The North of Grand neighborhood dates back to the early 20th century as a streetcar suburb for the upper middle class.  North of Grand remained a relatively stable neighborhood even during the post WWII decline of many inner city Des Moines neighborhoods. Currently it is a much sought after neighborhood which still contain a good amount of available starter homes and affordable rentals. Woodland Heights to the east on the edge of Downtown is more of a mix of late 19th century and early 20th century housing, generally more modest than the North of Grand neighborhood. Woodland Heights experience more blight and disinvestment but has stabilized nicely and contains a significant amount of new construction.

North of Grand/ Woodland Heights is a solid urban district with convenient access to Dwtn and a decent walkable/bikeable neighborhood. Typical suburban amenities with a good tree canopy, safety, decent schools with decent urban amenities thanks to a good # of cultural amenities and some walkable retail along Ingersoll. Also good housing diversity with a good # of affordable for sale homes. This is an great value for your urban living that can often only be found in midwestern cities.

For the North of Grand/Woodland Heights neighborhoods to become a top tier urban districts it needs a lot more density especially along he Grand/Ingersoll corridors. I’d also like to see more retail amenities, parks, and some more walkable schools here.

Click here to view my Woodland Heights and North of Grand Albums on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent sidewalk and ADA infrastructure. 
* Very convenient access to Dwtn across all modes of transportation. A nice east to west bike lane and a couple bike share stations on the eastern edge of the district.
* Pretty good diversity metrics, especially economic diversity.
* Overall very safe neighborhoods.
* Attractive historic homes but nothing spectacular. Limited historic commercial.
* Good tree canopy.
* Most cultural amenities are along Ingeroll Ave the northern border of the neighborhood. Good food and beverage amenities, a couple art galleries and a couple night clubs. Several historic homes open for tours through the neighborhood.
* While Ingersoll is semi-autocentric an excellent streetscaping project is underway greatly improving the urban design. More and more urban in-fill buildings are being built generally moving west from Dwtn.
* Lots of affordable for-sale product and decent diversity but limited 1-bed options. 2-beds sell anywhere from 80K-275K including some condos along Grand. 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 100K-400K
* Decent # of rentals pretty moderately priced. 1-beds lease btwn $800-1,500. 2-beds for $850 to 2K. 3-beds in the 2Ks.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Retail amenities are also concentrated along Ingeroll but a bit limited. This includes a drug store, office max, supermarket a block north of the neighborhood, several banks, a couple boutiques, a couple florists, a couple dessert joints & gyms.
• Density is so so for an urban area.
• Parks within the neighborhood are limited to the Woodland Cemetery and a playground. Greenwood-Ashworth Park is just south of the neighborhood borders and this is one of Des Moines’ best urban parks.