Ashland Park

Need a neighborhood with some character?

by John Rice

Let’s face it, most neighborhoods feel like exactly what they are….a field stripped of all the trees, subdivided in a way that maximizes the number of lots, then sold to builders who build pretty similar looking houses.

Nothing wrong with that.

Often most neighborhoods are chosen by buyers based on location. What makes a location desirable might be a park, a school, shopping, proximity to their work, a road making for an easy commute.

If you are somebody who wants a neighborhood with a special vibe, here are a few that come to mind:

  1. Chilesburg-Sure, having Hamburg, Jacobson Park and the Interstate so close are nice. Buuuuut the layout of the streets, the neighborhood walking trail and several ponds are what makes this feel so special.
  2. Hartland-While nothing is super close to this part of the Tates Creek area, the beauty is that nothing is far away. Getting to Hamburg, The Summit, Fayette Mall, Downtown and UK are all pretty easy, which is one of my favorite things about the neighborhoods in this whole area. Hartland has such a special vibe that it could offer nothing more than the neighborhood feel and I would still want to live there. What makes it so special? The layout of the streets. It is one of the few neighborhoods in Lexington that doesn’t feel like it was designed to maximize the number of lots. Roads have gentle curves, all of the cul-de-sacs have landscaped medians. Even the entire main road has a landscaped median. All the tall trees that have grown over the past 40 or so years add to the ambiance as well.
  3. Willow Oak-This is one of my favorite neighborhoods in it’s price range. You sort of get it all here. Southend shopping, Shillito Park, great school district PLUS a little stone bridge surrounded by greenspace as the only way in and out. All the streets are lined with gigantic pin oaks.
  4. Chevy Chase & Ashland Park-You didn’t think I had forgotten about these two I hope. They are the most desirable and recognized neighborhoods in all of Lexington. They put the “Ohhhh” in their 40502 zip code. What creates the vibe? Well, you know its the trees, especially a street named Catalpa known for it’s leaves that turn a bright yellow in the fall.You know it’s for the variety of classic and beautifully maintained homes. But what really does it is the design of the neighborhood…..well, more so for Ashland Park. It was designed by some dudes who did a lot of well know landscape architecture projects across the country. They were the sons of the landscape architect credited for designing Central Park in New York City. I could google their names right now, insert it in this paragraph and impress you with the perception that I know everything. Just to be humble, I won’t.

There are others, but these are the ones that tend to come to mind the most.

Neighborhoods with good design

by John Rice

Some people just want a house.  Some people want a house and a neighborhood.  I don’t mean location when I say neighborhood.  That has more to do with proximity to features.  Neighborhood is a vibe thing.  A feeling.  Has to do with trees, the layout of the streets, etc.  Think curvy streets and roads with landscaped medians.  Some good examples are Hartland Parkway in Hartland, or Slashes in Ashland Park.

It is no surprise that neighborhoods with a good vibe are more desirable than neighborhoods that don’t.  That is one reason the exact same house is worth more in a neighborhood like Chilesburg than it is in Willow Bend or Masterson.

I am more of vibe person.  I really like neighborhoods that have some pretty features to see as you walk or drive through them.  An element of design.  So, here are a few that I can think of off the top of my head and why I like them:

  1.  Hartland is probably the best thought out neighborhood in Lexington since Chevy Chase and Ashland Park.  It has a landscaped median running through the whole neighborhood.  All of the cul-de-sacs have landscaped islands in the middle.
  2. Chilesburg-Since it has so many creeks running into the reservoirs in Jacobson Park, the developer didn’t have much of a choice but to work around them.  There are several ponds in the neighborhood, a walking trail with plank farm fencing around it, and some wooded greenspace areas such as the best one on Willman Way.
  3. Greenbrier-There is just something about seeing so much green as you drive through it.  Then you pass the clubhouse and see the golf course.
  4. The Woods-I really like the elevation changes and meandering road that runs through the whole neighborhood.  It is now old enough to have some amazing trees.  You feel like you have left the heart of the city and are in a secret, private place.  Lakewood is a lot like that too because Lakewood use to be on the edge of town.
  5. Chevy Chase and Ashland Park-no explanation needed.

Those are my favorites.  I don’t think we will see anything like these neighborhoods in Lexington again.  There just isn’t the space left.  Other than a few areas in town, we are down to infill projects.  Those often don’t have the space to do much more than clear the land and lay out the neighborhood in a way that maximizes the number of lots.