Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, NY

amother

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 7:56 am

Hello Ladies,
We are thinking of moving to Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, NY.
can you help me out with info regarding the community- what kind of a community is it- is it very large with many different types of people, or is it more of a smaller cohesive community?
What kinds of areas/shuls are there for a youngish family with three small children? (father in kollel for a few years, mother working)
are there small houses/large three bedroom apartment available for rent? what would the average rent be for something like that? do they have backyards?
what are the childcare options- are there people who babysit in their houses? playgroups? people who share babysitters? how much do these things cost?
how is the commute to manhattan on public transportation?
what kind of preschools are there, and how much do they cost?
where do people send their kids to school?
are there parks / places to take the kids?
are there good/reasonably priced supermarkets?
I appreciate any info you can give me about the KGH community- Thank you !

Henna12

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 8:31 am

I live in KGh for over three years now but we are looking to move, mainly because of space. There are very few three bedroom apartments for rent, and houses are extremely expensive. I know people who are paying over 2,000 a month for three bedrooms. Otherwise, it is a pretty nice community. There is a very large mix made up of chofetz Chaim families, young Israel families and evert other type! There is also a large bucharian community here.
As for babysitting, most people I know have babysitters in their home but there are also babysitters who watch a bunch of children. There are a few preschools in the neighborhood that seem good but I don't have a preschooler yet so I don't know prices.
Grocery stores are good-there are 2 new supermarkets that compete with each other so they have a lot of sales.
Hope that helps!

morah

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 8:43 am

amother wrote:

1. It is a large community with many different types- you'll find just about the whole spectrum of orthodoxy out here. But everyone generally gets along.
2. There are lots of shuls for young families, most of the husbands are professionals. However, we do have the Chofetz Chaim here, that's where most of the kollel families are.
3. Backyards are hard to come by- this is NYC after all! We moved over the summer to a rented house. It is attached (as are all the cheaper houses), 3 BR and 1.5 bathrooms, and we are paying about $2,400 a month.
4. Lots of childcare options, although I've been frustrated lately that they all seem to assume that someone is available to pick the child up before 5. I have done both women who take babies into their home an daycare. Happy with both except for the issue of time, for which I have to pay extra just to get someone to stay till 5:30. Also, since it's near Queens College, there are lots of nice frum college kids available for babysitting as needed, or as mothers' helpers.
5. Depends where in Manhattan you're going. It's not so bad if you can just take the E or F straight to where you're going. However, you have to take a bus to the train, which is really annoying.
6.-7. Don't know much about schools- we're not up to that stage yet.
8. Lots of parks, though some are better for bigger kids and some are better for little kids.
9. I think they're reasonably priced, but this is NY, so everything is expensive anyway. But you do have a lot of options, so you can definitely comparison shop and get the best of everything.

nyer1

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 8:45 am

I can't tell you much about cost of living or what people do about baby sitting, but I have a ton of friends who live there and love it. Most of my friends who live there have some connection to the yeshiva, but I also know some of the young Israel type families... Everyone gets along and it is a very friendly place. Since there is an Eruv, shabbos has a beautiful atmosphere of all different families socializing at the park and at kiddushim etc.

There are a ton of options for shopping, schools, schools etc. transportation to manhattan is very accessible by train or express bus.

As far as cost of housing though. I was under the impression that it was pretty reasonable...

If u pm me, I can get u in touch with a bunch of people from the neighborhood with your more specific questions... But the one thing I can tell u is that it's a very friendly neighborhood and it is easy for almost anyone to find their niche.

amother

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 9:05 am

I grew up there. Its a mixed community in terms of type. There are more modern types, chofetz chaim kollel type, lots of JPF, middle age families and young couples. There are around 30 shuls in the neighborhood, from young israel to shteiblach to yeshiva minyanim (chafetz chaim and Lander's Ohr Hachaim) to sefardi minyanim. There are several large supermarkets - Seasons, Aarons, Brachs, Wassermans. A few minutes away there are the large non jewish chains like walgreens and key food and probably more. There are a bunch of really good take outs, pizza stores and restaurants. Not much in terms of clothing shopping, but its not too far from long island malls and manhattan. In terms of the commute to the city there are either express buses in the neighborhood or you can take a 5 -10 minute bus ride to the train stations in forest hills or kew gardens. From there its a 20 minute ride to the first stop in manhattan. For elementary schools you have bais yakov and bnos malka for girls, and tiferes moshe and yeshiva ketana for boys. There are preschools in the neighborhood too, Ive heard of Arieli's and Judy's but there are probably more. The houses are on the smaller side and theres not too much land. Its the city of New York and you pay for that. If you find the right block and /or go to the right shul for your type youll probably find lots of nice families to be friends with. Its a laid back community, theres not a lot of pressure to look a certain way, people live and let live. Its a nice place!

amother

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 10:53 am

OP here,

Thank you for all your responses! they are all really helpful.
in terms of housing, are there any 3 bedrooms apartments for less than 2000? and any attached houses around 2200?
and in terms of childcare- how much is it per hour to drop off at a babysitter? and what about a babysitter who comes to your house?
Also, so most of the people in Kew Gardens Hills are professionals? (we would not be a part of the Chofetz chayim community, but my husband will be in kollel elsewhere)
is there a big nice grassy park where kids can run around and play, with benches, swings, slides, jungle gym, etc?
Thanks

amother

Sun, Sep 23 2012, 11:12 am

Hi!
I moved to KGH a year ago from Brooklyn and we are really happy here! I work in Manhattan 5 days a week- I'm a SEIT, if that means anything to you. I've worked on both the east side and west side and the east side is definitely easier and faster to get to. We are not part of Chofetz Chaim, though we do live quite close and I am friends with a bunch of the wives. My husband is part of Lander College's Kollel. We share a babysitter with a family on the next block over (we don't have a car) and we pay about 5-6 dollars an hour, which is defnitely on the low end. It's a really nice community, but keep in mind that many young couples are not here to stay- we plan on moving out of town in a few years.
I'm posting anonymously because of all the info I just gave about myself but if you want, I can pm you if you want more info. I don't really know any info about 3 br houses- we are in a 2 br (bottom floor of a 3 family house), and we pay 1300 a month.