Bel-Ridge

Just 10 miles west of downtown St. Louis, Cool Valley flies under the radar while commercial jets fly overhead. “Its biggest highlight is that it’s so close to the University of Missouri St. Louis that students can live there,” says Casey Milton, a Realtor with Keller Williams Marquee, who sells homes in the area and once lived in Cool Valley. “You get off the highway, you go to the left, drive three streets and you’re in a different town altogether.” The community’s speck of acreage sits in the flight path of nearby St. Louis Lambert International Airport, and students attend school within the Ferguson-Florissant R-2 School District. Cool Valley’s 1,000 residents live in modest homes, with not many frills. Most are brick, ranch-style houses with well-maintained yards. Homes here, however, comprise barely 40% of Cool Valley’s property mix, with office, retail and industry composing the larger chunk of spaces. “It is a highly-rentable area, so it’s good for investment property. A lot of people use it for Air BnB purposes because you’re close to the airport,” Milton says. The median price of a single-family home in Cool Valley is $110,000, with most houses selling from $80,000 to $130,000. Cool Valley has a more notable reputation for its traffic stops than for its attractions. The city once collected 55% of its general revenue from fines and fees. “If you’re going through Cool Valley, go the speed limit,” Milton recommends. If drivers slow down long enough, they find a community with major employers like the university about a mile away, pharmacy giant Express Scripts and the town of Ferguson next door. Cool Valley students attend Holman Elementary School through second grade, then Berkeley Elementary School. From there, it’s on to Ferguson Middle School and McCluer High School. Niche rates each school C-minus. The schools are in the Ferguson-Florissant R-2 School District, which Niche rates C-minus as well. Standout students may apply to enroll in STEAM Academy at McCluer South-Berkeley High School or Innovation School at Cool Valley, which operates gifted high school programs and affirms a commitment to improving neighborhood children’s academic skills. While Cool Valley has no parks of its own, Forestwood Park is in driving distance, not more than five minutes north in nearby Ferguson. Forestwood has a trail, picnic tables, a basketball court and a playground for the kids. Most shopping spots, while not in Cool Valley, are a short drive away in Ferguson or other surrounding communities. While residents have a Save A Lot right at hand and a Family Dollar across the street from the supermarket, there’s not much brand-name retail shopping close by. The nearest brand retail shopping residents would find is at the St. Louis Galleria Mall, about 15 minutes south. For a good meal, the story is about the same. There are no dining spots in Cool Valley. However, just a 10-minute drive north into Ferguson places residents at the doorsteps of several restaurants, including King of Soul and Cathy’s Kitchen, which serves po' boys, tacos and pancakes. While Cool Valley isn’t known for hosting many events of its own, residents tend to participate in the ones hosted by its closest neighboring community, Ferguson, which hosts a summer concert series, farmer’s market and Fourth of July Festival. In many ways, Cool Valley enjoys the best of all transportation worlds, being just a five-minute drive from the airport. Public transportation is also easily accessible with bus service in town and a MetroLink light rail stop there too. With Interstate 70 forming Cool Valley’s westernmost edge, commuters can find themselves downtown in 15 minutes or most other popular places in 10 to 20 minutes.

Located along the rolling hills of Glen Echo Country Club’s golf course, the community of Glen Echo is just two streets of houses. With so many parks nearby, the community lives up to its name and creates no shortage of outdoor activities for residents. “If you pull up a map, you’re going to see so much green space,” says broker Terry Gannon with RE/MAX Results. “This was the area’s early settlers’ country place.” With all of the parks nearby, residents can spread out beyond their two blocks of houses on local trails and at community centers. Homes in Glen Echo Park line Henderson Road and St. Andrews Place, which form a loop through the neighborhood. The narrow streets lack sidewalks and trees often grow along the side of the road, especially along Henderson, but this can give residents a private feel. With homes backing the country club, Glen Echo Park is all about front yards, where residents often plant flowers and bushes to add character and personality to their properties. Even in such a small community, home styles are eclectic, featuring many Tutor Revivals situated alongside brick ranches and cozy bungalows. These homes often list between $125,000 and $200,000. Glen Echo Country Club is one of the many green spaces surrounding the neighborhood, with a Tudor Revival clubhouse matching many homes found here. The club was founded in 1901 and offers tennis and swimming along with golfing services. At St. Vincent Park, residents can practice their swing on the tennis courts, and kids can play on the playground. The park offers a community center with a water park where people can cool off in the summer and plunge into the pool. Folks can use the park to access the St. Vincent Greenway Trailhead, a paved trail spanning over a mile. It goes through the park and the University of Missouri – St. Louis’s (UMSL) campus just northwest of Glen Echo Park. Most places to eat around Glen Echo Park are fast food joints lining Natural Bridge Road, located just minutes from the neighborhood. When not in the mood for fast food, folks can stop in Imo’s Pizza for a slice of St. Louis-style pizza—a square pizza on a very thin crust topped with Provel cheese, a mix of cheddar, Swiss and provolone. While Imo’s Pizza is a chain, it was founded right here in the city by locals. To the south of Glen Echo Park in Wellston, Goss’Up Pasta serves classic southern favorites like fried chicken and Cajun shrimp alfredo. Normandy Shopping Center is just 0.6 miles from the neighborhood, featuring a Save A Lot for groceries. Just 3 miles away in Northland Shopping Center, people can find a Schnucks and an Aldi. Glen Echo Park and Normandy have few local events, but residents can go into the city for some of the best of St. Louis’s festivals and concerts. At Blues at the Arch, people can listen to local and national musicians perform right under the St. Louis Arch at Gateway Arch National Park. From May to August, Missouri Botanical Gardens offers concerts on Wednesday evenings as part of their Whitaker Music Festival. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own food and drinks for picnics on the lawn while they listen. Fans of basketball can look forward to Arch Madness in March for men’s basketball. Students in Glen Echo Park can attend Jefferson Elementary School, which Niche grants a C-minus ranking. The school hosts many clubs for students to join, including a robotics team and Boy and Girl Scout troops. For grades sixth through eighth, students attend Lucas Crossing School Complex, which receives a D-plus from Niche. Normandy High School offers several sports to students, from basketball and football to track, volleyball and wrestling. The school is also undergoing renovations to upgrade its facilities. Niche gives it a D ranking. This is a more car-dependent community, but residents can use Natural Bridge Road to connect them to shopping centers and restaurants. I-70 is to the north of Glen Echo Park, which commuters can take the 13 miles to downtown St. Louis. When they don’t want to drive, people can also take the MLR train line downtown from the UMSL – South station, just 1.5 miles from the neighborhood. St. Louis Lambert International Airport is 13 miles away and is also accessible on the MLR line by train. For medical emergencies, SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – St. Louis is just 6 miles away.

The village of Hillsdale is a small municipality within St. Louis with a population of just over 1,200 residents. This community has its own City Hall and Police Department, but it is otherwise mostly residential. The location is convenient to all the amenities St. Louis has to offer, though, and Realtor Alicia Sierra of eXp Realty says the area is an affordable alternative to neighborhoods in the city, particularly for lower-paid employees of the area’s many universities and hospitals. “St. Louis has a huge employer base in the academic and healthcare sectors, but they’re not all going to be six-figure jobs,” she says. “Not everyone can afford to live in a renovated home in the city, or they may prefer to be out of the city, so that’s what makes some of these smaller communities so attractive.” Additionally, a $1.75 billion campus for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is in the works nearby, which is expected to be another major employer and is driving some growth to the area. House hunters will find homes like brick bungalows and cottages, most of which were built in the early 1900s. The average single-family home size is just over 1,000 square feet, and lots are a median size of .1 acre. Streets are linear and laid out in a grid, with sidewalks on either side. Fixer-uppers can start as low as $25,000, but a renovated and move-in-ready home can sell for around $100,000. According to Sierra, a lot of grant money is available to first-time homebuyers. Certain banks, she says, offer $5,000 to $7,000 grant programs in specific zip codes, including parts of Hillsdale, as part of the Community Lending Initiative. “That helps encourage that homeownership because often there’s an obstacle with the downpayment,” she says. Residents can get everything they need along Natural Bridge Road, the area’s major commercial thoroughfare located about a mile and a half from home. Restaurants include chains like Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken and McDonald’s, as well as independent establishments like St. Louis Fish & Chicken Grill and Oriental Chop Suey. In the North Oaks Plaza shopping center, residents can get groceries at Save A Lot and other necessities at Walgreens. The shopping center is also home to a handful of social services, like the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, which hosts several programs designed to empower African Americans and others in the community, and YouthBuild, a program to help disadvantaged youth ages 17 to 24 develop skills like leadership and financial literacy. Hillsdale residents can head to Barrett Brothers Park to spend some time outdoors. This 13-acre green space offers fields for baseball, softball, football and soccer, as well as a basketball court and playground. On a rainy day, residents can check out what events are happening at Skate King, the local roller-skating rink. Students in Hillsdale attend Normandy Schools Collaborative schools like Jefferson School, which serves first through eighth graders and receives an overall C-minus grade from Niche, and Normandy High School, which serves ninth through twelfth graders and receives an overall D grade from Niche. Built in 1923, the Normandy High campus is undergoing a $26 million renovation to upgrade the facilities, including the classrooms, stairwells, hallways, restrooms and cafeteria. Individual buildings will be connected to create a safer campus. The nearest metro station is about a mile and a half walk from the center of the neighborhood, but there are multiple bus stops along Kienlen Avenue and Lucas-Hunt Road. St. Louis Lambert International Airport is just 8 miles away. Downtown St. Louis is just 10 miles away by car.

A town of less than 1,500 people, Norwood Court consists of multiple apartment complexes and several single-family homes. “Norwood Court is a subdivision but is also considered its own municipality,” explains Bret Hilbert of Hilbert Nation Realty, a broker actively selling homes in the community. Though 10 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis, the neighborhood has remained a quiet enclave a step away from the hustle and bustle of the city since the 1940s. While apartment complexes sit south of Interstate 70, single-family homes remain concentrated in the north along Norwalk Lane and Norway Drive. Houses typically date back to 1950 and feature brick exteriors, each property along narrow, tree-lined streets. Compact, well-manicured yards accompany each home, and concrete driveways serve as dividers between properties. “It’s a popular neighborhood, probably because it backs to the golf course and is pretty much self-governed,” Hilbert says. Because residents tend to stay in the neighborhood for many years, homes do not come to market too often. When houses do sell, two- to three-bedroom homes usually cost less than $150,000. Part of Normandy Schools Collaborative, the neighborhood is zoned for a D-graded district, according to Niche. Through eighth grade, students attend Jefferson, a C-minus-graded school less than 3 miles from Norwood Court. For high school, students head to Normandy High, a D-graded school offering students the chance to participate in credit recovery in a non-traditional setting through the Center for Academic and Social Advancement. For those seeking private school nearby, Lutheran North Middle and High School is an A-graded option less than a mile away. Steps from Hoelzel Park and Norwood Hills Country Club, Norwood Court offers plenty of activities within walking distance. At Hoelzel, children can climb the rock wall, and folks of all ages can enjoy the fresh air and cool shade under the pavilion. For those looking to hit the green or practice their volley, Norwood Hills Country Club offers multiple fairways and racquet courts, with entrances to its facility less than 2 miles north of Norwood Court. Because Norwood Court is a residential pocket of St. Louis County, trips to the grocery store and restaurants require a ride outside the neighborhood. ALDI is less than 3 miles away and shares a parking lot with Wendy’s, while locally loved spots like Red’s The One And Only BBQ and Cathy’s Kitchen are about 2 miles away, just off South Florissant Road. For nightlife, residents can catch the Red Line to downtown and swing by spots like Ballpark Village and The Gramophone. Because Norwood Court is its own town, the community hosts events like the Town Christmas Party and National Night Out. Norwood Hills also hosts the Ascension Charity Classic in September, inviting residents to watch professional golfers raise money for North St. Louis County communities. Of course, the annual events signature to St. Louis, like Arch Madness and Festival of Nations, are also easily reached by bus or car, allowing residents of Norwood Court to enjoy the excitement of city events without living in a fast-paced environment. Though considered outside city limits, the neighborhood benefits from public transit and interstate access. The nearest MetroLink can be reached on foot, but the 64 bus also connects to the station, ensuring the Red Line is only a few minutes away. While sidewalks only line the major roadways outside the residential streets, the quiet nature of the roads allows homeowners to walk or bike to their destinations. For travel by car, ramps to Interstate 70 are right in the neighborhood, with exits for the Saint Louis Lambert International Airport less than 6 miles away.

Incorporated in 1941, the Village of Uplands Park is a small municipality in St. Louis with a population of just over 300 residents. “It’s one of those areas that has a very attractive housing stock — a lot of small to midsize homes with attached garages,” says eXp Realty Realtor Alicia Sierra, who has sold many homes in the area. Plus, despite its size, the neighborhood is not short on amenities. The community’s location along Natural Bridge Road is advantageous, providing easy access to shopping, dining, parks, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Interstate 70. Residents are just 10 miles from downtown St. Louis. House hunters will find block after block of brick homes built in the 1920s in styles like bungalows and Tudor Revivals. Some homes have a one-car garage built into a lower level, but many have driveways that run along the side of the house for parking. Streets are laid out in a grid, with sidewalks and trees on either side. Homes are an average of 1,423 square feet. Fixer-uppers can start as low as $30,000, but a renovated and move-in-ready home can sell for around $100,000. Uplands Park is within walking distance of Beverly Hills Shopping Center, which offers a Dollar General, an auto parts store, and a small supermarket. A larger grocery store, Save A Lot, is just a few blocks down Natural Bridge Road at the North Oaks Plaza. This shopping center offers a bank, a pharmacy, a few apparel stores, and of course, places to grab a bite like Imo’s Pizza, which claims to be the originator of St. Louis style pizza — a thin crust, square cut and Provel cheese. Uplands Park residents can head to St. Vincent Park to spend some time outdoors. The park offers a playground, walking trails, tennis courts, athletic fields, and even a community center with an outdoor pool and a unique water playground. Glen Echo Country Club is also near the park, which has been a mainstay of the area since its establishment in 1901 — it’s even billed as the oldest continually-running golf course and country club west of the Mississippi. There’s also a roller-skating rink, Skate King, close enough to walk to after school; check the calendar for weekly events like teen night, adult skate and tot skate. Normandy Schools Collaborative serves the neighborhood. Students attend schools like Normandy Early Learning Center, which serves preschool through kindergarten students and is graded C by Niche; Barack Obama School, which serves Grades 1 through 8 and is graded C-minus; and Normandy High School, which serves Grades 9 through 12 and is graded D. The Normandy High campus, which was built in 1923, is currently undergoing a $26 million renovation to upgrade the facilities, including new STEM classrooms, a new cafeteria, and a more secure floorplan. According to Sierra, “It’s very hard to live in St. Louis without a car, but if you have a household which doesn’t have a reliable car for every working driving adult, it can be criteria to be closer to commuter arteries or bus lines.” In Uplands Park, the nearest metro station is about a two-mile walk from the center of the neighborhood, but there are multiple bus stops along Natural Bridge Road, the neighborhood’s northern border. Residents are within 7 miles of St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Downtown St. Louis is easy to access via Interstate 70, which is just a mile away.