Advice on living in St. Louis please...
 

My husband just accepted a job in St. Louis, so we are moving there in the beginning of July.

I was thinking about living in Lake St. Louis (I lived there when I was younger - in school). I understand that this would be a 45-50 minute commute to downtown.

Does anyone have suggestions as to other areas like Lake St. Louis closer to the city? Any general overall tips about the area?

I have an uncle there that I can get this info from, but he is on an extended vacation right now. So anything that could at least get me started would be great.

Thanks all! - JSRX2

Clayton and the neighborhoods just west of Forest Park are my favorites. Expensive, but great location, great character to the neighborhoods.
No sterile, cookie cutter, 'McHomes' in those areas.

I'm not sure how long ago you lived in Lake St. Louis but things have changed. The whole I-70 corridor has become much more built up and traffic has gotten much worse. I checked with two co-workers and their commutes from there are about an hour. St. Charles and St. Peters are now almost totally built up and now other areas like O'Fallon (MO) and even Warrenton are undergoing a construction explosion. Just pull off the highway in those areas and you'll see a dozen or more signs directing you to new developments. However they have added I-370 and soon the Page Ave. extension to Highway 94 will be complete giving two new options to getting into St. Louis County. That means that Lake St. Louis won't have the same feel that you might have had 20 years ago.
The Chesterfield/Wildwood area has also exploded and that adds traffic to I-64/Hwy 40 and makes getting to St. Charles county tougher. In Chesterfield Valley (what used to be called Gumbo Flats and was under 15 foot of water in the flood of '93) theres now a mega strip mall with a Circuit City, Target, Wal Mart, Lowes, Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, PetsMart, Sams and tons of other stores.
IMHO St. Charles county is boring and VERY white. Miles and miles of cul-de-sacs, "big box" retailers, SUV driving soccer moms and almost Stepford-like similarity of people. I have some friends, he's black and she's Hispanic and barely lasted two years in St. Peters. The neighbors were unfriendly and the cops were always pulling them over. They never had that problem anywhere else they've lived.
If you want the suburbs and don't want such a bad drive check the Illinois side of the river. Suburbs like O'Fallon (IL), Edwardsville, Columbia have a nice rural feel but don't mean 1+ hour/40 mile one-way commutes. Plus Metrolink (light rail) runs out past Belleville now so thats an option for getting to work downtown or going to baseball, football and hockey games.

If you are willing to go with closer-in more established suburbs there are lots of good options.

Clayton is very nice but most homes are $300K+. Richmond Heights/Brentwood is very popular and not quite as expensive. Plenty of good shopping. Webster Groves is a great option. Low crime, nice schools and lots of character. The same goes for Kirkwood.

See if you can get something where getting to both I-64/Hwy 40 and I-44 is not difficult. Having multiple options of getting to downtown or heading west away from the city is always good.

Thanks for the replies!

Dear dweebe,
Thank you for that rundown on the St. Louis area.

Those St. Charles County suberbs sound great to me. I'm one of those people you describe (but not a mom) and I currently live in a non-neighborhood area with no convenient shopping so I am very excited to hear all that!!

I have noticed that several of the new subdivisions have very nice homes on the front, but the back is so ugly! It's like they ran out of building materials! Also, they seem to have cut out all trees in these neighborhoods and you look straight out of your own back door into someone else's (and the ugly backside of their house). Perhaps I could find one that backs to the woods, golf course, etc.

Any suggestions in that direction?

The problem with wanting trees in St. Charles county is that a lot of that area used to be farm land. However the area between Hwy 94 and the Missouri river is not that way. You might also want to check north of "old town" St. Charles. I have some friends that live in that area in a newer development that actually has trees.

However be aware they are extending the runways at Lambert field so the approach path will be closer to the north end of St. Charles.

I don't know of anything in St.Charles thats on a golf course. Most developments like that are over in Illinois.

agree with other posters, the farther west you go the worse traffic and commute are. i would not choose st. charles, overdeveloped and no personality.
i am a soccer mom who lives in the old part of chesterfield, west county. shortens commute to downtown considerably (takes me about 30 minutes) and you can find homes with wooded lots in some subdivisions in chesterfield and creve couer. look for homes in these subdivisions, riverbend, westbury manor, old farm, stablestone, looking in the $200,000 to $300,000 rangs. there is a home for sale by owner in westbury on spring valley that has a good lot. areas have very good public and catholic schools.
kirkwood and clayton are two of my favorite neighborhoods and a soccer mom would fit well in both.

Thank you for the advice. I will have a little time to get a good feel before we buy, but it's so much nicer to get a head start in planning!

Thanks again everybody.
JSRX2

P.S. Are there any cell phones that have particulary good (or bad) coverage in the St. Louis region?
(for example, we have Nextel but we get dropped calls on several major highways in Southern CA - this is what we want to avoid)

JSRX2,

I grew up in O'Fallon, MO - right next door to Lake St. Louis. Moved there in 1966 when St. Peters had a population of 566. It's at 50,000 now. I now live in Tennessee since last year. When I go back to St. Charles county, I'm already amazed at the explosion of construction.

Before I moved though, I think I may have lived in an area that was one of those "hidden gems". The masses migrating from St. Louis somehow seem to have missed this area.

You didn't say if you were going to rent or buy but if you're buying, ask you realtor about an area known as St. Paul. It's barely north of O'Fallon, within 2 miles and lies roughly centered between Lake St. Louis and O'Fallon.

The reason tha St. Paul hasn't had the overrun of construction is that it's generally been broken up into 3 acre lots development. You didn't mention where you're moving from, but if it's from on of the coasts and you're selling a home where you are, you have the issue of tax burden if you don't buy a home equal to or greater than the price of your old home. I've seen that be an issue with people from Mass or Cal who sell a small home and then move to the mid-US and have to buy a huge house to spend that same price.

Someplace like St. Paul might give you some options like house size and even a bit of space/property if you wanted it. Drive time is slightly less than from Lake St. Louis. Hwy P and Hoff Road would be an intersection in St. Paul to look for on a map.

Dear Clifton,
I heard of St. Paul, but I was looking for it on the map and couldn't locate it until you gave instructions.

3 acres would be nice. We are coming from Southern California, selling a home, and planning to buy one there.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the taxes.

Quote: P.S. Are there any cell phones that have particulary good (or bad) coverage in the St. Louis region?
(for example, we have Nextel but we get dropped calls on several major highways in Southern CA - this is what we want to avoid)

The only problem on major highways is on I-64/Hwy 40 between Lindbergh and Brentwood. Ladue and neighboring towns fight cellphone towers very hard. No matter what company the connections are bad in that area. I've got Sprint and can't complain about the STL area in general.

thanks for the info dweebe, i never could figure out why i always last the signal passing the galleria on 40. i have AT&T, live in a valley surrounded by trees and cannot get signal with sprint or nextel. miss sprint tho because of the long distance issue but a T & T always has good signal except for the trap mentioned by dweebe.