Help me find the right neighborhood in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis: apartments, how much)

[maxcriden]

I previously made a Lyndale/CARAG thread, but at the wise suggestion of uptown_urbanist and west366 I'm making this thread so I can get a little more detailed about what I'm looking for, and hopefully find the right neighborhood for my girlfriend and I in the Twin Cities. Thanks in advance for your help!

1) Safety. This is the most important factor to me in finding us a place to live. We currently live in Redondo Beach, CA, which is a very safe area and I'd really prefer to live in such an area in MN. We've lived in Astoria, NY and Northampton, MA before, and both are somewhat safe areas (the former being okay, the latter pretty safe), but now that we've lived somewhere this safe I'd prefer not to give that up. At worst, I'd say I'd still want to live somewhere pretty safe. uptown_urbanist suggested I define what safety means for me, but I'm not really sure what to say there, other than that I'd like to live somewhere that's considered really safe. That probably sounds redundant, but if there are more specific safety questions you have for me about my preferences, I'd be happy to answer them.

2) Distance from the Twin Cities. We're willing to live 30 minutes (I'm using Google Maps as an estimate for this) away from the actual metro areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul, at most, I think. But if there's something just outside that range, we'd definitely consider it, so please don't hesitate to suggest it.

3) Housing Type and Budget. I should probably explain what kind of place we want, and how much we're looking to spend. We're looking for a 1 bedroom apt., hopefully no more than $600/month (the inclusion of some utilities makes us a little bit flexible on this point, but not much). I see many apartments in this range so I'm hoping it's doable. Also, not sure if this is useful to mention, but we have a car and it'd be nice to have parking included in the apt.

4) Walkability. It would be nice to have a high "walk score" and lots of stuff within walking distance. We had that in Northampton, and we sort of have that here. However, Safety is much more important to us than Walkability, so if living in a safer neighborhood means there's nothing really in walking distance, that's a reasonable trade-off.

5) Scenery. If possible, it would be wonderful to live near a park or a lake, but that's more of a perk than a deal breaker. Still, living in a location that looks nice would be ideal.

Okay, thanks so much for reading, and for your help!

[uptown_urbanist]

I don't think there's any chance you're going to get safest of the safe AND high walk score, since high walk score tends to go along with some density, which goes along with some crime. Not much, necessarily, but higher than the places that have nothing going on. I think CARAG is pretty safe, and Uptown reminds me a bit of downtown Northampton, but you'll find it very difficult to afford on your budget. Not impossible, but difficult, and parking is more likely to be a problem. Unfortunately your budget also cuts out places like Linden Hills (very safe, very walkable). Your best bet may be somewhere like St. Louis Park; while some of the newest developments are expensive, there are some affordable options there, too. It's very safe, not too far from Lake Calhoun and Uptown, and generally fairly walkable (some parts more than others; check out the area radiating out from Excelsior as you head out of Minneapolis.)

I'm not as familiar with Hopkins, but it has a nice downtown, lots of apartments, parks, and is safe. It's also not too far away.

I don't know the St. Paul neighborhoods very well, but generally neighborhoods over there seem to be cheaper than in Minneapolis, and there are some very nice, quiet, safe residental areas with at least some things within walking distance. I'll let someone else chime in there, though.

[maxcriden]

Thanks for your extensive feedback, uptown_urbanist. I've actually found a couple places in Linden Hills in my price range, but both were extremely poorly-reviewed and frequent allegations of the owner being a slumlord were made. But, I'll keep at LH, just in case I luck out.

I did start looking at SLP--are there specific areas there you would/wouldn't recommend? I see a listing at 8400 Minnetonka (in the Texa-Tonka region) and at 394 & Louisiana, does anyone know anything about those areas? Thanks!

Coming from the LA area, we're used to driving a preposterous amount just to get anywhere (it often takes 30-45 minutes to drive 5 miles, with traffic), so living in the suburbs doesn't bother us, as long as we're reasonably near the metro area. (Say, 30 mins.)

Oh, and I did find a couple places in CARAG/Lyndale within my budget, but it just doesn't seem to be quite as safe of an area as I'd prefer, however walkable--at least in the locations I found apartments in, I mean. I did read your post in the other thread, though, and appreciated it. I'll still keep looking at that area, too.

[tblackwell99]

The areas near Grand Avenue in St. Paul will have very high walk scores and are safe areas. Lots of food, shopping, parks - all within easy walking distance.

Could be hard to find something for $600, but a thorough search would probably turn something up.

[maxcriden]

Originally Posted by tblackwell99

The areas near Grand Avenue in St. Paul will have very high walk scores and are safe areas. Lots of food, shopping, parks - all within easy walking distance.

Could be hard to find something for $600, but a thorough search would probably turn something up.

Thank you! I'll check that out.

[kcitti]

You can definitely find something for around $600 in the area, you may just have to be flexible (maybe consider a studio or an older/outdated 1 br)