Meridian-Kessler IN Real Estate & Homes for Sale

The Meridian-Kessler neighborhood is the capitol city’s proverbial “Mansion on the Hill.” With the downtown skyline still visible from its scenic boulevards, the ornate stone and iron gates, manicured gardens, mature shade trees, and historic architecture offer a sudden and complete respite from the downtown hustle. Stunning estates are not its only stand-out features. Residents enjoy both walkable access to small, local businesses, arts and entertainment, farmers markets, fine schools and churches, and the convenience of only a few minutes’ drive/bus/or bicycle ride from downtown and major interstate access.

The neighborhood has much to offer a buyer in the market for a high-end home. And though the mansions are a favorite for Great Gatsby loving site-seers, the expansive grounds and long charming drives of these turn of the twentieth century estates provide the residents with ideal privacy, perhaps helping tourists to imagine the entertaining one could be doing there. However, the area has much to offer a more modest home-buyer as well. Its homes do vary greatly in size, though charm and stateliness remain on-par. The Meridian-Kessler Neighborhood Association (www.mkna.org) helps preserve the history of the neighborhood and promote its safety and flavor.

Business and Activities

The Meridian-Kessler neighborhood doesn’t go full-blown commercial, and in fact the surrounding neighborhoods don’t either for quite some distance. To access most large chain stores residents would have to drive to one of the nearby on-ramps and head for an outer loop area (just far enough to be out of sight). What this neighborhood lacks in superstores it makes up for in good old-fashion local business. There are several small grocers including a new, famously vibe-y Fresh Market, and at some times of year, up to 3 different outdoor farmers markets to choose from! Garden centers, hardware stores, and vintage furniture dealers for your home needs, actual repairmen and tailors, clothing boutiques and lots of restaurant and café options blend gently into the neighborhood streets, and most residents find what they need right there like a smattering of small town main drags.

The eastern-most physical boundary of the M-K neighborhood is the Monon Trail http://www.indygreenways.org/maps/mononTrail-Indy.pdf, a former railroad converted into a 16-mile bicycle- and walk-way stretching from downtown Indianapolis up through Carmel and into Westfield. The Indiana State Fairgrounds http://www.in.gov/statefair/fairgrounds sit at the southeastern boundary and host not only the State Fair, but a robust year-round schedule of events including circuses, antique and artisan markets, trade shows, derbies, you name it. To the northeast is the Broad Ripple area, home of the Indianapolis Arts Center http://indplsartcenter.org  which offers classes and camps for all ages in all the fine arts media and a constant rotation of exciting gallery shows. To the north is yet another scenic trailway along the Central Canal Towpath of Indianapolis – an incomplete waterway project that was resolved by the city into an 8 mile thing of beauty for joggers, bikers, walkers, and 6 species of turtles.

Schools  

Only about a quarter of Meridian Kessler households have school-age children, but the neighborhood and its surrounding areas are actually home to a wide variety of schools. M-K is situated in the Indianapolis Public School system and is served by the James W Riley and Eliza A Blaker elementary and intermediate schools, as well as Arlington high school. In addition to IPS options, Meridian-Kessler has several K-8 parochial schools, religious and non-religious after-school programs, pre-schools, and specialty schools all within the neighborhood boundaries, and is situated within easy reach of dozens more school options including charter schools, Montessori, Hebrew, and Islamic.  One very special and historic school this neighborhood can boast about is the Indiana School for the Deaf http://www.deafhoosiers.com. Established in 1843, the school has developed many nationally recognized programs for a wide range of deaf and hard of hearing students. They run summer camps, athletics, residencies, ASL courses, college prep, and parent-infant programs all on a beautiful 80-acre campus. Some other nearby specialty schools worth mentioning are The Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired http://www.isbvik12.org and the International School of Indianahttp://www.isind.org.