Best Boulder apartment? Kid and pet friendly (Denver, Gunbarrel: salons, apartments)

[lesgim87]

Possible move to Boulder from the Midwest. We are looking for family and pet friendly apartments. Preferably in biking or walking distance to some things so we can function with only one car. Recommendations on apartment communities would be great. Right now we are leaning towards Uptown Broadway, Remy, or Boulder Creek. Any and all suggestions would be amazing. Are there any unsafe areas in Boulder? We have a 3 year old and would prefer to not Be surrounded by college kids either.

[brown_dog_us]

Almost all of the apartments in Boulder will be majority college kids and 20 somethings, and I can't think of one that is full of families. My suggestion would be to search for apartments with kid/family amenities like a playground onsite.

What is your budget? You might be able to find a condo or house in a family friendly neighborhood.

[ADogNamedSam]

I'm about four miles up Diagonal Highway in Gunbarrel, there are two or three pretty nice apartment communities up here. A half-mile away is a shopping center with about 30 business, including a King Soopers, Haircut place, Liquor Store, Mexican restaurant, Chinese restaurant, Subway, UPS store,
Optometrist, a bar/restaurant, another restaurant, Yoga studio, sandwich shop, coffee place...


My complex has a playground where do I see some families with young children, and many young couples but no college students that I know of. Honestly most of us just have dogs


Price point: 2Br, 2Ba, $1450 a month (plus my garage and dog rents).


Oh and a bus stops right out in front, to take you down to Boulder. Have seen people strap their bike to the bus' front bumper. Kinda cool.

[lesgim87]

Our budget would be about $2300/month max. So maybe a condo to rental might be better. Sad to hear the apartment communities are just full of college students.

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by lesgim87

Our budget would be about $2300/month max. So maybe a condo to rental might be better. Sad to hear the apartment communities are just full of college students.

Something like this might work: https://www.padmapper.com/apartments...-co-80305#warm

[LostSailor4326]

Although I'm all for using search engines/filters I can actually add to 2 of the complexes mentioned.

My wife and I checked out Boulder Creek about a year ago. The biggest turn off for her was lack of storage and closet space. Might sound minor, but a few of their floor plans didn't have doors on closets. As soon as we saw this all bets were off since wifey didn't want to stare at her clothes all day. I don't recall any of their floor plans having a main "coat closet" too which the lady didn't like. Though, I did like the location of it a lot.

I live in a condo right next to Remy. I'm a homeowner and have access to Remy's gym, common area, pool etc. but I technically don't live in Remy. It's a little weird to explain and I'm not fully knowledgeable on it myself, but a company bought up Villa Del Prado (old condo name where I live) and named it Remy/Henly. The complex I live in is all homeowners and not apartments so there's a distinction between buildings. My HOA payments go towards the common area that Remy and Henly tenants use so I guess I can say I live there to a point.

We love everything that our place offers. W/d in unit, garage space, storage unit, fireplace, balcony, a lot of closet space etc. Not sure what Remy/Henly offers.

We love the area we're in and only have 1 car. Wife takes the bus to work everyday and I cycle to work 3 miles each way. If work is downtown or anywhere along broadway you're good to go since you'd be on the 225 bus route headed downtown and you can use public transit. 20 min walk to Table mesa park n Ride which can take you to Denver and the airport. If you have to drive foothills is very close so it's easy to jump on the highway and head to Denver. Do yourself a favor and don't drive to work unless it's really close. I never take my 15 min bike ride for granted.

The meadows shopping center is an easy walk with a Safeway, Walgreens, Chinese, Italian, Indian, a taco place, ice cream shop, a deli, UPS, a gym, a few salons/nail places, a neat little bakery that makes awesome chocolate pastries, and a Library. This doesn't include all the places on Baseline as well which are only 1 or 2 miles away.

It's close to a bunch of bike paths. You need to travel on roads for a little, but getting to the creek path (main bike path) is very easy and downtown is an easy 20 min bike ride with little time on roads. Other bike path arteries are easily accessible as well. Baseline has a dedicated bike lane although it's not separate from cars.

The Bobolink trail isn't too far away although not really a favorite of mine. Chautauqua is a 8 min drive or 15 min bike ride if you're fitness is there. Eldorado springs state park a 30 minute bike ride if you're moving. You can walk to a neat little park in 5 minutes (Burke Park) that you're dog will love.

Living where we live, you'll almost forget you live in a college town. We are 2 miles from CU campus and our complex is not full of college kids; even the apartments you mentioned. Sure you're going to see people with back packs and there's places you need to stay away from in town, but we would have no problem having a kid where we currently are. Since Kaiser Permanente is so close, you'll see A LOT of older folks (there's a sign on Mohawk that says "senior citizens" to caution drivers) along with what I think are graduate students or people that just live/work in Boulder like ourselves. We're okay with being 3 miles away from downtown and not spending an extra 250K for the same place. A place at Remy for 2k a month would be 3K if it were downtown. It'll also be 1.5K a month in Gunbarrel like someone else mentioned.

Unfortunately there's petty crime around the area. Just recently a few local businesses had break-ins at the Meadows. I wouldn't leave anything valuable in plain sight in a car, but I don't think I'd do that anywhere in town. You'll see panhandlers at the shopping center. You'll see people smoking at a bus stop near the Boulder Manor. That being said, we still like the area and never have a problem being out. We most certainly don't live in a high crime place, just small things that pop up.

I probably missed a few things but I'm dragging this out. Let me know if you'd like more info. Depending on your situation it could work for you. Come visit for a week and live like a local.

[lesgim87]

THanks for all this info. It helps so much. We head out there Thursday to explore the area and look at places. Anything specific that you guys would suggest we do to really see what it’s like to be a local in Boulder? Also, I was curious if utilities in Boulder are more exspensive then other areas? Didn’t know with all they’ve done to help conserve water if that makes water bills higher or lower.

[brown_dog_us]

I'd check out these neighborhoods:

Shannahan Ridge- I posted a condo in that area above.

Boulder Creek Apartments- Not the newest, but updated. I'm not sure if there is a lot of kids.

Somethings to check out in the neighborhood- Harlow Platts Park, George Reynolds Library, Southern Sun, Sweet Cow, Drive up to NCAR.

The area around Remy- Lost Sailor did a great job describing the area. Check out Meadows Shopping Center

Gunbarrel and Niwot- There are plenty of nice apartments here, but might be too far from downtown.

As far as safe(r) parts of town, near the Boulder Creek Path and by the homeless shelter in N Boulder is where most of the bad stuff happens.

Also, check out craigslist for some available places and check them out to get a feel for the market.