Camped out in the growing southwest suburbs of Indianapolis
In the southwestern end of Indianapolis, new homes continue springing up in Camby, where new residential developments offer a comparatively lower cost of entry to the capital city’s outer suburbs.
“Location is its biggest factor. It’s very convenient to the Indianapolis International Airport and downtown,” says Daniel O’Brien, a local Realtor with Trueblood Real Estate. “The new construction there is more affordable than in the northern suburbs. … In a sense, it’s kind of like workforce housing.”
Stretched along Route 67, the community is largely surrounded by verdant woods and farm fields. Just outside the Interstate 465 beltway, Camby is about 15 miles from downtown and even closer to the city’s job-rich airport corridor that’s peppered with freight shipping centers, office parks and manufacturing hubs. While folks can quickly commute to work, the community’s relatively remote location offers the peace and quiet of the suburbs, complete with its own highway shopping center with a supermarket and a few big box retailers.
Comparatively low new home prices
Nearly every home sold in the Camby in recent years was built after 2000, so the area still feels new with contemporary traditional-style homes that include attached one- and two-car garages. Though somewhat rare, the area also includes a few older ranch-style homes that predate the new construction boom by about half a century. Comparatively, many of the new home lots are smaller and clustered closely together in their subdivisions. But residents there can enjoy strolling along wide sidewalks and watching their kids play with neighbors in the cul de sac at the end of their street. Home prices start at around $200,000 for a home spanning around 1,200 to 1,800 square feet. For homes with four or more bedrooms and a full basement, prices rise from $300,000 to $475,000.
HOA community centers and nature parks in the surrounding woods
There are few public parks in Camby, but the area makes up for it with its open fields, wooded hiking trails and golf courses. In the Heartland Crossing subdivision, the HOA manages a community swimming pool next to a park with playgrounds, sand volleyball and hard surface courts for basketball and tennis. Nearby at the intersection of Heartland Boulevard and County Line Road, Central Park features several multi-purpose fields where young kids play football, baseball and soccer. West of Camby, Sodalis Nature Park is named after the endangered bats that live within the 200-acre space where people come to hike and run along trails that wind across 3.5 miles. Anglers also frequent the park, as a floating dock juts out into a 5.5-acre fishing pond.
Students select learning pathways at Decatur Central High School
Students in the community can attend West Newton Elementary School. Niche gives it a C-plus rating. From there, students can advance to Decatur Middle School and Decatur Central High School, which get a C and B rating, respectively. At Central High, the school’s 2,000 students are split into five “small learning communities” with a focus on different disciplines and topics, including service-learning, project-based learning, media communications, the arts and student-centered inquiry.
Suburban highway retailers and a Main Street community nearby
On Route 67, Camby residents shop for groceries and other essentials at the Meijer supermarket and Walmart Supercenter. Handy homeowners can also buy tools and materials at Menards, a regional home improvement store that helps anchor the community’s main retail corridor, which also includes several fast-food chains and fast-casual restaurants. Southwest of Camby, the town of Mooresville about 5 miles down the highway features a small Main Street corridor with red-brick sidewalks, antique shops and family-owned restaurants.
Quick interstate access near the Indianapolis airport corridor
This far from the city center, residents are dependent on personal vehicles and ride-sharing apps to get in and around Indianapolis. The I-465 beltway is about five miles to the northeast, and also connects to Interstates 65, 69 and 70, making travel around the region and across the state manageable. At Indianapolis International Airport, 13 passenger airlines offer direct flights to destinations all across the country.
Written By
Christopher Suarez
Photography Contributed By
Michael Beaver
Video By
Samantha Houtchens
