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There is also a Virtua fitness center on Evesham Rd. which is pretty nice and reasonable.
Some of the private gyms like Future Fitness are good, but they have pushy sales people and you'll have to deal with contracts, that you have to be on top of - you have to give a 60-day notice after your 1st year, and deal with a pushy sales person asking why you are quitting.
I'd say the west side of CH has the proximity advantage to Philly and PA where there is more employment. The east side had the better school advantage, and some nicer looking communities.
The CH library is somewhat central in Cherry Hill. The demographics are more downscale more to the west bordering Pennsauken. Areas such as where the old Toyota dealership used to be and the Pathmark/Big Lots shopping center on Church Rd (downscale enough that TJMaxx closed out of there), areas near the Courier Post/Wal-Mart, or all the way on 70 right before the change to Pennsauken.
When I was there, I think I saw an LA Fitness and a Walmart coming up near one of the PATCO stations. Anyone been to that LA Fitness? Do they have a swimming pool? LAFitness website does not seem to say what is at the facility?
That was near the Ashland station in Somerdale. Not in Cherry Hill. I doubt the LA Fitness would have a pool, since many of the big chain gyms are going for a lower price structure which often means no pool. Also that immediate community where the Wal-Mart SuperCenter is going likely won't attract from Cherry Hill or affluent areas, so I would be surprised if LA Fitness had a high membership club there. More likely it will be an attraction for those from the Echelon apartments, that recently lost Genuardi's in Echelon Village plaza, and have really just ACME and a ShopRite but further down.
If you want a pool, Virtua and Future Fitness have one. I believe the Bally's in Voorhees has one as well. Likely also the JCC.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Any opinion on the Asian Indian community in Cherry Hill?
My (uneducated) impression was that there is probably a large enough community for someone to not feel uncomfortable. But probably not too much that allows people to self-segregate. I did not see too many Indian businesses when I was there in summer 2010, but I had no idea really where they might be.
There are plenty of Asians of all nationalities in Cherry Hill. They are blended into neighborhoods all over the town. There are many businessses that are owned/run by Asian Indians. There is an Asian Indian owned pizza place in Barclay Shopping Center.
There is a Subzi Mandi (large Indian market) with a Pakistani halal market next door on Haddonfield-Berlin Road just east of 295. There is also an (often better priced) market called Desi Bazaar on Rt. 30 next to the Lindenwold PATCO station. There are a few Indian restaurants around the area; the only two I have been to are Coriander in Voorhees and Gagan Palace in Somerdale but there's more of them around. I have seen an Indian clothing store for women in Voorhees also. If you want a huge Indian community you can always go an hour north to Edison, though most of your Indian shopping needs will be met locally. Overall this area has a lot to offer and the access to Philly is pretty good. You can also consider nearby towns with better housing prices that also offer great access to Philly and all the nearby amenities, but if you want your kids to be with other Indian kids in school with them you better stick to Cherry Hill East - it's the only high school in the area that has any sort of diversity in its student population. Most of the other areas in South Jersey are all white or black with very little Asian population.
Any opinion on the Asian Indian community in Cherry Hill?
My (uneducated) impression was that there is probably a large enough community for someone to not feel uncomfortable. But probably not too much that allows people to self-segregate. I did not see too many Indian businesses when I was there in summer 2010, but I had no idea really where they might be.
There's a large Indian population in the Cherry Hill area, with a lot of options for dining, shopping, and socializing. In particular, eastern Cherry Hill and Voorhees have a lot of Indian people, more than enough to self-segregate, but that's a personal decision - I never did. On the other hand, you tend to see a lot of non-Indians at functions such as garbas, which is pretty cool.
That was near the Ashland station in Somerdale. Not in Cherry Hill. I doubt the LA Fitness would have a pool, since many of the big chain gyms are going for a lower price structure which often means no pool. Also that immediate community where the Wal-Mart SuperCenter is going likely won't attract from Cherry Hill or affluent areas, so I would be surprised if LA Fitness had a high membership club there. More likely it will be an attraction for those from the Echelon apartments, that recently lost Genuardi's in Echelon Village plaza, and have really just ACME and a ShopRite but further down.
If you want a pool, Virtua and Future Fitness have one. I believe the Bally's in Voorhees has one as well. Likely also the JCC.
Virtua is probably a good suggestion. The JCC has a pretty good sized pool, but as the OP asked earlier, I'm not sure how common it is for non-Jews to be members, but it certainly happens.
At first I was going to suggest some of the chain gyms, but can you bring children to them? I thought that was why the OP was asking about YMCA's and stuff. But anyway, most LA Fitness's do have pools, but they're pretty small. Last I checked, LA Fitness was not going for a lower price structure, in fact it was a bit of a ripoff IMO. Although most of them do have racquetball courts which are pretty hard to find.
The LA Fitness behind the Ashland station does have a pool, I use it all time as well as the Ashland station.
I was a member of the JCC for a year or so, nice place. A lot of kids! Closes on all the Jewish holidays, for days at a time, which was annoying for me not being Jewish.
I'm a member of both Planet Fitness on Route 70, very cheap, nice enough. And Planet Fitness because I needed access to a pool.
Virtua was nice, but the crowd is definitely on the older side, more rehab type patients. Not for me, but definitely a nice place. It has a meter lap pool whereas LA Fitness is a 25 yard pool.
bulldog, I think your thrid sentence was going to mention another name, but you used Planet Fitness twice.
GoPhils -- Yes, going to gym with our kids was what I was looking for. I confused the issue with LAFitness, but I was just asking since there seemed to be some development activity. JCC should work out fine. I think Future Fitness has swimming for kids (per website), not sure about other things. Virtua does not seem to allow kids.
I think this info should suffice as far as fitness centers go. It is just something that we have been as a family activity recently, and we try to be in reasonable shape.
Thanks everyone for such a lot of information. We ae going to back in the Philly metro in June, and Cherry Hill sems to be our top choice after going thru this discussion. [Like I said before North Wales and Princeton were our other locations from summer 2010. But I can see the attractiveness of Cherry Hill now.]
I have 3 more questions. Since you have all been so nice so far, I hope you wouldn't mind providing some more valuable info!
(1) Is there a Cherry Hill or South Jersey police blotter on any of the local newspapers? With proximity to Camden, what are the crime-related issues for South Jersey / CH, and how is it handled.
(2) Property taxes -- Without going into technical terms, it looks like CH property taxes are about 3% of the property value? Is that approximately correct? So a 300,000 house will have a 9-10K bill.
[2a. BTW, what specific services does the county provide inside the borders of CH, or for CH residents, at this time? (I did see discussion about future regionalization of services.) How much of CH property tax bill goes to city, and how much goes to the county]
(3) Obtaining individual health insurance. But I think I might have to do some research on this topic based on info from my other thread. If anyone has any info, please inform on that thread. //www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...urance-nj.html
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by athensvaasi
Thanks everyone for such a lot of information. We ae going to back in the Philly metro in June, and Cherry Hill sems to be our top choice after going thru this discussion. [Like I said before North Wales and Princeton were our other locations from summer 2010. But I can see the attractiveness of Cherry Hill now.]
I have 3 more questions. Since you have all been so nice so far, I hope you wouldn't mind providing some more valuable info!
(1) Is there a Cherry Hill or South Jersey police blotter on any of the local newspapers? With proximity to Camden, what are the crime-related issues for South Jersey / CH, and how is it handled.
(2) Property taxes -- Without going into technical terms, it looks like CH property taxes are about 3% of the property value? Is that approximately correct? So a 300,000 house will have a 9-10K bill.
[2a. BTW, what specific services does the county provide inside the borders of CH, or for CH residents, at this time? (I did see discussion about future regionalization of services.) How much of CH property tax bill goes to city, and how much goes to the county]
(3) Obtaining individual health insurance. But I think I might have to do some research on this topic based on info from my other thread. If anyone has any info, please inform on that thread. //www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...urance-nj.html
Thanks again for so much valuable info.
Most of your property taxes go to schools. It's a state-wide problem. There are threads on the main NJ board about this, but the problem is something called the Abbott Districts. These will give you a basic understanding.
Origin of the Abbott Districts (http://www.edlawcenter.org/ELCPublic/AbbottvBurke/AbbottDistricts.htm - broken link)
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