East Side
The area runs from Pickard on the north to High Street on the south and stretches from Brown Street to Isabella on the east. Broadway Street cuts this area in half as it goes east west. Traffic is increasing along Broadway as development occurs further east. High Street is also a sub-arterial street but it does not continue east of the freeway as does Broadway. At the east end of High are found the ice rink and the new community recreation center (under construction). As you look at the photo to the right you will note that a number of the streets are short and curvilinear and typical of later subdivision development. As a result traffic is forced to the sub-arterial streets from the cul-de-sacs. Sidewalks are not too common in the area either (again typical of the time period). You can tell the difference in the ages of the developments by the tree sizes although the area around Russell was an old wood lot. The township and city boundary interlaces through the district.
Many of the homes were built in the 50's 60's and 70's with the larger and higher priced homes generally being in the northwest corner along or near Russell Street. A number of homes here are two story. As one goes east into the Grands and West and East Drive houses tend to be a bit more modest in size and price. A number of houses around the Grands and East and West Drive are ranches or bi-levels and tend to lack basements. This area has a lot of clay in the soils since at one time it was a lake bed and this was a slack water depositional site. Sold home prices in this area north of Broadway average about $160,000 over the mid decade three years with approximately 10 selling every year. For the last three years of the decade the average price has been $136,000. At the east side the identity is being shaped as new residential and commercial development occurs. There is a new condominium development just west of Isabella Road.
Home prices are a bit lower south of Broadway with the average price over the last three years averaging $125,000. The average price here has dropped as well with $110,000 being the average price over the last three years of the decade. The hospital is in the southwest corner (the large complex in the photo)
and there are a number of associated activities and buildings near the facility especially to the north east along the north south running Crapo Street. A high percentage of homes here are ranches, a few with basements but most are on crawl spaces.
The large light green patch at the south edge of the photo is waiting for development and the buildings in the southeast corner are an apartment complex. Two schools are in the area - Pullen along Brown Street is for K - 4 and Mary Mc Guire which is the large building in the northeast south of Pickard houses 5th and 6th graders.
Pickard is commercial and north of Pickard are some industrial sites and a few residential streets. Isabella on the east is changing rapidly as commercial activity grows. On the south are some apartment complexes and a large condominium development as well as the high school. The west side abuts the Mission East Residential area.
The interior of the area is strongly residential with open spaces provided by the two schools. The area is good for walking since there is little elevation change although it is not flat as a pancake.