Job in Newark, liberal family with young kids, want to live close to Columbus (Westerville: apartments, condos)

[doomayula]

Hi all!

My husband is interviewing for a job in Newark. We would prefer to live near Columbus, although as far east as possible so the drive isn't too bad (how is traffic going to and from Columbus/Newark direction during rush hour?)

We are crunchy organic-eating bleeding heart liberal homeschooling homebirthing hippies, in a sentence We seek parks, other families, diversity, and a proximity to Whole Foods Market and maybe some kind of yoga place.

Where would you suggest we live, given those variables? Housing price limit is 250K.

I'm a Univ of Michigan grad, so my mind is pretty blown by the prospect of this move!

Thanks.

[behindenemylines]

We're from Michigan and have found New Albany to be a wonderful place to live. The Hampsted Village sub is seconds from the 161 and its 18 minutes door-to-door from our house to Whole Foods in Dublin. We chose New Albany in part because of its proximity to Granville (we were thinking of sending our kids to Welsh Hills) so its probably about as close to Newark you will find, especially now that the 161 expansion to Granville is completed. I've only been to Newark once and it wasn't rush hour but it took about a half hour. New Albany has homes for under $250k, lots of parks, trails and a great aquatic center. The schools are wonderful and even though you likely won't be using them it does mean New Albany attracts lots of families and there are lots of kids in the area. Some will say New Albany is not very diverse and certainly there are areas with more diversity but personally we are surrounded by different races, religions and nationalities and everyone meshes incredibly well. I have never lived in a more open and accepting environment where neighbors are actually neighborly - even to those of us who wear maize and blue. I recommend Breathing Space Yoga in New Albany which is also a pickup spot for a wonderful organic CSA you may be interested in (Athens Hills). It may not be a hippie community but from our experiences this past year, its a wonderful community to live and raise a family.

[CVCMH]

Hi there,

It's probably not an option for you to live in, because the commute to Newark would be 45 minutes to an hour, but when/if you make it to Columbus, you may want to check out some of the organic/crunchy granola resources available in Clintonville. These would include Sprout Soup (organic kids products store), Whole World (vegetarian food), Northstar Cafe (very tasty local/organic food), and Firefly Cafe (a kids' playspace where none of the toys use batteries). I would add the Clintonville Community Market (a locally-owned small co-op grocery store), but Whole Foods (there are WF's in Dublin and Upper Arlington) typically has better prices and selection.
There is also the Clintonville Farmers' Market at Dunedin & High St. on Saturday mornings, which is one of the best in the city.

I presume you've figured this out already, but my hunch is that you would really really really not like living in Newark. I grew up there, and while I would consider moving to Granville (a quaint and scenic college town), I would not move back to Newark proper (and I'm not even a hippie!).

Best of luck finding a place for your family!

PS - You also should definitely check out ComFest (the Columbus Community Festival) that is held every year in June in Goodale Park. It's a large, free music festival that is a hippie haven (although recently becoming popular with other groups as well). www.comfest.com

[Bo]

You might look at Gambier. It's a funky little college town that's more laid-back than Granville. (Granville is stodgy, IMO.) It wouldn't be a bad commute from Newark on Route 13 and Route 3.

I grew up in Newark. I don't blame you for not wanting to live there.

[CVCMH]

Not sure how I'm all over this thread, but I have to respectfully disagree with the poster who recommended Gambier. I went to Kenyon College, the school in Gambier, and while I loved living there for four years during college, it's an awfully small town to live in on a permanent basis. There's really nothing there but Kenyon. I get that Granville may not be the OP's cup of tea, but if they want to be around families, parks, yoga, and Whole Foods, Gambier is not the place either. (It's also about 45 minutes from the north end of Newark, no closer than a lot of places in Columbus).

[OhioHillJack]

Originally Posted by doomayula

We are crunchy organic-eating bleeding heart liberal homeschooling homebirthing hippies, in a sentence We seek parks, other families, diversity, and a proximity to Whole Foods Market and maybe some kind of yoga place.

Bwah Hah Hah Hah!!!! Oh, your husband is going to LOVE Newark!

[dustin183]

I would say Granville, New Albany, Bexley, maybe Gahanna... though there all quite suburban.

Granville is more quant and historical. A college town (Denison Univ), but very close to Newark.
New Albany is new money, spurred on by Les Wexner, founder of the Limited.
Gahanna is more of a typical mid-tier suburb, but conveniently located to everything.
Bexley is an old suburb, but lots of charm, private schools, churches/snyagogs, Capital Univ.

Clintonville is probably more your style but is further from Newark.
Westerville is a more modest 'urb than New Albany, convenient location, home to Otterbein College, but suburban culturally like Gahanna.
Adjacent to Bexley are little neighborhoods Eastgate and Berwick (Columbus schools), which are modest, yet well-kept and close to I-71 freeway for the commute to Newark.

Pickerington would also be a convenient commute since it's right off 71, but it is quite suburban in culture.

Hope this helps.

[dustin183]

Another note on New Albany - it is quite "nice"... but culturally unorganic and unoriginal. It is very planned, very "Stepford-wive-ish" with a lot of cookie-cutter McMansions.

[streetcreed]

OK.

1) New Albany is more exurb with mcmansions and a collection of condos/apartments for yuppies who work in some of its employment centers.

2) If you want to live "near" Columbus and have the ammentities that you listed you are best looking at one of the fine/liberal/trendy neighborhoods IN Columbus. Unlike many other Midwestern cities Columbus is known for its fantastic neighborhoods with houses of different ages and varying character.

Recommended:
Clintonville. Fits everything you said and more. Is located on the near northern part of the city. Just north of OSU, 5 min highway drive to downtown, and has some of the better city schools.

NW Columbus (these neigborhoods lye next to the Olentangy River and near Upper Arlington) they are close to OSU, not far from downtown, and yet have a very family friendly feeling. A realtor should know what you are talking about when you say NW Columbus. THis area is made up of many neighborhoods but is more suburban feeling than Clintonville, but still relatively urban and in the central core of the city.

3) An innerring suburb:
Grandview Heights: This area is also located literally near downtown, the Short North (the amazing arts district), OSU, etc. The neighborhood includes portions within the city of Grandview and some sections are actually in Columbus. Both are nice and have lots of housing options and young families as well as young professionals.

ALL of the above options are in the central part of the metro. So they are literally in about the middle of the metro. This means your commute to Newark won't be the longest possible but not as close as you could get if you picked a suburb on the east side of the metro, however, most of those would only put you 15 mins closer. But it's something to think about.

4) You could attempt one of the east side suburbs (which would put you about 10-15 mins closer to work), however these places do not fit your requirements as well and are more typical suburban areas while they are very liveable you will gain in being closer to work but may give up some of your ideals.

[NicePolishBoy]

I used to work in downtown Newark and lived in three places during my time there. I lived in Granville and I loved it. With the university this is the most liberal part of Licking County, and it is charming. I got married and my wife worked in Columbus, so we tried to live somewhere between the two work locations.

I then lived for a short time between Upper Arlington and Dublin, and the drive was too long.

Then, we moved to the Westerville area near New Albany and the drive was reasonable. Door-to-door it was 40 minutes.

I'm amazed at the times people give for commutes. You have to get out of a subdivision and onto the main roads, sometimes wait in traffic, get parking, etc. The real time is always longer.