Help: moving to st louis from michigan (St. Louis, University City: fit in, apartments)

[arpatel1]

Hi everyone,

I'm moving to st louis the end of this month-early october from michigan and will be working at barnes-jewish hospitial. I looking for a one bedroom apartment preferably in the city and will consider the nearby suburbs. A friend suggested the CWE, Brentwood, Clayton, and Kirkwood. The concern I have is obviously safety and crime since I will have to be available for work to take call at all hours of the day. So, I would like to hear any specific suggestions for apartments in the city priced up to 1100 for a decent one bedroom apt (at least 750 sqft). I need to find something with parking included. suggestions???

[STLCardsBlues1989]

There are some apartment buildings just a few blocks from Barnes-Jewish. I'm not sure about price. But most places of St. Louis you can get a 1-bedroom for $1100.

But there are some apartment buildings there, so if you wanted to you could walk to work. If not, it'd be a short drive. There's also a MetroLink at Barnes-Jewish, so after work, if you wanted to, you could take the train downtown to restaurants/bars, the ball game, and the other things that are around there.

From my understanding, the Central West End is pretty safe.

Sorry I don't know of any open apartments currently. Craigslist usually has apartments listed. They may be classified as Central West End or just CWE.

Best of luck!

I kind of like the design of the Hawthorne apartments at 4475 W Pine Blvd.
I looked them up online and 1BR run from $595-$775/month and 2 BR for $895-$950.
I personally have no experience with the building. Mostly I just like how it looks.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

st louis, MO apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist
Under "search for" I would suggest typing in CWE. And put in your min and max price. You should get some results.

[aragx6]

If you like a lively area go with Central West End, if you want something a little quieter but still in the city go with Dogtown. With either the commute would be negligible.

$1100 is more than enough for either area, you can get more for the money in Dogtown.

Car break ins aren't an unreasonable expectation, as with most city neighborhoods across the country, but violent crime is pretty rare in both neighborhoods, Dogtown the most rare of the two.

One thing worth noting: The area directly surrounding Central West End varies from fine to so so to all-out scary, so make sure that you're right in the heart of Central West End. Realtors and property managers tend to stretch the boundaries as they see fit.

[arpatel1]

what is CWE area? what streets are the boundaries because I've heard a variety of boundaries that would be considered the "cwe".

Thanks for your help...

[aragx6]

Technically: It is bounded on the north by Delmar Boulevard, on the south by Highway 40 (I-64), on the west by De Baliviere Avenue and its projection across Forest Park and on the east by Vandeventer Avenue.

In reality, as a newcomer I'd stay considerably farther west of Vandeventer. Lots of people live there certainly and there's plenty of new development, but it's not as safe you're probably looking for.
I would look south of Olive, east of Kingshighway, west of Boyle and north of Forest Park Ave.

That's by no means set in stone, and i would live outside those (admittedly small) boundaries, but if you're looking for the lively CWE experience, it'll be best found in that area.

I'd be interested to hear what others would consider acceptable boundaries for a newcomer.

[zach_33]

if you're cool with city living, you can probably be okay in the CWE, but it definitely has its fair share of crime. I'd try to stay at least a couple streets south of Delmar-- I'd probably draw the line at Westminster. There are a lot of rentals west of Kingshighway around the Belt/Pershing intersection that seem fine to me, too. West of Boyle seems like good advice. North of Forest Park Pkwy also makes sense. I live in University City and my wife works over there at the Barnes/Children's complex. If you're a single female you'll probably feel more comfortable in Clayton or the southern edge of University City, but you'd be okay in the CWE if you keep your head up. Brentwood and Kirkwood have a less walkable, somewhat more suburban feel than the CWE or Clayton.

[santos]

As a single female I lived at the Park Plaza apartments in the CWE. I had indoor parking and security guards who would walk me to my car if I requested it. I worked odd hours, told management and was assigned a parking spot nearest the door to the lobby--not to the elevator--to the lobby. I enjoyed living there.

If you live near the hospital with an eye to walking to/from work, bear in mind that you may be doing this at night. So for safety sake you may be driving anyway.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by arpatel1

Hi everyone,

I'm moving to st louis the end of this month-early october from michigan and will be working at barnes-jewish hospitial. I looking for a one bedroom apartment preferably in the city and will consider the nearby suburbs. A friend suggested the CWE, Brentwood, Clayton, and Kirkwood. The concern I have is obviously safety and crime since I will have to be available for work to take call at all hours of the day. So, I would like to hear any specific suggestions for apartments in the city priced up to 1100 for a decent one bedroom apt (at least 750 sqft). I need to find something with parking included. suggestions???

What is your age-ish and lifetsyle? Are you male or female? That would help a little with safety and specific choices or recommendations.

You could walk to work if you live in the Central West End. It can be best described as ecclectic and village like, all types. Brentwood/Clayton are neighboring inner ring burbs approx 5-7 miles out from there and about 9 miles out from downtown, West. Kirkwood is slightly further West and South of Brentwood/Clayton a few miles. Brentwood has a lot of single young professional females that live in a very large, huge, condominium complex. It's centrally located and about 10 minute hwy drive to your work. Outside of that, it is middle class to upper middle class family burb. Clayton is next door to Brentwood. It is a power financial and lawyer types by day. It has a pristine, clean, walkable downtown of its own with a lot of restaurants and amentities. It serves as a playground for people with money, but also all types, and is down the road from Wshington U. and you'll find some of their people around too. It's quietish at night, outside of the restaurants and bars, which have a laid back scene, as it's neighboring non-downtown parts are wealthy upper middle class homes, apts and condos. There are lots of living opportunities for you in and near there and common for young females living alone. University City is nearby, or U City as its known and there are also opportunities there, in a very diverse area, ecclectic, a few miles West of your work. Kirkwood is an interesting place. It's primarily a nice family town, older historic homes and buildings, a nice small walkable downtown with lots of restaurants and bars. It draws a regular busy bar scene of very young post college twenty somethings and has plenty of apts in the area. It's very suburban, but it is one of a few burbs where you literally could go a mile in every direction for any amentities or hwy access for your 15 minute drive to work.

CWE imo is lively, but not loud, and important to make that distinction. It's a laid back, but more densely populated, crowded scene of people coming and going that any of the other choices listed. It would be a miniature NYC Village.

I'd agree that safety for a single female transplant would be something to consider, however there are tons of single females living in the CWE, and many work where you work too. I'd also agree that North of Delmar is not where you want to be, if you look at a map. The Debaliviere neighborhood is okay but gets mixed reviews depending on the person as well.

Downtown has a lot of newer renovated condos, apts, lofts for consideration as well.

South City, Soulard, etc...are also other areas to consider. What are your interests?

If you are willing to drive up to 15 minutes away or less,(all of the places mentioned so far fit into this category) you will have many choices of many areas. Are you seeking urban or suburban? Does that matter? Do you want to walk to a park or restaurants, or does that not matter as much? When we talk safety, there are varying degrees of safety....i.e. any of the suburban areas you mentioned are extremely safe.(Clayton, Brentwood, Kirkwood). Any city, will likely be less safe in general, and St. Louis has some areas you won't be spending time in like any other. However, there are solid urban choices in the city as well.

[arpatel1]

hi,

i'm sorry to leave out important info. I'm a 30 yr old female. I would like to live in CWE with a parking space if possible and close to amenties such as a grocery store and a workout place at nearby. I did a few online searches for places in the CWE and i keep getting the same handful of places that really have bad reviews or are on the outskirts of the so called safe area. I've heard that clayton is really nice as well and it seems as if could work as well, but i couldn't really find apartment bldg's just a whole list of houses for rent. Suggestions for specific bldgs? I found a place in Kirkwood which is okay but I would much rather live in the CWE or Clayton or Brentwood.