Suburb or Downtown Detroit? (Ann Arbor, Troy: apartments, lofts, crime)

[JackBauer24]

Hi everyone.

I will be moving to Detroit soon and I am wanting some input. I will be working in Downtown Detroit and was wondering if it's a safe area. Are there any good apartments to live in Downtown Detroit? I don't want to give too much away, but I will be working about 5 - 10 minutes walking distance from Comerica Park.

Can any of you suggest any good apartments in Downtown Detroit? My only requirement is that IT MUST INCLUDE parking as well as a washer and dryer in the apartment. Price is not a concern.

If Downtown Detroit is not that safe then can you recommend a good suburb close by? I'm wanting it to be about 15 - 20 minutes from Downtown Detroit. It must have good stores such as Macy's.

I'm 29, single, no kids and would love to go to places for entertainment. I'm into rock concerts and a huge baseball fan. Most important of all I want to live in a safe area.

[detroitgirl90]

Detroit City Apartments is good, it's about a 10 minute walk from Comerica Park. Or if price really isn't an option, I've heard the Lofts of Merchant Row are really nice and have seen great pictures of them. Also, the Buhl building just underwent a huge renovation and is supposed to be really nice now. And the Kales building is nice as well from what I've heard.

[animatedmartian]

You can reserve units for Broderick Tower. It's currently being renovated and the units will be open in September. It's right across the park from Comerica Park. Most of the upper floors are already reserved though.

Broderick Tower

[ForStarters]

I second Broderick Tower. Otherwise, try Lofts at Merchant's Row.

[runner-guy]

Personally, if I were single I still would not live in downtown Detroit. I know you'd like something close to work, but I think you'd be better off in the suburbs. Yes there are pockets of Detroit that are fairly safe, but as a whole the crime is bad, the city services are horrible, grocery stores and shopping are lacking, and financially the city is a mess. If you want a safe suburb that has great shopping (Somerset Mall) and restaurants, I would recommend Troy. You will have to deal with traffic driving to Detroit, but to me it would be worth it.

[Coldjensens]

At your age and status, the best options are downtown or midtown, Royal Oak Ferndale or Ann Arbor.

Dowtown is relatively safe (very safe compared to much of the rest of Detroit), but it is still the downtown of a major US city.

If safety is absolutely parmount, you should try out of the way or secluded places (Grosse Ile comes to mind, there are also many rural areas also have much less crime that populated areas, but they have little or no police patrols or other services). However none of these places are fun or exciting. They are quiet out of the wya places, that is why crime is so low.

If shopping is critical, then Detroit is not for you. For shopping Troy or Novi are probably your best bets.

None of those places are within 15-20 minutes of downtown. Grosse Pointe is probably the only nice place within that range. Depending on the time of day an the location downtown, you may need ten minutes just to get to/from the freeway. That leaves you less than ten minutes on the freeway (you still need a few minutes to get form the freeway to the Apt). Thus, downtown or mid town may be the only decent places within your range. Grosse Pointe would be iffy in that amount of time, you can make it sometimes, sometimes not.