Belleville

Living in Belleville, you get the best of both worlds: the spacious properties and peacefulness that come from living in a rural area, plus a thriving downtown city experience along the lakefront. “Belleville is one of those small-town-feel places with a good community presence and a lot of things to do,” says Janice Marshall, a Real Estate Agent with Remerica Hometown III who lived in Belleville for over 25 years.

Named after the lake it surrounds, Belleville’s downtown area is right along the water. Streets are dense and gridded, making it easy for residents to walk to its commercial areas along the sidewalks. Those living farther out in the rural countryside will need to drive up Sumpter Road or Savage Road to get into the retail area. Traveling east in the neighborhood will take you from farmlands to woodlands as you reach Huron River and its natural forest landscape. If you need to travel for anything outside the neighborhood, cross the Belleville Bridge to reach Interstate 94. If you keep heading north, you’ll get to Willow Run Airport.

Homes in Belleville come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Close to downtown, you’ll find large Cape Cods and brick Craftsmen homes for anywhere between $280,000 and $450,000. Some of these properties are newly constructed, and most have driveways. Lakefront homes and condos right on the water can be $130,000 to $180,000 but will reach upwards of $300,000 for larger, connected properties. As you move into the rural countryside, homes get smaller while their yard gets bigger. Brick and vinyl ranch-style homes with porches and acres of land are roughly $200,000 to $250,000.

Families living in the Belleville neighborhood can send their children to Van Buren Public Schools. Edgemont Elementary School has a B-minus grade on Niche and offers an accelerated kindergarten program for its achieving students. From there, your child can excel at McBride Middle School. The school has a B Niche grade and service-learning opportunities. Belleville High School also holds a B Niche grade and is ranked No. 25 for Best Public High Schools in Wayne County. In addition to its New Tech and Early College programs, the school’s athletics department is just as accomplished with back-to-back Division 1 State titles for its football team in 2021 and 2022.

In your free time, outdoor recreation is easy to find. Lower Huron Metropark has over 1,250 acres of mature woodlands, trails and park areas that follow the Huron River. You can shoreline fish or go canoeing and kayaking out on the water. Let your little ones run around on the playgrounds while you shoot hoops on the basketball court. Turtle Cove Aquatic Center is a waterpark on the grounds that has waterslides and a splash zone. From here, you can travel north along South Metro Parkway for 3 miles and get to French Landing Park. In addition to its beautiful lake views, you can also admire the historic dam house. Near downtown Belleville at the foot of the Belleville Bridge, you’ll find Doane’s Landing. Its easy access onto Belleville Lake makes it a premier spot for boating. Several other neighborhood parks with green spaces, picnic benches and playgrounds are located throughout the city’s gridded streets.

When you want to enjoy yourself on the weekend, downtown Belleville has plenty of retail options. In addition to the small businesses and boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants line Main Street. “There’s a lot of growth and redevelopment in downtown Belleville with new restaurants that people of all ages can enjoy,” Marshall says. Bait Shop Bar & Grill is one of the newer places in town, built in 2023. Chow down on a smash burger and listen to live music by the waterfront. Bayou Grill is further down Main Street and specializes in Cajun cuisine. Van Buren Charter Township is right on the other side of the lake and Interstate 94, 1.5 miles from downtown– its Belleville Square Shopping Center can take care of all your daily essentials. Grab your groceries at Meijer or Aldi and find anything else you need at Walmart.

In Belleville, you can live a comfortable life right by the lake and still have easy access to everything you need.