Opinions about moving to Lakeshore East

[MidTowner]

I have a family acquaintance who has been offered a job located on Northfield just west of the expressway. He'd like to be walking distance to the office, saw homes available nearby, and asked my opinion about the neighbourhood. Specially was wondering how "studenty" it is.

I've spent very little time in North Waterloo generally. I recall borrowing a ladder from a friend of a friend very near Laurel Creek, but the older neighbourhoods closer to the university are largely unknown to me: I've simply not had much reason to pass through or go to them. My instinct is to assume everything north of Columbia is just suburbia, and advise living near the core and taking the bus, but I know that there are some amenities there and admit my perception is not based in a lot of facts.

I'm wondering if anyone has lived or known anyone who has lived in any of the pockets near Sugarbush Park? It seems like a nice area, would be walkable to Northfield Drive easily, but also close enough to walk to some amenities. Is the student population very heavy there? Would there still be younger families? Does the mix work? (I am not trying to suggest that a high concentration of student rentals necessarily makes an area undesireable). I've looked around on realtor.ca a little and note that it seems to be a mix of listings, some being advertised as rentals and some as homes for families.

Honestly, I don't even know what this neighbourhood is properly called- is it Lakeshore East? Parkvale? Anyway, the area near the top of Albert and around Sugarbush and McCormick Parks is what I'm asking about. I'm a bit ashamed that I have only the vaguest notion of what this area is like- well, it's a big region and I can wax about the merits of other neighbourhoods, but would hesitate to opine about this one. If anyone has any facts, I'd be grateful.

[mpd618]

My understanding is that the massive amount of dedicated student housing and apartments closer to the universities has been causing places like Lakeshore to convert some of those student rentals back to single-family use. So it is less student-heavy now than it would have been 5 years ago.

[Markster]

I lived on the far end of the loop of Longwood Dr for a year, with my friend who had recently purchased a house. In that area, it was mostly owner-occupied, even before the student towers. Walkable, it was not. I was basically a slave to the #9. The nearby plaza was about 800m away, and I can only recall walking there once.

[MidTowner]

I lived on the far end of the loop of Longwood Dr for a year, with my friend who had recently purchased a house. In that area, it was mostly owner-occupied, even before the student towers. Walkable, it was not. I was basically a slave to the #9. The nearby plaza was about 800m away, and I can only recall walking there once.

Interesting, thanks! And I note that #9 is getting a service reduction...

I know walking distance varies by person: I believe I'm willing to tolerate longer walks than most, so hesitate to prescribe to anyone that something is "within walking distance." But 800 meters isn't an especially long walk, even with purchases...was it a particularly bad walk?

From Longwood, it also looks like about a kilometre down to King along Weber. Crummy walk I'd imagine, but depending on your walking speed not too terrible to get to the more frequent 7.

[Viewfromthe42]

I'd say that the area still has enough student rentals that you'd find them easily as neighbours. Definitely some folks appreciating being close to the schools there, with kids, but you won't find it's solely families.

[ookpik]

Walkable, it was not.  I was basically a slave to the #9.  The nearby plaza was about 800m away, and I can only recall walking there once.

Interesting. I live about the same distance from Uptown Waterloo and the Square. I almost(*) always walk there and back. I've never used GRT for that purpose. 

Most people can walk a kilometer in under 15 minutes. It would normally take them as long or longer to get to/from bus stops and then wait for the next bus, etc. than to walk the whole distance.

See https://www.walkscore.com/. FWIW I get a Walk Score of 81 and Transit Score of 56.

(*) exceptions are when it's raining heavily or I have a lot of stuff to carry.

[tomh009]

I know walking distance varies by person: I believe I'm willing to tolerate longer walks than most, so hesitate to prescribe to anyone that something is "within walking distance." But 800 meters isn't an especially long walk, even with purchases...was it a particularly bad walk?

From Longwood, it also looks like about a kilometre down to King along Weber. Crummy walk I'd imagine, but depending on your walking speed not too terrible to get to the more frequent 7.

15 minutes is nothing for me, too.  From time to time I'll walk to Vincenzo's from my office in downtown Kitchener, about 30 minutes excluding road closures.

You can get from Longwood to King in about 10 minutes if you walk through the Waterloo Inn parking lot.  I don't know where the transit stops are on King, though.

[MidTowner]

Interesting. I live about the same distance from Uptown Waterloo and the Square. I almost(*) always walk there and back. I've never used GRT for that purpose. 

Most people can walk a kilometer in under 15 minutes. It would normally take them as long or longer to get to/from bus stops and then wait for the next bus, etc. than to walk the whole distance.

See https://www.walkscore.com/. FWIW I get a Walk Score of 81 and Transit Score of 56.

(*) exceptions are when it's raining heavily or I have a lot of stuff to carry.

I take Walk Scores with a grain of salt. All it deals with are distances. I once lived somewhere with a walk score of 95, but a lot of those walks were unpleasant and often dangerous. Nearly anywhere I can think of within 800 meters of Waterloo Town Square should get better than 80%, in my opinion: generally the walking is very good.

A search of a Longwood Drive address on walk score gives it 55, with quite a few amenities within 1 kilometre or two. I think the average speed is usually listed at five kilometres per hour, so that's fifteen or twenty minutes. It's going to be extremely variable whether people find that "close enough" to walk, but what that 55 can't tell us if those short walks are in unpleasant areas or on streets that put the walker in harm's way.

[Markster]

The walkscore for the place I lived is a 41.

Was I able to walk to things? Yes.
Was it convenient to walk to things? No.
Whenever possible, I would bike.

The 7 and 200 were 10 minute walks away, and yes, I made occasional use of them.

I would usually make sure to do all my errands while I was already out. If I didn't want to cook, I would eat out before going home.

[MidTowner]

The walkscore for the place I lived is a 41.

Was I able to walk to things? Yes.
Was it convenient to walk to things? No.
Whenever possible, I would bike.

The 7 and 200 were 10 minute walks away, and yes, I made occasional use of them.

I would usually make sure to do all my errands while I was already out. If I didn't want to cook, I would eat out before going home.

Okay, so middling walkability then? A few things within walking distance, but not in the most convenient places. I'm very familiar with trying to be organized enough to do errands during other trips: that's what seems logical.

Were the walks reasonably pleasant? Again, that's something you can't get from a map (or even street view) and need a local for. Were there halfway decent crossings, nothing too annoying in terms of having to take indirect routes?