Fairfax- A quasi-urban neighborhood located on the St. John’s River

“Fairfax sits just south of Avondale and was mostly developed between the 1920 and 1960s. The northern edge of the district is where the best urbanity lies with older homes and the Hershel commercial district which has a couple blocks of decent urban form. The rest of the neighborhood, while on a good grid, is mostly single family homes where sidewalks are optional. Highway 117 is the other Fairfax commercial district creating the district’s western boundary and is a classic American Stroad lined with lots of strip malls and autocentric uses.

Fairfax has the typical suburban strengths of good safety, full tree canopy, decent retail amenities (albeit often car centric) and a lots of for sale housing diversity. While I don’t consider Fairfax a quality urban district yet, there is hope that it could transition into a more urban neighborhood thanks to its existing urban grid and semi-urban biz district along Hershel Street. A good place to start this transition is to upzone the Hershel Street corridor allowing mixed use infill. Fairfax also needs bike infrastructure, walkable schools, better public transit, and more consistent sidewalks to be a functional urban district.”

Click here to view my Fairfax album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

*Convenient access to Dwtn by car, along a 15 min drive. Takes about 45 minutes by bus and no protected bike paths to Dwtn.
* Solid grid and good block connectivity.
* Decent For sale options but no 1-beds available.  2-bed for sale homes sell anywhere btwn 100K-450K. 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 180K-700K with a handful of mansions selling over 1 M.
* Overall a pretty safe community.
* Great tree canopy.
* Decent retail amenities but half of them are located in a suburban shopping mall. The neighborhood has a supermarket, a department store, a couple drug stores, a hardware store, several banks, a book store, a couple boutiques and antique stores, several salons, a couple gyms and dessert joints, and a couple churches.
* Decent historic homes much of the commercial infill is in suburban shopping malls.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Public transit is so so and bike infrastructure non-existent here.
• Poor density for an urban district.
• Good sidewalk and ADA along the main arteries of Fairfax. But sidewalks only existing on about 1/3 of all residential streets.
• Pretty Caucasian neighborhood with limited racial diversity. Better economic diversity.
• No schools within the Fairfax boundaries but a quality elementary school just north of the neighborhood and several small schools to the west.
• Rentals are very limited in Fairfax.
• Pedestrian activity is pretty limited
• Parks are concentrated in the southeast corner of the neighborhood. Stinson Park is very nice along the riverfront and a couple parklettes nearby.
• Cultural amenities are limited to a handful of restaurants & bars, a lively night club, a coffee house, and a couple art galleries.
• Hershel Street has some urbanity and semblance of a business district esp. near St. Johns Ave but still several small shopping malls. As a 6 lane road Highway 117 is a lost cause has host the bulk of Fairfax’s strip malls.”