In a world where every gallon of gasoline lightens your wallet and weighs down the environment, common sense dictates “Walk more, drive less.” But how conducive is the average Pinellas workplace to reaching this ideal? Curiosity got the best of the Hallmark Development team, so we set out to determine how foot-friendly some of our area’s top businesses are. For help, we turned to a great online resource: Walkscore.com. This site scores neighborhoods for “walkability” based on their proximity to stores, schools, parks, etc.
Walkscore.com uses the following scale to determine its scores:
- 90 - 100 = “Walkers' Paradise”: Forego monthly payments on the new coupe, you won’t use it. Your daily routine can be accomplished on foot.
- 70 - 90 = “Very Walkable”: You can get by without a car, or at the very least, fill the tank rarely.
- 50 - 70 = “Some Walkable Locations”: Some of your shopping, dining and recreational activities will be within walking distance, but wheels are needed to access others.
- 25 - 50 = “Not Walkable”: A few places can be accessed on foot, but other forms of transportation are a must.
- 0 - 25 = “Driving Only”: Fill ‘er up; you’ll need every drop.
Intrigued? So were we. Here’s how a few bay-area business complexes fared in our research, presented from highest to lowest score:
Lakeside Offices at Park Place in Clearwater: Walk Score = 78. By not straying further than a quarter mile, you’ll encounter a grocery store, eight restaurants, two coffee shops, a library and two bookstores. Surprisingly, there are three shoe stores – handy for reinforcing those soles if you want to go a little farther– say an additional tenth of a mile — to Wal-Mart or Marshalls. In the spirit of full disclosure, Lakeside is a green property being developed by Hallmark, which is why we were so curious about how it fared. And we hate to brag, but a neighboring Hallmark property, Offices at Park Place, scored even higher, coming in at 80 points.
Morton Plant Medical Complex in Clearwater: Walk Score = 60. This property scores higher than most on our list because it is close to numerous restaurants and also has seven schools, three parks and several drug stores within a mile of the complex.
Raymond James in Feather Sound: Walk Score = 51. There are seven restaurants, a coffee shop, a grocery store and a health club within a half mile of this financial powerhouse. On the downside, retail outlets and parks are miles away, making them hard to access for a lunchtime stroll.
AC Nielsen in Oldsmar: Walk Score = 42. While there are multiple international options for lunch near Nielsen, your walk will be one-third to three-quarters of a mile. And you’ll have to earn that Frappuccino®--Starbucks™ is over a mile away.
Tech Data in Clearwater: Walk Score = 35. Be ready for a long hike to get your morning caffeine fix. The nearest coffee shop is one and a half miles away. There is a deli within a quarter mile, but you’ll need to stroll a half mile or more to other neighborhood eateries.
HSN, St Petersburg: Walk Score = 32. A bit dismal for getting out of the compound. Publix is three-quarters of a mile away and there is only one restaurant within a third of a mile – nothing else of significance in less than a mile. On the bright side, there is a preschool less than half mile away.
Gateway Center in St Petersburg: Walk Score = 20. Ouch. You’ll need to trek over three-quarters of a mile to get to a pizza place for lunch. Not a fun prospect in Florida’s summer heat. And you’ll travel over a mile to the nearest coffee shop. Good news, though. You can stop at a drug store a half mile away to pick up vitamins and water to recover from the walk.
There are known issues with Walkscore.com. For example - it cannot account for pedestrian-friendly design. It doesn’t know if there are hills in that quarter-mile walk to the grocery store. It must find ways to stay current on resources in a given area, which can be a challenge. And it doesn’t account for weather or safety (traffic or crime). That said, we found it useful for satisfying our curiosity, and it’s a great tool for evaluating a new neighborhood.
Find out how your neighborhood stacks up: http://www.walkscore.com. |
