Cowell Terrace

With plenty of opportunities for you to get outside and exercise, living in Cowell Terrace provides convenient access to a trail that snakes through the neighborhood and close to 200 acres of open green space. It’s in the active city of Concord in the East Bay region, about 20 miles from Oakland and 30 miles east of San Francisco.

The Contra Costa Canal Trail follows the small waterway that connects with the surrounding communities of Martinez, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek. The 13-and-a-half-mile path is one of the longest and most popular trails in the East Bay Regional Park District, and it’s a paved walkway that’s suitable for bikers, runners and accessible for those in wheelchairs. Sometimes, you’ll see people on horseback on the trail. Except for the occasional crossing of city streets, the trail boasts of keeping those who use it at a safe distance from roads and protected from cars and exhaust. It is unusual to see acres of open space in the middle of a well-populated city, but the almost 200 acres of Lime Ridge Open Space off of Treat Boulevard is just that. You can explore the open space on the many trails or sit and rest on one of the benches. On the other side of Treat Boulevard, there’s a larger open space that’s managed by the city of Walnut Creek.

Whether it’s a three-bedroom townhouse that sells for just under $800,000 at 1,800 square feet or a majestic modern style Craftsman with five bedrooms and over 4,000 square feet that is worth over 2 million dollars that backs up to Lime Ridge Open Space, there are a wide variety of styles and sizes. A few homes are over 100 years old in Cowell Terrace, including one built in 1912. It’s a Colonial Revival valued at just under a million dollars and needs renovations. You don’t have to travel too far to find a modern Mediterranean built about 20 years ago on a hill or a 1988 split-level with views of Mount Diablo.

Denisen Hartlove is a Realtor with the Dudum Real Estate Group and has lived in Concord for about 25 years. “Lately, I’ve seen the pattern of people moving from more expensive parts of the Bay area to live here,” she says. “They’ll work in the same place but live in Concord because of lower prices. It’s resulted in a great mix of people.” Because of the number of commuters, those living in Cowell Terrace are only a few miles from the Concord stop for the Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART commuter rail system. The County Connection bus system also provides shuttles from stops on Treat Boulevard to the Concord BART station.

With a Trader Joe’s a few miles to the southwest on Treat Boulevard and a Safeway and a FoodMaxx the same distance in the other direction, grocery trips don’t require too much time or distance. There’s authentic Afghan food across the BART tracks on Cowell Road near the intersection with Monument Boulevard. Afghan Cuisine specializes in chicken or beef on a kabob and charbroiled; some dishes can be spicy. You can also create your own kabob masterpiece.

Receiving a C-plus grade on Niche, El Monte Elementary School has a student-to-teacher ratio of 24-to-1 and has over 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. El Dorado Middle School gets a B-minus for the quality of teachers but a C grade overall. Over 1,500 students attend Mt. Diablo High School, a B-minus overall school with a student-to-teacher ratio of 20-to-1.

Commuting is a popular option for those who live in Cowell Terrace. “If you want to drive, there’s access to highways that can take you to downtown San Francisco in an hour and Oakland in 45 minutes.” The City of Concord is surrounded by freeways with easy access to Interstate 680 and California State Routes 4 and 242.

Written By

Jeff Stapleton

Photography Contributed By

Sheldon Steere

Video By

Jessica Johnson