Inner city communities in Calgary...

[tvp2003]

We're looking to move somewhere closer to downtown for work, and some of the communities we're considering are Sunnyside, Crescent Heights, and Mount Pleasant. Would prefer a single family home; we appreciate the square footage will be a lot smaller compared to the burbs, but we can live with that (we're just a small family).

Before we meet with our realtor, does anyone have any suggestions on these communities, or others they would recommend or avoid?

I noticed there is a little more selection in Bridgeland and up to Renfrew, but these areas seem a little less appealing. What about Ramsay and/or Inglewood?

[Robotic]

I live in Mardaloop and its a 10min commute to downtown. You can easily drive, 1 bus, or bike to work. It's close to downtown, but yet far enough to get away from the noise. 33rd ave is great with all the trendy shops, and its right beside Crowchild so you have easy access to almost anywhere.

[Shades]

Did you want to be within walking distance to DT or would biking or a short Ctrain stint be OK?

[DFO]

There are some gems to be found in Renfrew - you'll find many more full sized lots compared to Crescent Heights. I'm building in Reader Crescent and it'll be ~35min walk to the north end of downtown.

[pylon]

I live in Windsor Park a few blocks from Chinook Centre, and love it.

It is a 10 minute bike ride from downtown. A 3 minute walk to new gaunch at Sears or the Theatres at chinook centre, Stanley Park just down the hill, and a 10 minute walk to the train for Flames Games. There is still some very reasonable prices in the area, and they are starting to rip down all the old jalopy houses and put up new infills / fourplexes everywhere. Highly underrated community, and I have loved my 7 years there.

[Bigtime]

We currently live in a condo building north of the Saddledome. After having our daughter we decided to start searching for a nice inner-city home to really set down roots in. Proximity to the downtown core and a nice walkable community was KEY.

Initially we were looking at Cliff Bungalow, but ultimately set our sights on Hillhurst and Sunnyside. After about 2 years of searching we finally found the right home at the right price in Sunnyside, we take possession on Monday.

We love the community, a healthy mix of families, singles, DINKS, students and older people. They know their neighbours and can frequently be seen out in their front yards socializing.

Our backup plan had we not found something was to go to the Renfrew area, knowing that it would not have the proximity to the urban core that we love so much.

Bridgeland has SO much potential, especially with the development of The Bridges sites where the general hospital was. However the 2nd and 3rd phases of the development have pretty much been at a standstill since 2007 and with the Cecil closing a lot of trouble has crept across the river into their community.

Edit: VVV Hi soon to be neighbour!

[nik-]

I live in Sunnyside and I love it, but actual houses here are pretty damn expensive.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Hillhurst/Sunnyside is a great area of the city to be in, especially if money is no object.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Shades

Did you want to be within walking distance to DT or would biking or a short Ctrain stint be OK?

Wallking is ideal, but a short commute via bike/transit/car would also work

[frinkprof]

I can't speak ill of Sunnyside, Crescent Heights or Mount Pleasant (as places to live). Have you thought about west of downtown, or would you prefer the north side of the river?

I've always thought highly of Sunalta and Bankview. Scarboro would likely be good too. I presume Mount Royal, Elbow Park, et al. would be too rich for your blood, as far as single family homes go, since that is the case for most people.

Ramsay kicks ass too.

[Northendzone]

I would avoid any area named crackdown - or anything close/similar

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I lived in Hillhurst, and the area gives you the quintessential inner city living experience. Towering Elm trees (11A has to be one of the best in the City), easy 12 min walk to downtown with no hills, and you're right on Kensington's doorstep for easy shopping and access to the LRT.

Note the prime area is between 10th and 14th street. Has a much more upbeat vibe with a great mix of people from multimillion dollar house owners to renting students. I miss the quirky things like carolers and guitar dude walking around strumming songs.

For this reasons though, single detached housing is a bit more than the rest of Hillhurst and Sunnyside. Ultimately we chose a few blocks West to West Hillhurst when we wanted something detached, on the other side of 14th for affordability. It doesn't have the same vibe but is only 5 minutes by foot away from my old place. With Bowmont Pool, the West Hillhurst Community Center Rinks, and a K-12 school 2 blocks away it should be good for kids if we have them. So the vibe was traded off for other things.

IMHO the ability to walk to work comfortably is a huge reason to pay a bit more for something in Hillhurst / Sunnyside. For a while I looked at Marda Loop but if I have to ride the bus for 20 min, I might as well ride it for another 10 min and pay a lot less (Westhills area)

[Sr. Mints]

Let me preface this post by saying you've made excellent choices. After re-reading my post, it might sound like I'm dumping on the neighbourhoods a bit--I'm not.

I've lived in Sunnyside for a few years and loved it, and grew up in Rosedale--next door to [W.] Crescent Heights, which I always just considered the same neighbourhood. I will never not live inner city. Great people, really pleasant 'neighbourhood spirit;' amazing access to downtown, the LRT, SAIT, the university, grocery shopping, my favourite comic shop, North Hill Shopping Center if you're really desperate.

From my own experience, things that come to mind about both those communities was that you got the odd hobo and person who was generally up to no good walking the alley looking in windows and over fences during broad daylight. Several times I had to confront people who I'd literally be watching through my window, walk into my back yard and begin to walk off with a bike or shovel or whatever. Also, in Rosedale specifically, the people traffic and sightseers who'd drive 10km/hr really started to get on my nerves.

In addition, because it is a pretty wealthy neighbourhood, it seemed every frickin' night there'd be someone at the door looking for money for some charity or cause--and they'd often be neighbours, so you look like an ####### when you turn them down.

Both very peaceful and safe neighbourhoods. I felt safe jogging in Sunnyside at 2:00 a.m., but not in Spruce Cliff where I am now (and you really ought to consider west of downtown like frinkprof said).

Access to Rosedale/Cres Heights is a ####ing pain in the ass after the sound wall on 16th ave went up a few years ago during the widening of of the Trans Canada. Some people love it, lots of people hate it; I hated it. If you're driving north on 10th street, you risk getting a ticket turning at 12th ave, otherwise you drive to 16th ave, turn east and can enter once until 4th ave. And there are speed bumps and traffic circles all over now. Remember how I said people traffic and sightseers bugged me, well they still all know how to get in, and the traffic circles and speed bumps just slow them down even more.

Nothing is open late! The Tim Horton's on 16th was 24hrs once upon a time, but now I swear they close at 9:00 p.m. There's a pizza place on 10th in Kensington that has crazy vampire hours, however. A lady who worked at the Royal bank down there named Rhonda was a miserable cow and I always seemed to get her--thank god for ATMs and internet banking.

That's all I got at the moment. Ask me any specific questions if you'd like, and I'll gladly answer them if I can.

[Knalus]

The hill leading up to Renfrew keeps the majority of the homeless down-slope. The lots in Renfrew can be huge. I bought there because I could get a very big yard for comparatively less than any of the other inner city neighborhoods. I would guess my property is twice the size of my dad's, and he lives in Millrise. Much smaller house, though. If I worked at the Bow, it would be a 20-30 minute walk to work.

Very quiet neighborhood, too. In fact, that's my one knock on it. It's too quiet, I was hoping for an inner city neighborhood that there would be more to do within walking distance.

[tvp2003]

Thanks for the replies and feedback thus far. I've spent very little time in the west/south part of the City, as I grew up in the NE and currently live in North Central. So I'm a little more familiar with the areas north of the river; although I've thought about places SW of downtown (Sunalta, Bankview, Altadore, etc.), that's about it thus far.

Not interested in spending more than $500k so that takes a lot of the infills/nicer areas out of the equation. Proximity to shopping/restaurants is nice but not a requirement for us. Just looking for good proximity to DT, safe area for our kid to play outside, and something reasonably comfortable to live in. Good community vibe would be a bonus

[Bigtime]

How many bedrooms are you after? That 500K number pretty much eliminates Hillhurst and Sunnyside. Unless you want the ultimate fixer-uper.

[JiriHrdina]

I wish Ramsay could turn around - it is a great location but too many of the properties are run down, it has a sketchy factor and there's some smelly things down there (namely the Chicken factory).

It has potential to be a great inner-city area though.

[Husky]

IMO, the future trends for innercity development will be West and East, not South and North areas.

The least developed area is Rosscarrock but tons of infills are coming up now, especially with Westbrook mall redevelopment.

Ramsay/Inglewood should see next flag of development as East villgae will get capital for redevelopment and push development out further east.

[Bigtime]

Ramsay has SO much potential. We were looking at it for a while also. Lots of people involved in the community and they take great pride in it. Dealbreakers for us were:

-no close grocery store
-school situation (Ramsay school seems to just hang on)

Hopefully the SELRT when it goes ahead will act as a catalyst to get things rolling in the area (I still think Ramsay Exchange not going ahead was a damn shame). Don't really know how much more can happen in Inglewood, even if the East Village helps spurn development in that end.

East Village will really open up development in the east Beltline (especially with the 4th street underpass opening in the fall).

[HockeyPuck]

I lived in Mount Pleasant for 7 years before moving down south to Canyon Meadows. Nothing but glowing things to say about Mount Pleasant - we just loved living there. If we could've found a house with a little less $/sq. ft in Mt. Pleasant we would've stayed. It was nice having most everything there real close - and getting out of town was a breeze. With highways 1 and 2 so close, we could be out of the city in 10 minutes.

From where we lived to where I work on 9th ave, it would be about a 40 minute walk or a 7 minute bike ride. Going back home was another story as you have to climb that Prince's Island hill. Oh, most importantly, Peter's Drive-In was a 15 min. walk.

Ramsay definitely seems like it does have potential for revitalization, but when I put down an offer on a place there back in 2003, it seemed kind of seedy. I've taken a couple of bike rides through that area, and not much has changed since.