Tenney-Lapham was mostly built up during the turn of the 20th century  fueled by the growth of the Fuller and Johnson Company located along East Washington Avenue. In general homes near Washington Ave are more working class and modest in character while those along the Lake running down Sherman Avenue are more grand and elaborate. Johnston Ave is the business district running down the spine of the neighborhood a solid district with a fair amount of homes mixed in. Washington Ave (Aka Route 151) has seen significant redevelopment over the past decade quickly erasing its gritty industrial history for dense compact development.

Tenney-Lapham also excels at walkability, good density, solid public transit and bike infrastructure, great housing diversity, numerous parks & recreational trails, quality cultural and retail amenities, solid architecture (both historic and modern), and a high level of safety. What Tenney-Lapham needs the most is more walkable schools. There are none within the neighborhood. It also lacks significant racial diversity, some major retail amenities and still has some dead spots in need of redevelopment along Route 151.

Click here to view my Tenney-Lapham Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good density
* Good sidewalks and ADA infrastructure but about 1/3 of all curb cuts don’t have current ADA ramps.
* Sold bike infrastructure with a couple dedicated lanes and bike stations.
* Excellent access to Dwtn across all modes of transit.
* Sold connectivity in the street grid.
* Decent economic and generational diversity.
* For sale runs a bit expensive but good variety and price range. Plenty of 1-beds selling btwn 250K-500K, 2-beds for 300K-500K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 325K-1 M.
* Great # of rental options ranging from cheap to more expensive.. Studios 1-beds range anywhere from $600 to 1.5K, 2-beds btwn 1K-2.5K, 3-beds btwn 1.5Ks to 2Ks. Even some 4 beds available a bit more expensive.
* Wonderful park amenities with the expansive and water filled Tenney Park, recreational trails both along the Lakefront and river, and several other nice small-medium sized parks.
* Good cultural amenities including lots of bars, breweries, and cafes. Also some restaurants, and a couple of art galleries and live music venues. a comedy club, and several performing arts venues. Convenient access to all the cultural amenities dwtn too.
* Decent retail amenities including a full service supermarket, several boutiques/clothing stores, a bike store, a couple banks, plenty of salons/bar shops, a couple dessert joints and gyms, a handful of churches, and a post office.
* Overall a very safety community.
* Great tree canopy except for the block around 151.
* Quality historic and in-fill architecture throughout most of the district.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Pretty limited racial diversity.
* No schools within the Tenney-Lapham district, a couple decent options in adjacent neighborhoods but only one would I consider walkable.
* Missing retail amenities include a pharmacy, hardware store, a bookstore,  a public library, no hospitals in the area, and few doctor’s offices.
* Still some auto centric and industrial buildings along 151 Highway but this traditional autocentric corridor is quicky becoming dense and mixed-use.