Moving to Pittsburgh: Need info on Sewickley please. How is the commute into town, schools, etc... (Bellevue: apartments, rentals)

[mettabelle]

Looking for some information on Sewickley--is the Quaker Township a good school district? How is the area for very young children and families?

[greg42]

Sewickley, mostly upscale area with actual old town in the middle. Quaker Valley school district is very good. Drive to downtown Pittsburgh is around 25 min from Sewickley borough proper, when there's no traffic. Peak morning rush around 8:00 or so is going to push that up to something like 40 most likely. I recall rush hour being less of an issue in the afternoon.

Plenty of families in that area. Although you may wish to keep in mind that while there are various levels of housing there and thus people of various means, there is a somewhat high concentration of million dollar plus houses/estates and very wealthy families. If this is not you I wouldn't say it's something to steer you away from the area necessarily, but it would be something that may affect social interaction in school for the kids and with other parents. Most of the wealthiest families are likely sending their children to the private Sewickley Academy anyway.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by mettabelle

Looking for some information on Sewickley--is the Quaker Township a good school district? How is the area for very young children and families?

Top notch school district for sure. We were considering moving there because we are so taken by the charm of the downtown area, but as Greg mentioned, the commute in to town would be to long in the morning for my wife, and maybe even longer now because there is road work going on on Ohio River Blvd.

[greg42]

That's true, there's a bridge construction at Emsworth. Temporary for sure but not sure how that affects the rush hour traffic. At off hours it's fine.

The big backup in the morning though is at the McKees Rocks Bridge, and that never goes away. There's a traffic light there, and before that a long stretch without one, so the cars back up pretty much all the way to the edge of Bellevue at the worst times. About 15 minutes' worth typically.

[Griffin11]

Does anyone know how busy Ferry street is compared to Thorn st? We are looking to buy and don't want to live on a very busy street

Thanks for any info

[mettabelle]

thank you this is all good info folks. i'm finding more rentals in mt. lebanon and leaning towards that---but just so taken with the charm of Sewickly. we are not even close to being millionaires so yes, that is concern. i'm told so far that mt. lebanon and upper st. claire are the ONLY way to go for public school...is this perception or fact?

[gg]

Originally Posted by mettabelle

thank you this is all good info folks. i'm finding more rentals in mt. lebanon and leaning towards that---but just so taken with the charm of Sewickly. we are not even close to being millionaires so yes, that is concern. i'm told so far that mt. lebanon and upper st. claire are the ONLY way to go for public school...is this perception or fact?

Sewickley has a reputation of having some amazing homes and many wealthy people, but it is also VERY diverse. Many people lump Sewickley with what is actually Sewickley Heights or as the locals call it "the Heights". I think if you are in the village itself or around that area, there are ALL walks of life. There are reasonable apartments in and around the downtown as well.

Fox Chapel's average income is $184K
Sewickley $52K
Sewickley Heights $104K

You can clearly see Sewickley is much more diverse than a place like Fox Chapel by quite a margin. The average home price is under $300K in Sewickley as well. Don't let people talk you out of an area because some people think it is for the rich. It isn't like that there at all. Sure you go to Sewickley Golf Club it is wealthy, but isn't that true with all kind of places. Look at Oakmont. You can buy a home in Oakmont for less than $50K, but the OCC isn't a cheap place.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by mettabelle

thank you this is all good info folks. i'm finding more rentals in mt. lebanon and leaning towards that---but just so taken with the charm of Sewickly. we are not even close to being millionaires so yes, that is concern. i'm told so far that mt. lebanon and upper st. claire are the ONLY way to go for public school...is this perception or fact?

I know absolutely nothing about schools, but if you like Sewickley, but lack the million-dollar budget, you might like Ben Avon, a neighborhood not far away where not all the houses are made of brick, a near anomaly in Pittsburgh.

ben avon pa - Google Maps

[gg]

Originally Posted by mettabelle

thank you this is all good info folks. i'm finding more rentals in mt. lebanon and leaning towards that---but just so taken with the charm of Sewickly. we are not even close to being millionaires so yes, that is concern. i'm told so far that mt. lebanon and upper st. claire are the ONLY way to go for public school...is this perception or fact?

A perception. There are lots of good schools besides the ones mentioned. North Allegheny and Fox Chapel to name two more. Hampton is good as well. There are more than what I listed, but just want to point out there are others as good if not better depending how you look at it. Fox Chapel has a little advantage due to how wealthy a district it is and it can afford some pretty amazing amenities for kids to use. The wealth doesn't just come from the most expensive homes in the area, but it has RIDC park within the district. That doesn't hurt. All the schools mentioned on either list here are good. Take your pick. It would be hard to tell one district it is better than the other.

[gg]

Originally Posted by jay5835

I know absolutely nothing about schools, but if you like Sewickley, but lack the million-dollar budget,..

Please read my post above. You don't need a million dollar budget at all.