not just racially), has great access to attractions and proximity to other assets in the metro area, and it's somewhat affordable.

What's not to love?

To begin with I'm probably older than you, grew up in the area & will always think of it as a second class suburb, despite what it's become today.

That said, I don't see anything to suggest it's a top school district. Looking at greatschools.org the three grade schools are a 4, 5 & 6 out of 10 respectively. For perspective, here in St Paul the local grade schools the kids in my neighborhood go to are a 6, 8 & 9 out of 10 respectively. SLP Middle School is ranked a respectable 7 out of 10 & SLP High School ranks a decent 6 out of 10. These numbers are mostly based on test scores & while these schools are absolutely fine, they're certainly not tops in the state or on par with Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata, parts of Plymouth or even Hopkins.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

To begin with I'm probably older than you, grew up in the area & will always think of it as a second class suburb, despite what it's become today.

That said, I don't see anything to suggest it's a top school district. Looking at greatschools.org the three grade schools are a 4, 5 & 6 out of 10 respectively. For perspective, here in St Paul the local grade schools the kids in my neighborhood go to are a 6, 8 & 9 out of 10 respectively. SLP Middle School is ranked a respectable 7 out of 10 & SLP High School ranks a decent 6 out of 10. These numbers are mostly based on test scores & while these schools are absolutely fine, they're certainly not tops in the state or on par with Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata, parts of Plymouth or even Hopkins.

I'm referencing the state High School rankings where SLP ranked within the top 5, along with Minneapolis Southwest, among others. Or maybe it was the top 100 public high schools in the country...Here's a different source (SLP #7 in state):

http://www.usnews.com/education/best...ools/minnesota

Per that source, I don't understand how Minnesota -- one of THE best states for public schooling -- has its best high school (Edina) ranked only 197th nationally. Where are all of these supposedly better schools, and are they public-only? I'll have to dig a bit deeper on that resource.


I'm 32 btw.

[Pisces69]

People read way too much into school rankings. A good school is a good school and a school is a place for learning and athletic development. The notion that a school needs to outcompete every other school for a #1 position is ridiculous. The rankings are usually based on testing and what happens is poorer and immigrant populations skew the averages when its really nothing to do with the school itself.

[StPaulGal]

I think St. Louis Park is the cheaper--and perhaps more "grown-up"--alternative to Uptown. It has the charm of older housing stock and a density that makes it much more walkable than the average suburb. There is easy access to both Uptown and Downtown, and transit options are much stronger than many other suburbs. It straddles the line between urban and suburban--kind of a have your cake and eat it too sort of situation.

[uptown_urbanist]

Agree that it's one of those "straddle the line" locations. You get some relatively urban amenities, as well as a convenient fairly central location, but it's cheaper that Uptown. Compared to similar "urban" suburbs on this part of the city it's cheaper than Edina and has better schools than Richfield.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by TxTnVtMn

What I don't understand about SLP, given its location, is why it is not even more upscale. Why isn't it the Evanston of MSP? It is surprising to see number of homes not that well cared for, or not very updated. It seems like demand here should be higher than what it is. I won't complain, because it means we are more likely to be able to buy here.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see it become much more upscale once the Southwest LRT goes in. St. Louis Park is getting several stops, and while they're not in amazing locations, it's definitely going to create demand for young professionals and families that want suburban living with easy access to downtown for jobs, nightlife, etc.