Dispatches from the Northland
Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 3:46 pm
Decided to start a new Northland thread rather than post this in the "Northland vs JOCO" thread:
This talk of the Northland pulling folks from other parts of the metro has me feeling the need to chime in as my wife and I bought our first home in the Briarcliff area in 2019. I grew up in the heart of Brookside/Waldo (69th and Ward), went thru private schools, etc. Lived on Plaza for 10 years and then City Market. Generally consider myself something of a wannabe hipster or whatnot. So maybe not the typical buyer profile looking up north.
However, I have been working in downtown NKC for over a decade, and became familiar with the general older "inner-northland" (south of I-29?) through that, and then my brother bought a home in Claymont (just east of Briarcliff Village) after living downtown for several years, specifically for the proximity to DTKC and ability to afford a super-modern reno on a relatively limited budget. So I became very familiar with the neighborhoods around him.
Then as we were making offers on homes in central KC (first Union Hill, then Brookside @ 62nd and Brookside Blvd, then Coleman Highlands) and getting outbid consistently, we found a couple of unique mid-century homes in the Briarcliff area and ended up with one of them, actually in Riverside just adjacent to Briarcliff Village.
So far, so good! We love the proximity to the city and spend most of our play time there, it's about a 5 minute (highway - 169) drive to City Market from our driveway, with Parkville and English Landing Park 10-minutes west. That said, I completely agree with comments that it feels much more disconnected than the travel time indicates due to the traversal of river, rail and industrial zones - this is totally true, especially next to the seamless experience of KC-adjacent JOCO hoods.
Further, having spent most of my life in the flat, tree-lined, walkable neighborhoods of central KC, and living at the top of a relatively extreme hill, I often miss the easy walkability of those areas. It's about a 15-minute walk to Briarcliff Village from my house, but it's quite hilly, and generally lacking big mature street trees separating sidewalk and street.
There are some great trails that wind along the base of the bluff and connect to the Line Creek Trail and MO Riverfront Trail but it's not a match for the natural walkability of central hoods. Also desperately missing a solid bike/ped connection directly to downtown NKC; currently have to brave HWY 9 for a stretch or go all the way up Briarcliff Pwky to North Oak and down.
Briarcliff Village, for it's part, is doing it's best to provide improved offerings in the immediate area (we frequent Piropos, Barrio, Green Acres, Headrush) and has a way underused but beautiful lake and small park to run or dog walk or admire the attractive xmas lights. At the end of the day it will always lack the feel of a true Brookside or PV-eque neighborhood center, but it's attractive enough and packs enough that we use frequently that it certainly adds major value to the immediate hoods (IMO).
That said, overall I think this specific area (maybe NKC to I-29) has a ton of potential, as NKC continues to blossom into a bit of destination and the rest of the Northland growth provides more typical suburban development (Costco and major retail, soccer and recreation fields, trails, etc.). Public schools are decent to very good, especially in the newer northern reaches of the Northland (we are in Park Hill district - a nice bonus vis a vis the proximity to the city).
We now have friends that have purchased homes in Briar Pointe and NKC so it's becoming kind of a nice little crew up here.
The Northland in general will never have the cache of JOCO or probably even a Lee's Summit at this point, and remains kind of an against the grain choice in a city where money has always flowed southwest. There are also some rough and/or just weird chunks of dated inner-ring suburban or even semi-rural areas (all of this generally in KCMO) that don't exist in the more well-known burbs.
Not sure whether our next home purchase would remain north of the river or return to a core neighborhood (or elsewhere) but overall, at least in my small portion of the Northland, I am very much enjoying our little perch overlooking the city (great skyline view coming down our hill - another bonus).
This talk of the Northland pulling folks from other parts of the metro has me feeling the need to chime in as my wife and I bought our first home in the Briarcliff area in 2019. I grew up in the heart of Brookside/Waldo (69th and Ward), went thru private schools, etc. Lived on Plaza for 10 years and then City Market. Generally consider myself something of a wannabe hipster or whatnot. So maybe not the typical buyer profile looking up north.
However, I have been working in downtown NKC for over a decade, and became familiar with the general older "inner-northland" (south of I-29?) through that, and then my brother bought a home in Claymont (just east of Briarcliff Village) after living downtown for several years, specifically for the proximity to DTKC and ability to afford a super-modern reno on a relatively limited budget. So I became very familiar with the neighborhoods around him.
Then as we were making offers on homes in central KC (first Union Hill, then Brookside @ 62nd and Brookside Blvd, then Coleman Highlands) and getting outbid consistently, we found a couple of unique mid-century homes in the Briarcliff area and ended up with one of them, actually in Riverside just adjacent to Briarcliff Village.
So far, so good! We love the proximity to the city and spend most of our play time there, it's about a 5 minute (highway - 169) drive to City Market from our driveway, with Parkville and English Landing Park 10-minutes west. That said, I completely agree with comments that it feels much more disconnected than the travel time indicates due to the traversal of river, rail and industrial zones - this is totally true, especially next to the seamless experience of KC-adjacent JOCO hoods.
Further, having spent most of my life in the flat, tree-lined, walkable neighborhoods of central KC, and living at the top of a relatively extreme hill, I often miss the easy walkability of those areas. It's about a 15-minute walk to Briarcliff Village from my house, but it's quite hilly, and generally lacking big mature street trees separating sidewalk and street.
There are some great trails that wind along the base of the bluff and connect to the Line Creek Trail and MO Riverfront Trail but it's not a match for the natural walkability of central hoods. Also desperately missing a solid bike/ped connection directly to downtown NKC; currently have to brave HWY 9 for a stretch or go all the way up Briarcliff Pwky to North Oak and down.
Briarcliff Village, for it's part, is doing it's best to provide improved offerings in the immediate area (we frequent Piropos, Barrio, Green Acres, Headrush) and has a way underused but beautiful lake and small park to run or dog walk or admire the attractive xmas lights. At the end of the day it will always lack the feel of a true Brookside or PV-eque neighborhood center, but it's attractive enough and packs enough that we use frequently that it certainly adds major value to the immediate hoods (IMO).
That said, overall I think this specific area (maybe NKC to I-29) has a ton of potential, as NKC continues to blossom into a bit of destination and the rest of the Northland growth provides more typical suburban development (Costco and major retail, soccer and recreation fields, trails, etc.). Public schools are decent to very good, especially in the newer northern reaches of the Northland (we are in Park Hill district - a nice bonus vis a vis the proximity to the city).
We now have friends that have purchased homes in Briar Pointe and NKC so it's becoming kind of a nice little crew up here.
The Northland in general will never have the cache of JOCO or probably even a Lee's Summit at this point, and remains kind of an against the grain choice in a city where money has always flowed southwest. There are also some rough and/or just weird chunks of dated inner-ring suburban or even semi-rural areas (all of this generally in KCMO) that don't exist in the more well-known burbs.
Not sure whether our next home purchase would remain north of the river or return to a core neighborhood (or elsewhere) but overall, at least in my small portion of the Northland, I am very much enjoying our little perch overlooking the city (great skyline view coming down our hill - another bonus).