Neighbors Southwest Neighborhood Guide

Neighbors Southwest is a beautifully developed residential neighborhood, at the far southwestern tip of Beaverton.

The neighborhood features a diagonal mesh of interconnected, heavily treed parks, trails, and ponds, making it imminently walkable and a favorite respite for nature lovers. In keeping with the nature spirit, most of the residential streets are named after birds. Who wouldn’t love to live on Snowy Owl Lane?

Map of Neighbors Southwest, Beaverton, Oregon

A series of residential cul-de-sacs provide community, privacy, safety, and noise abatement.

Related: All Homes for Sale in Neighbors Southwest

Streets of Neighbors Southwest, Beaverton, Oregon — The Streets of Neighbors Southwest

Home Styles

Executive-Style Homes in Neighbors Southwest

The median year for homes built in Neighbors Southwest is 1994, the second most recent for all Beaverton neighborhoods, just behind Sexton Mountain (1995). Thus newer construction in builder-planned communities is the norm.

Most Beaverton homes don’t fit easily into an historical architectural style. Perhaps with a perspective of another 100 years, they might be labelled Suburban Traditional.

Related: All Homes for Sale in Beaverton

But planned communities have distinct advantages. In Neighbors Southwest, you’ll see clusters of harmonious residences, designed for a variety of lifestyles and budgets (single family, townhouse, condominium, apartment) with parks, greenways, home owners associations, and proximity to major services, schools, churches, shopping, and recreational facilities.

Homes in Neighbors Southwest, Beaverton, Oregon — Country-Style Homes in Neighbors Southwest

Beaverton has a prime example of this type of community in the Oak Hills Historic District. Here’s an excerpt from an article titled, Oak Hills Historic District, Beaverton, Oregon:

“Located in Beaverton, Oregon, the Oak Hills National Register Historic District encompasses approximately 240 acres and consists of a single, master-planned that includes 627 single-family, detached homes, 24 townhouse units in the state’s first FHA-insured townhouse development, an elementary school, a church, a former sewage plant building, a community recreation center, an entrance sign, and two parks. The district’s cohesively designed setting is characterized by a curvilinear road network, single-family residential clusters, townhouse blocks, as well as a centrally located park that includes passive open space, recreational fields, and pedestrian walkways. The individual houses feature a diversified but intentionally limited set of design schemes. A majority of the houses were constructed between 1965 and 1974. A cluster of five lots were subdivided and developed in 1978 and an additional cluster of 27 lots were developed between 1994 and 1995.”

Naming Portland’s Everyday Houses: From Bungalow to ‘Minimal-Traditional’ | Oregon Live
Portland’s Everyday Home Styles | Oregon Live
Rummers In Oregon: A Legacy of Mid-Century Modern Homes | Renovation
Southwest Mid-Century Modern – Sleeping in Portland | Oregon Live

Parks | Recreation

Neighbors Southwest is home to several lovely parks with access to nature, trails, swimming pools, tennis courts, toddler play parks, sports fields, picnic areas, trout fishing, and more.

Murrayhill Pond

This lovely man-made water feature and paved path is one of our favorite destinations in Beaverton. As far as we know, it doesn’t have an official name. We call it The Pond.

Murrayhill Recreation Association

The Murrayhill Recreation Association provides recreational facilities for dues-paying residents of 700 single-family homes within the Murrayhill subdivision. Facilities include a clubhouse, three swimming pools, hot tub, children’s wading pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, t-ball field, horseshoe pits, picnic areas, and playground.

Barrows Park

Barrows Park on the southern edge of Neighbors Southwest provides whimsical play structures created especially for the younger set.

Progress Quarry Lake Park

Progress Ridge Lake Park in Neighbors Southwest — Progress Lake Park in Neighbors Southwest

Progress Quarry Lake Park provides an active water play and trout fishing destination, plus a tranquil view from Progress Ridge Townsquare.

Murray Hill Park

Murrayhill Park encompasses a long, narrow stretch of parkland, including a lovely wooded trail that diagonally bisects the northern reaches of Neighbors Southwest. Nature lovers, bird watchers, walkers, runners, and cyclists love this park. The park features tennis courts, picnic benches, and a toddler playground.

Coffee & Sweets

One of the things we consistently see on clients’ preferred lifestyle lists is proximity to great coffee shops and bakeries. Well HELLO Neighbors Southwest.

Press Coffee

Press Cafe_Neighbors Southwest_Beaverton — Press Cafe in Murray Scholls Market

Press Cafe serves Stumptown coffee, Beaverton Bakery pastries, and house-made sandwiches, salads, and soups. Great place to down a cappuccino and finish off your morning emails. Or drop by for lunch.

Ava Roasteria

We could hang out for hours at Ava’s, and many folks do just that–socializing, working online, studying, reading. The location overlooking Progress Quarry Lake is a plus. Add house-roasted coffee and house-made pastries, and you’ll understand why Ava’s is always packed with locals.

Dining & Noshing

When we think of the Portland suburbs, we don’t always think great food. But Beaverton, and Southwest Neighbors especially, breaks the suburban stereotype. Excellent dining options abound.

Cafe Murrayhill

There’s no place we’d rather be on a fine weekend morning than on the deck overlooking the lovely pond at Cafe Murrayhill. Whether brunch or lunch, it’s always tasty. And we burn off the calories afterwards with a jaunt around the park.

The Ridge Woodfired Pizza & Pub

You’ll find an extensive menu at The Ridge, but the woodfired pizza is the star. Seriously good.

Casa Lola Kitchen de Mexico

The authentic cuisine of Central Mexico in the heart of Neighbors Southwest. Tip: Order the Pozole.

Vinotopia

Dinner and a movie? This is the place. Grab your tickets at Cinetopia on the way in and enjoy a fireside nosh before the movie.

Farmers Market

The Beaverton Farmers Market, held year-round in downtown Beaverton, serves all Beaverton neighborhoods. It’s one of our favorite Portland Metro markets.

Grocery Stores

Neighbors Southwest has a good selection of grocery stores for a neighborhood its size.

Haggen Food & Pharmacy (Barrows Crossing )
New Seasons Market Progress Ridge (Progress Ridge Townsquare)
Walgreens (Murray Scholls Town Center)
Walmart Neighborhood Market (Murray Scholls Town Center)
Safeway (Murrayhill Marketplace)

Community Centers

Community Gardens

Beaverton Community Gardens

Portland Neighborhoods by the Numbers

Each year, the April issue of Portland Monthly Magazine delivers a treasure trove of revealing numbers on Portland’s ever dynamic housing front.

In this much-anticipated report, you’ll find interactive stats on real estate, people, crime, and lifestyle for each of Portland’s 95 neighborhoods and 28 suburbs. And in 2015, new stats on livability and urban migration were included in the mix.

For Portland Metro, take a look at the Real Estate Suburb table and Cost Per Square Foot column. The cost per square foot in Portland Metro ranges from $122 per square foot for Estacada to $272 per square foot for Sauvie Island. Beaverton comes in at $163 per square foot, compared to Portland at $179 per square foot.

Or sort on Parks and Open Spaces (Acres) to see that Beaverton has more park land at 2,329 acres than any other Portland Metro community except Sauvie Island (12,075 acres). Portland has 36,337 acres. Now imagine yourself in this rural wonderland, surrounded by tall trees, lakes, and wetland–much of it accessible and interconnected via Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) 60-mile urban trail system.

You can learn so much about a Portland neighborhood or suburban city from perusing these statistics.

For additional stats, check out Portland Neighborhoods By The Numbers: Where to Buy in 2015, which includes The Annual Quick Reference Guide to 122 Neighborhoods and Suburbs. There are nearly 60 revealing criteria available for each Portland neighborhood and Portland Metro community. And you can sort on any column.

Beaverton by the Numbers (2015)

Portland Neighborhoods By the Numbers provides data for Portland Metro cities, but not for individual neighborhoods. Here’s a look at Beaverton in its entirety for 2015.