Family friendly Place to Live (St. Louis, University City: rental, crime, neighborhood) - Missouri (MO) - City-Data Forum

kaycookiestl · 10-05-2009, 11:54 AM

My husband and I and our two sons (2 yr old and 3 mo old) are moving to St Louis at the end of January. He will be doing a postdoc position at WashU med school. We need to find a place to live, and are trying to do this without actually visiting (we are currently in Ann Arbor, MI and could visit if needed, but it would be expensive to fly and too time-consuming to drive while my husband finishes up his PhD). So, this search is sight unseen. We do have friends in the area who could go check out a place for us, if needed.

We would prefer a place close to the medical school (walk or bike-able) or about a 20 min. commute by the light-rail. He would not be taking the car as I need it. My concerns with CWE, which is obviously closest, are crime. Schools are also problematic, but we probably won't be here by the time my son starts kindergarten and if we are, we could move (private is obviously cost-prohibitive for a postdoc).

Ideally, we would like a 2-3 bedroom for $1k a month (including utilities) that is relatively safe with gated parking or streets that are safe enough to park on without being broken into, and close to a grocery store, park with playground, and library. Being close to a farmer's market would be even better! I would love a very walkable part of town where we could walk most places. A place where a car isn't neccessary would be even better (but I'm not sure that exists in St Louis realistically with 2 kids). For those familiar with Boston, I would love a place that feels like Brookline or Newton. We used to live in Boston and loved it. I like the urban feel and love being able to walk everywhere, but I am concerned about crime. It needs to be somewhere I am comfortable walking around with the kids by myself during the day. We were thinking Brentwood or Richmond Heights area ?

Thanks!

stlcitygirl · 10-05-2009, 12:20 PM

I would check out University City, its close to Washington University, has a metrolink stop, farmers market, and The Loop is known to be one of Top 10 streets in the country. Lots of restaurants, music,a movie theater and its really close to Forest Park. I have seen a lot of young families and I would feel safe in the area.

STLMetro · 10-05-2009, 12:31 PM

While I agree with most of what stlcitygirl has to say about University city, I would argue for just south of that area. Most postdocs have to do their work at Barnes, which is on the other side of the park from WashU and UCity. If you are going to go that far out, which you probably will for nice schools that aren't private, you might as well get into the Clayton school district. It has better crime stats and schools. If you look at the metro lines, anywhere along forest parkway would take you right to Barnes. Good luck!

CarrieNeno · 10-05-2009, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLMetro

While I agree with most of what stlcitygirl has to say about University city, I would argue for just south of that area. Most postdocs have to do their work at Barnes, which is on the other side of the park from WashU and UCity. If you are going to go that far out, which you probably will for nice schools that aren't private, you might as well get into the Clayton school district. It has better crime stats and schools. If you look at the metro lines, anywhere along forest parkway would take you right to Barnes. Good luck!

Though Clayton sounds like the ideal match for them, they will not find anything under 1,000K a month that could accommodate a family of 4?! Not even close. Kay- if I were you, and I opted to rent over buy right now, I would live in the CWE. Your children are still young, you would have great med school and metro access, and the wonderful walking community that you crave. The CWE is relatively family friendly and smack in the middle of everything.

As you oldest nears school age, than perhaps you could reevaluate/move....

wustu87 · 10-05-2009, 12:53 PM

Anywhere within 1-2 miles of the Metrolink line to Shrewsbury should be good, including Richmond Hts and Brentwood (as you mentioned) as well as U City (as stlcitygirl mentioned), Maplewood and the cheaper rental sections of Clayton. The majority of Wash U grad students/post docs with little kids live within the closer in mid-County suburbs by the Metrolink line although many do live in the CWE as well. Brentwood Forest is a popular destination within your price point and very close to the Brentwood Metrolink station, Whole Foods and tons of stores. If you are going for more of a Boston feel, U City is probably a closer fit than Brentwood/Richmond Hts, but I think being slightly further out is somewhat more family friendly yet still very convenient.

TGS · 10-05-2009, 12:55 PM

The Central West End is very family-friendly, and there is no way you should feel unsafe walking around during the day with kids! I have done it for years with no problem at all. It seems to have just about everything you want, except for the farmer's market, but there are many within a ten minute drive.

The only issue is that because it is one of the wealthiest areas of town, it has a high concentration of nice places to eat and drink. That brings in a lot of people from the county who leave valuable items in their expensive cars. This leads to a larger number of car break-ins than would be expected in a residential neighborhood, but the Central West End is a mixed business/residential area so that needs to be taken into account. Residents who don't have a garage generally don't have a problem if they drive an average car or a beater, and don't leave anything valuable in the car. Also, Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles are notoriously easy to break into and steal, so if you don't have one of those, your chances of having anything bad happen to your car go down dramatically.

Make sure that you stay in the Central West End proper, which does not include anything south of Highway 40 or north of Delmar. The closer you get to the intersection of Euclid and Lindell the better off you will be.

University City is also a good choice, but that area will present the exact same problems with petty theft as the Central West End.

I can't imagine from what you wrote that you would be happy in Richmond Heights or Brentwood. Clayton near the Metrolink is pretty expensive. Maplewood near the Metrolink stations isn't all that exciting, but it is a short drive to downtown Maplewood which you would probably like.

If there is any way you can lower the price on your projected rent and buy an inexpensive second car instead, you would probably love living in downtown Kirkwood. It has everything you want, including a farmer's market, but just no light rail to work. It is a very quick drive to the med center, though. St. Louis Hills in south city is also another really good area with no light rail, though the city bus may work from there.

phobus13 · 10-06-2009, 03:48 PM

I would echo Kirkwood area but would also suggest Webster Groves. In the city proper, I would suggest either the Hill area or Clifton Heights.

ktCakes · 10-06-2009, 08:28 PM

I just posted this on the neighborhood thread and thought I would post it here for you as well. Many people who have done the Wash U doc thing have lived in the Shaw neighborhood.

I live in the Shaw neighborhood and couldn't be happier. I am married and have young kids. There is a great Montessori K-6 Charter school in the neighborhood. Tower Grove Farmer's Market is an awesome Saturday morning with live music and great local vendors. We walk to the Botanical Gardens, Tower Grove Park, Reservoir Park and are an easy bike ride from Forest Park.

Yes, there is some crime in the neighborhood (mostly property crime) but we feel completely safe here. The kids play outside and ride bikes up and down the street. The neighborhood Dog Park is a great place to take Fido and meet your neighbors. We have a neighborhood bar Thurman Grill that is a nice casual place to meet neighbors for a beer, but we also have Sasha's on Shaw which is a very hip wine bar (pricey but delicious! and great ambiance).

We are only a few blocks from the South Grand business district that has amazing international restaurants. We are a few block from The Hill with all its Italian restaurants and groceries. There is a strong Catholic Parish (St. Margaret of Scotland) with a good school as well as Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian (PCUSA), and two Baptist churches (one of which has a K-12 school).

There is a strong neighborhood association and a great community feel. Our family could not be happier here!

I want to add, that the Montessori school has a morning preschool. 8:30-11:30A. My daughter goes there 4 mornings a week and we pay $270 a month. Shaw varies block to block kidwise. My block has 15+ kids on it, but then some blocks have more young marrieds with no kids etc. I would be happy to give you more info about the neighborhood and hook you up with an agent who lives in Shaw and knows the best blocks.

We have only one car and there are a lot people who ride their bikes to Barnes and the bus runs right through here.

zach_33 · 10-15-2009, 02:47 PM

chiming in kind of late here. I was in a similar situation back in 02. I took a job down here and my wife was the "trailing spouse" and found a post-doc at WU medical. We had no kids at the time but she was pregnant. 3 years will go by fast, and you may regret not settling into Clayton in the event that you are still here with no end in sight once the kids are school age, but having said that we lived in U City and liked it a lot. You will not find a hood like Brookline or Newton in St. Louis, but the CWE/Skinker-Debaliviere or maybe Clayton/U City will be the closest surrogates. I strongly recommend either the CWE or Skinker/Debaliviere (so your man can walk) somewhere close to Forest Park (for the kids), or else U City. CWE is fine but U City is much more family oriented (many more neighborhood parks, much higher density of households with kids, tons of university affiliated people).