Canyon Lake

The mix here is broad. There are established single family homes, condominium buildings that appeal to buyers who want less to maintain, and custom homes with mature landscaping that has had decades to fill in. Because the area developed over a long stretch of time rather than all at once, two blocks can look nothing alike, and that is part of the appeal.

Custom homes in the area have recently been trading in the range of roughly $400K to $850K and above, depending on lot, view and how recently the home was updated.

Canyon Lake Park is the center of gravity, with the lake, open lawns and the creekside bike path running through. Meadowbrook Golf Course, the city's largest municipal course, is right here. Rapid Creek carries trout, and I know people who fish it on their way home from work.

There is history behind why the corridor looks the way it does, and it deserves to be told plainly. The 1972 Black Hills Flood devastated the creek corridor. In the aftermath the city converted the floodway into more than 600 acres of parks and the bike path system. That decision is the reason homes today sit back from a continuous ribbon of green rather than crowding the water, and it is a large part of what makes this side of town feel the way it does.