In this Grandview Heights+ evaluation I also included the small but connected neighborhoods of Flamingo Parks, Sunshine Park, and Pineapple Park. Each of these neighborhoods individually are very small. This includes the area between Belvedere Rd, Dixie Highway, and Okeechobee Blvd. and the river.
Grandview Heights is one of the City’s oldest neighborhoods built between 1910 to 1925. The neighborhood has one of the City’s best collection of early craftsman-style bungalows, as well as some modest, Mediterranean revival-style homes. After several decades of decline, Grandview Heights has been restored to a stable somewhat walkable mixed-use neighborhood composed of mostly single family homes, modern townhomes, and some apartments. Grandview Height’s also hosts the City’s largest urban park, Howard Park. There is also a good amount of historic homes in the other neighborhoods apart from this evaluation.
Grandview Heights + also has great access to Dwtn, decent public transit access, pretty good cultural amenities, decent retail amenities, and is overall a very safe district. But there are many urban areas where it can improve including more density and vibrancy, better bike infrastructure, missing retail amenities, and significant auto centric stretches in its biz districts, esp. along Belvedere. Dixie Hwy is a mixed bag. This can easily be rectified with a strong push for quality urban mixed-use infill along Belvedere and Dixie Hwy and more housing.
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Pretty good ADA and sidewalk infrastructure but the biz district, while having sidewalks, are very auto dominated.
* Very good access to Dwtn being only about 1.5 SW of it.
* Howard Park is a large multi-faceted park on the neighborhood’s western edge. There is also a large cemetery here.
* Decent number of diverse restaurants and cafes along Belvedere and Dixie Highway. Also a good number of art galleries, the Norton Museum of Art & a couple other smaller museums. Also decent access to the many cultural amenities just north in Dwtn.
* Decent retail amenities including a supermarket, several grocerias, include a decent amount of boutiques, a couple home good stores, a bike shop, several gyms, a post office, and a Cleveland Clinic hospital is located at the border with Dwtn. unfortunately much of this retail is along rather autocentric roads. Some very good retail amenities just north in the new City Place Development.
* Some very nice historic homes here. Not many interesting historic commercial bldgs.
* Overall a very safe neighborhood.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Pretty low density.
* Public transit is ok, but pretty poor for an inner city neighborhood.
* Bike infrastructure is limited to one dedicated bike station.
* A very good public high school just north of Grandview Heights but only a couple other small private schools with the neighborhood.
* For Sale housing is generally pretty expensive but some are moderately priced. 1-bed condos and small houses sell btwn 235K-500K. 2-beds 300K-900k, 3 & 4 beds generally btwn 350K-1M, but some sell in the millions.
* Rentals are pretty limited. Sell anywhere btwn 1.5K-4K, 2-beds lease for 3K-4K, and some 3-beds lease for even more.
* Not a lot of affordable hsg here. That’s mostly north of Dwtn.
* No drug stores, only a couple banks, few dessert joints, and no public library here.
* Much of the infill is unattractive auto centric bldgs especially along Belvedere. Some nicer mixed-use in-fill adjacent to Dwtn. Dixie Hwy is a mixed bag.
* Not a ton of pedestrian activity.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 