Central Area and Maple Leaf (Seattle, Garfield: house, neighborhoods, buying)

[uktowa]

So we are new to the area and trying to find some neighborhoods to live. All the usual suspects - Ballard, Fremont, Capitol Hill - but the inventory is limited, etc. So we are expanding the search a bit. Any thoughts on Central Area or Maple Leaf? How bad is the commute to South Lake Union area? Okay for families?

Thank you!

[mkarch]

We also started looking at Maple Leaf last year due to lack of inventory. I lived there about a decade ago and liked it for the most part. It felt safe and has some really good schools from what I've seen, though I never got to the point of really investigating. The only drawback I see is it's not as eclectic as the other areas you mentioned. The retail center is the Northgate mall, so instead of the abundance of smaller neighborhood shops and restaurants, you have big chains a few blocks north. That said, the strip along Roosevelt north of the reservoir has grown quite a bit since I lived there, and you have Roosevelt (neighborhood) and Greenlake pretty close as well.

Not sure on the commute. I never worked downtown when I lived there.

As for the CD - I looked there briefly and decided that for me personally it wasn't gentrified enough. If I were a few years younger I'd consider waiting it out, but at this point it felt too transitional for me just to save a few bucks on the house. (FYI - a lot of that area used to be redlined which restricted investment and lead to deterioration more than other neighborhoods)

Also, I'll add that I did consider parts of Greenwood and Crown Hill over both Maple Leaf and the CD. They don't have the cache of the other places but they're close and seem to be improving, perhaps as a less expensive alternative to Ballard.

[Ira500]

The pluses to Maple Leaf is that it's mostly pleasant, and close enough to places like Greenlake, or Magnuson Park, not all that far to Ballard. The minus is that some of it has a lot of freeway noise.
The Central District varies from street to street, block to block. Where the Central District borders Madison Valley is pretty nice, but the area just west of Garfield HS is still pretty scuzzy. Schools are also less consistently good in the CD. Some CD kids go to Stevens(good school), others go to Bailey Gatzert(not so good). Washington Middle and Garfield High have long established gifted programs. The commute wouldn't be bad from any of those places mentioned. I'll second mkarch's suggestion of Crown Hill and Greenwood, and I'd also suggest not ruling out parts of West Seattle, like the Alaska junction, Seaview, Admiral District, Fauntleroy, etc. It wouldn't generally be a longer commute than Crown Hill or Maple Leaf. Bus service is especially good to the Alaska Junction.

[angelenogirl]

I have a friend who lives in Maple Leaf and loves it. His kids go to Sacajawea and it seems like a solid school. Our second-choice house was in Maple Leaf. It's much quieter than where we ended up, but the little neighborhood by the school was really darling. We would have felt very safe living there; seems like a tight-knit little community, and the teacher-student ratios are better than what we ended up with.

[RunTheDistance476]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

I have a friend who lives in Maple Leaf and loves it. His kids go to Sacajawea and it seems like a solid school. Our second-choice house was in Maple Leaf. It's much quieter than where we ended up, but the little neighborhood by the school was really darling. We would have felt very safe living there; seems like a tight-knit little community, and the teacher-student ratios are better than what we ended up with.

Are there unicorns, too?

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

Are there unicorns, too?

Seriously? What is your problem?

[angelenogirl]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

Are there unicorns, too?

Only on Tuesdays. That's why it's still affordable.

[415_s2k]

I lived in Maple Leaf when I was in Seattle in 08-09.

It's a great area for families - very quiet and generally safe, though car theft was an issue at that time... my car got broken into a few times, a neighbor's late-model Land Cruiser was stolen (they drove it across his lawn since his wife's car was behind it!), and I'd see smashed windows in cars along or off of Roosevelt. This was during the recession, and there was a surge of car theft in and around Seattle in general, so it may have just been a sign of the times and be better now; I'm not sure.

But, this aside, it was generally a pretty good place to raise a family. My family lived on the other side of the freeway when I was a kid, and it was a great area to grow up in... along Roosevelt, there is a small stretch of stores with a couple cafes, a 7-11, a Chinese restaurant, etc.

Commuting to Lake Union is really easy - I often just took the bus down to work on First Hill, but you could easily drive or even bike. Straight shot down Roosevelt took about 20 minutes on the bus, 10-15 driving... really easy. Bike ride would probably be about 20-25 min.

[fnh]

Pick CD! Pick CD!

No really, I like both of those neighborhoods though they have very different feels. Maple Leaf is very sweet and neighborly but mostly residential, the CD is a mix of urban and residential but transitional and thus a little edgier. I have to put a plug in for the CD since we are buying there and I have two young kids.

[RunTheDistance476]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

Only on Tuesdays. That's why it's still affordable.

Oh, cool! Maybe I will stop by!