St. Charles vs. Kirkwood/Creve Coeur/Ladue (St. Louis, St. Joseph: rental market, condos)

[neils2009]

Hello all! My family will be moving to the area in late June/early July and we are trying to narrow down places to look for a home. My husband's job will be in St. Charles so we need to be within a 25-30 minute commute to St. Charles because he has to take call. We will be renting for at least a year before we buy. We have 3 kids-one who will be in 5th grade, one who is starting preschool, and one who will be home with me. The places we are considering are St. Charles, Creve Coeur, Ladue, Kirkwood and Clayton. Keeping in mind our commute restrictions, which of these communities would you recommend? Are there places to avoid in these areas? Schools, recreation, outdoor play, and a great family feel are most important to us. Any extra tips are greatly appreciated. We will be heading down in 2 weeks to start looking for places. Thanks!

[Howudoin18]

St. Charles county is pretty big. You need to be more specific about where in St. Charles the job will be. What about price range? Older home? Newer home? Size? Creve coeur, Kirkwood, Clayton and Ladue are all in St. Louis County with Creve Coeur being the closest to St. Charles. While traveling from St. Louis county to St. Charles county is traveling in the opposite direction of traffic in the mornings and vice versa in the evenings, it may still be too long of a commute. Again, it depends on where the job is specifically.

[neils2009]

The job is at St. Joseph's close to downtown. I am thinking St. Charles would be better to minimize the commute although we really love the feel of Kirkwood. Any comments on the Francis Howell school district?

[Howudoin18]

Everyone loves the feel of Kirkwood but it's way out of your 30 minute commute to the city of St. Charles. Even Creve Coeur is pushing the limits during rush hour. Not too familiar with Francis Howell. Fort zumwalt is pretty good. Hopefully someone else can help with school districts in St. Charles county.

[flynavyj]

Kirkwood might be out of commute time if you're looking specifically at rush our, or with accidents, but even using google (which gives pretty conservative time estimates) shows the commute from Center of Kirkwood to St. Joseph Medical Center being 18 miles and 25 minutes...my guess would be 20-25 minutes or less as long as you don't encounter traffic on I-270 North, or backups on the MO-364 or I-70 bridges.

I had friends during my youth who attended Fort Zumwalt and it seemed like a very decent district with lots of options for students to become involved in. Significantly more than my private school upbringing, but that never seemed uncommon with any of the public schools, they simply offer more variety.

There are some pretty decent prices variations, but i'm sure you've checked to see that you can afford each of the communities. With regards to Schools, Ladue will be a step above the rest. Parkway schools in Creve Coeur are more than adequate, even North is pretty decent but gets a "bad rep" from the rest of the Parkway community. Kirkwood schools are also good, very similar to the surrounding areas. I don't know how each would rack and stack against Zumwalt, but in all honesty I'd likely choose the ones on the St. Louis County side first.

Distances to St. Joseph Medical Center from the geographic center of each community.

Creve Coeur: 12.8 Mi - 18 Minutes
Ladue:18.3 Mi - 24 Minutes
Kirkwood: 18.9 Mi - 25 Minutes

You could even add Ballwin or Chesterfield to your choices, which would net a 25 Minute to 31 minute commute respectfully.

[neils2009]

Thanks for all the comments. I googled the travel times but don't know how busy the interstates get with rush hour traffic. This is just a landing spot until we decide where we would like to buy. The rental market isn't great so that is affecting our decision as well. My husband is just afraid that if we plant ourselves in St. Charles we won't leave after being there for a year.

[flynavyj]

I can totally understand. All of the areas mentioned are very popular spots to purchase, and as such I'd definitely try renting in the one you can afford/like. Traffic really shouldn't be to big of an issue, I-270 seems to back up South of Dougherty Ferry Northbound in the morning hours. Luckily the commute towards the West will be problem free once you're established on I-70 or MO-364/Page Ave as the majority of traffic will be coming "into" town and not "going out" of it. I'm not sure where you're coming from prior to St. Louis, but the traffic in our metro does not compare to many other major cities in the country...specifically when you think of places like DC, Chicago, or LA. Our rush hour is very short, and might slow you down from 70 mph to 45-50 mph at worse...and add several minutes to your commute.

My commute with traffic towards downtown only increased about 5-10 minutes during the snow storm last week...traffic was high, and cars were moving considerably slower than normal, but even still there was barely any affect.

[billiken]

St. Charles, Creve Coeur, Ladue, Kirkwood and Clayton are all fairly different places.

St Charles: Mostly new development, with everything that comes with that (with the exception of main street St Charles).
Creve Couer: Slightly older development, but still more subdivision based housing. Plenty of shopping.
Ladue: Has more of an estate feel--lots of large houses on large private lots. Big $$ lives here, typically
Kirkwood: Kind of an all-american feeling town--older homes, has a little downtown area, mostly built on a gridded street system.
Clayton: Interesting mix of single family homes, condos, and a business district with midrise/highrise buildings. Most shopping is small business oriented, with the big box stores located in neighboring towns (Brentwood/Richmond Heights).

[flynavyj]

Originally Posted by billiken

St. Charles, Creve Coeur, Ladue, Kirkwood and Clayton are all fairly different places.

St Charles: Mostly new development, with everything that comes with that (with the exception of main street St Charles).
Creve Couer: Slightly older development, but still more subdivision based housing. Plenty of shopping.
Ladue: Has more of an estate feel--lots of large houses on large private lots. Big $$ lives here, typically
Kirkwood: Kind of an all-american feeling town--older homes, has a little downtown area, mostly built on a gridded street system.
Clayton: Interesting mix of single family homes, condos, and a business district with midrise/highrise buildings. Most shopping is small business oriented, with the big box stores located in neighboring towns (Brentwood/Richmond Heights).

The other interesting part of Clayton are that single family homes are often fairly large, expensive, and sometimes on decent sized lots. Not the type of 1-2 acre lots you'll see in Ladue, but plenty of decent lots and large homes.

When the time comes to purchase, I'd always recommend the areas you mentioned...I'd also recommend the area of Town & Country which has some large lots and large homes too. If your husband ever moves hospitals, that would put him in a great location for St. Luke's, St. John's Mercy, and Missouri Baptist.

You can also find some gorgeous mid century construction in the area. The homes may be smaller than the newer "gigantic" construction, but they typically carry a significantly lower price tag, have been well maintained, and often are in the gorgeous California Ranch design that I feel so fondly about.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by neils2009

Thanks for all the comments. I googled the travel times but don't know how busy the interstates get with rush hour traffic. This is just a landing spot until we decide where we would like to buy. The rental market isn't great so that is affecting our decision as well. My husband is just afraid that if we plant ourselves in St. Charles we won't leave after being there for a year.

I live in Kirkwood and there seems to be a lot of houses for rent. Giving it a try probably wouldn't hurt, but I do think the commute would bother you.

However, I have a friend who lives in Kirkwood who commutes to the city of St. Charles every day near where the hospital is, so it can be done.