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Hi. There's a possibility we may be relocating to Charlotte within the next year or two and we're doing some preliminary research. Does anyone know anything about the Mountain Island Lake area? Houses, communities, schools, shopping, and the commute into Uptown Charlotte?
Any info you can provide would be appreciated. We like the idea of being on or near the water, but it has to be a reasonable commute and schools are important. Are there any private or Catholic schools in the area or within a reasonable distance? (Hubby will be retired, so he can play chauffer. )
Hi. There's a possibility we may be relocating to Charlotte within the next year or two and we're doing some preliminary research. Does anyone know anything about the Mountain Island Lake area? Houses, communities, schools, shopping, and the commute into Uptown Charlotte?
Any info you can provide would be appreciated. We like the idea of being on or near the water, but it has to be a reasonable commute and schools are important. Are there any private or Catholic schools in the area or within a reasonable distance? (Hubby will be retired, so he can play chauffer. )
Beautiful area, clean water It is our water supply actually here in Charlotte so it is very protected from development and runoff. The commute into uptown would not be the worst in town, but heavy depending on time of day. There are however, no Catholic schools in that area. There is one in the uptown area that may work for you - St. Patrick's. It is K-5. The middle school is south of uptown but doable if you are motivated. Our Catholic High is in south Charlotte in the Pineville area. They are state football champs and offer a college prep curriculum - worth the drive in my opinion
Beautiful area, clean water It is our water supply actually here in Charlotte so it is very protected from development and runoff. The commute into uptown would not be the worst in town, but heavy depending on time of day. There are however, no Catholic schools in that area. There is one in the uptown area that may work for you - St. Patrick's. It is K-5. The middle school is south of uptown but doable if you are motivated. Our Catholic High is in south Charlotte in the Pineville area. They are state football champs and offer a college prep curriculum - worth the drive in my opinion
Thanks! It looks really nice from what I've seen and the housing prices look reasonable (I'm coming from the DC area, so everything down there looks reasonable. :lol ) What about private, non-Catholic schools? Are those all in the center city too? Any in the Northern suburbs? (Can you tell we really like the idea of living on a lake?)
We had looked there, too, but were not all that encouraged by the prominent power lines running through the community and the view of the coal-fired power plant across the lake.
There are some nice communities on that side but as previously stated that side of town the waters are protected. There is a growth spurt as with many areas in Charlotte. There is a Catholic School in Huntersville as well as many private schools.
We currently live in the MIL area and love it. We moved here 5 years ago, when nothing was here. The area is just now starting to boom and receive the recognition it deserves. It has been somewhat of a hidden jewel but is becoming more popular. I grew up in the area, my husband is from NY, and being a realtor in Charlotte, I've sold all around. What we like most is that you feel like you're in a neighboring town, not in Charlotte, yet you are only 15 minutes from Uptown, that's what we call downtown. My husband works Uptown and it takes him about 20 minutes, very good commute considering the other popular areas to move to are close to an hour. Also, it has more of a casual feel then some of the other areas - you don't feel like you have to drive the most expensive car in order to be welcomed. If you are looking to move within the next year, I'd say you will still be able to get a wonderful home price for the area. The elementary school has a great rating, but there are several choices in the area for private. We live in the Riverbend community. My son is 3 and has lots and lots of friends his age here. Oh yeah, the power lines and coal plant are on one side of the area. There are lots of other communities that don't have a view of that. Good luck, let me know if you have more questions about the area.
Moved her a year ago from over-crowded Huntersville and Love it and we are still only 10 minutes or so from Huntersville and 10 minutes or so to the NEW NorthLake Mall area.
Traffic is definately increasing...and the commute to uptwon would be about 20-25 minutes...very short for Charlotte standards.
However since I-485 has opened -2- exits near the Lake...exit #14 Mt Holly Road and #16 Highway 16/Brookshire Blvd...the area is fixing to explode...but all sides of Charlotte are exploding...last year Charlotte was the 2nd fastest growing city only behind Phoenix...so don't move to Charlotte expecting to find Mayberry RFD or a slow pace of life or nice friendly southern people...YES Charlotte is friendly...but it has more transplants than locals now...and I am a transplant
The area where I live (technically Stanley, but really Denver) has a lot of that southern charm and lots of nice friendly southern, northern, all kinds of good people. It is still country and not congested. My DH and I are both from "country" areas of NC and we could not stand to live any where else in the Charlotte area. What we like, a young, single uptown person might loathe. To each his own. I agree about Charlotte, but we did find all the things we wanted (friendly people, slower pace, still convenient, low taxes, etc.) in Lincoln County. Just my two cents. Even Mountain Island Lake, which is just a quick ride down the road is a little "urban" for us. One trip to the Wal-Mart down there was a big learning experience. (There is no way we would go back, especially at night. We were very glad to get home!) I don't like to go down there at all. Good luck finding exactly what you need. It is very smart to do thorough research online and otherwise. PM me if I can be of any assistance regarding my perspective.
We're renting off of Beaties Ford Road, on the NE side of the lake--beautiful area. Being close to the Carolina Raptor Center and Latta Preserve is definitely one of the benefits!
Depending on where you're at, there is a bunch of shopping in N Charlotte (I-77, exit 18--Northlake Mall) and Huntersville (I-77, exit 25--Birkdale Mall). Best of all, you don't have to take the Interstate to get there....
As someone said above, the traffic isn't too bad (just make sure you're off and running either before or well after school starts--there are three on Beaties Ford....we're loving the summer morning traffic). It takes us between 20 and 35 minutes to get to our parking spot in Uptown, depending on the time we take off from the house.
The lake is absolutely fantastic for flat-water kayaks and canoes!
It's too narrow for larger power boats to get up and moving really fast before they have to turn or slow down, making large wakes very rare. It's closer to a very wide, slow moving river than a lake. Lots of turtles, some ducks, and the occasional osprey and heron.
The Catholic School in Huntersville is St. Mark's. It's a K-8. After that, you could catch a bus into Charlotte for High School.
For convenience to St. Mark's, you would probably want to stay on the Beatties Ford Road side of Mt. Island Lake.
I used to live in Claiborne/Claiborne Woods. It is not on the lake, so no waterfront. Waterfront neighborhoods would include Overlook (waterfront homes will be pricey; they do have a waterfront community park,) Latta Springs (very few waterfront homes but a small lake access area,) and there are some other non-development lake front streets. We looked at Stephen's Grove for the longest time. There's a new development, I'm not sure if it's going to have any waterfront, called Riverdale (Charlotte NC Real Estate)
A little farther away from the lake, you could find Gilead Village, Gilead Ridge and a very popular and well established Wynfield.
Good Luck in your search!
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