Tell me about Franklin Park neighborhood (Pittsburgh, McCandless Township: salons, hotels, Home Depot)

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Bong477

Please understand that this forum has a strong bias towards urban neighborhoods. If you ask about the suburbs, you are likely to get a bunch of posts about why you should live in the city (mind you, the city is pretty nice and has a lot going for it too). Whatever. It is what it is.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Bong477

If you ask about the suburbs, you are likely to get a bunch of posts about why you should live in the city.

Note that didn't happen in this thread.

[greg42]

From most parts of Franklin Park, 10 minutes is more realistic for most shopping. There are one or two spots within the borough that have shopping, mainly where Rt 910 crosses I-79. But while quite useful (I shop there myself) they are not large supermarkets or other major stores. Personally, I think that tradeoff might be worth it. Short of being able to walk to shopping, having it be within 5 minutes drive may often compromise the experience. I mean, yeah it's good for shopping to be convenient, but in the sprawl you don't really want to live right next to the big strip malls and such. I find Franklin Park to be pleasant in that way that it's not so built up commercially but instead is almost all houses. Cranberry will get you closer to that 5 minute ideal, but still with the traffic it's not always going to be that short and depends upon where within Cranberry which is quite large. Compared to Franklin Park it will also put you at least another 5-10 minutes farther away from the airport area and 5-10 minutes farther from downtown Pittsburgh. And the schools while still good are not quite as good. The property taxes are cheaper in Cranberry though because it is in a different county.

It's still not really clear where you need to be closer to. Is the actual place where your husband will be working in Wexford or in some airport-area hotel? If the latter, you might want to look at Robinson or Moon instead, much closer to airport, though only small parts will be super close to shopping. Franklin Park and Cranberry are close to "Wexford" which comprises parts of Franklin Park, Pine Township and McCandless. (Pine Township is a different school district than the other two but still good.) But Cranberry is going to be around 40 minute drive to airport area.

[Geeo]

I think that you'll find something to you liking in Franklin Park or any of the adjacent townships that are part of the North Allegheny school district. True that Franklin Park is mostly residential, but it is within easy driving distance to North Park and the Rte 19/McKnight Road corridor as well as the Cranberry shopping area. You'll have everything from Nordstrom, Tiffany and Whole Foods nearby as well as Sears and Penneys. It's a growing area with a lot of new developments, but the hills and trees keep it looking a bit secluded, which can be nice - it's not all one continuous development. And the traffic will be a breeze when compared to Houston.

[Bong477]

Yet.

Its a fair point that no one actually said "live in the city not the suburbs" in this thread (also notice I didn't say that anyone did), but its a common occurence here and I think the OP should understand that these forums are biased towards the urban neighborhoods in interpreting the responses which make it sound like Franklin Park is in the middle of nowhere and either basically farmland or completely devoid of soul and things to do. Which aren't true. As a regular follower of these forums, I am reasonably confident that if there are enough posts here there will eventually be someone that says consider Squirrel Hill or the Mexican War Streets or <insert another city neighborhood reasonably close to the interstate here>. Not that these would be terrible options and the op COULD certainly consider them if they better fit what she is looking for.

Mind you I am someone that moved from the North Hills to within the city limits. I like both areas and know them both reasonably well.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Bong477

Its a fair point that no one actually said "live in the city not the suburbs" in this thread (also notice I didn't say that anyone did), but its a common occurence here

I think the only common cases in which people might suggest City neighborhoods are when the poster in question has stated criteria that make those neighborhoods viable possibilities.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

Franklin Park is part of Wexford. Wexford is not a real place, it is just a Post Office zip code.

REALLY? Jeez -- it used to be a real little town.

[Geeo]

I don't think it was ever an incorporated place. I know that there was a Wexford trolley station in the early 20th century for the trolley that ran between Pittsburgh and New Castle and there was a post office and general store, but that was in the days when it was all rural out there and mostly farm country. I'm guessing it was always a part of Franklin Park Township.

[Copanut]

Nah, never a town, just a zip code.

Post office won't be rebuilt at same location in Marshall - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[hinsey86]

I am thinking you may have an image of Franklin as being rural and miles and miles away from everything which is not the case. If you want to be right next to malls then there ar better options but Franklin is not bad at all and certainly far from rural.