Help on St. Louis neighborhoods (Kirkwood, Washington: apartments, city hall, living in)

[senescu]

Hello,
I will be moving to the St. Louis area and found some valuable insight with this thread but I was wondering if anybody had specific lofts that they recommend. I will be working primarily in the O'fallon IL area, but would rather live in a larger city like St. Louis. How bad would the morning and evening commute be? Is traffic bad? I am a recent college graduate (23 YO) and I am moving to this area with my girlfriend. We want to look at about 5-10 lofts this coming weekend and wondered if anybody had good recommendations. We would like to be within close walking distance of restaurants and bars but live in a safe neighborhood. So far we are only looking at the Soulard Market Lofts. We are looking to spend around $1200 a month and would like a pool, fitness, center, and parking if that is a possibility. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you.

[Brickmama]

Check out the following loft building downtown. I live downtown and here are some good ones. You should be able to google their websites. Its a reverse commute to O'fallon so it shouldnt be that bad.

Ely Walker Lofts
Syndicate
Bogen Lofts.
Rudman lofts
Fashion Square Lofts
Bee Hat Lofts
Merchandise Mart Lofts
Cupples Station Lofts
Ventana Lofts
Dorsa Lofts

[senescu]

Thank you for all of those lofts. I like a lot of those and have chosen a few to take a look at this coming week. I also forgot to ask about driving through East St. Louis. Obviously if I live in this downtown loft area and commuting to O'fallon I will be driving back at night through East St. Louis. Is it really as bad as everyone says? Would I not want to drive through that area? If not how far out of the way would I have to go to avoid it?

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by senescu

Thank you for all of those lofts. I like a lot of those and have chosen a few to take a look at this coming week. I also forgot to ask about driving through East St. Louis. Obviously if I live in this downtown loft area and commuting to O'fallon I will be driving back at night through East St. Louis. Is it really as bad as everyone says? Would I not want to drive through that area? If not how far out of the way would I have to go to avoid it?

You are going to be driving on interstate the entire way back to O'fallon. I dont think you have anything to worry about.

Regardless, there really isnt an area anywhere in the St Louis Metro that you should be afraid of 'driving through.'

[brokenshard]

If you've got that much to spend, I'd recommend Clayton or Central West End. Clayton is not in the city, but has it's own business district and is well-connected to the city and in close proximity. It has a more 'upscale' type of downtown with local (and high quality) cafes, shops, boutiques, coffee joints, etc. It is also VERY WELL policed. I would feel completely safe traversing downtown Clayton at night. There's practically a cop car around every corner. Downtown Clayton is definitely one of the nicest places around, I'd look there first. And there are CONDOS GALORE. It seems to be the Clayton-thing.

Central West End is another great location, it's in the city, and in the heartbeat of St. Louis, especially the artsy side. (Symphony, Fox Theatre, Muny, Rep, etc.) The town has a lot of history, and generally a beautiful location. It will definitely be more city-like, with housing closer together and such. Also, CWE is a bit grungier than Clayton, being in the city. (But everything's grungier than Clayton. You could practically eat off Clayton's streets. lol.) CWE is the perfect place for the young adults--college and grad school age, 20+ without kids, that is. You really are in the thick of everything near Forest Park, the Delmar Loop, and mid-St. Louis art scene. It's just a neighborhood or two east of where I (and a lot of my St. Louis friends) plan to live after I'm done with school, but before I 'settle down'. When I was a baby we used to live in CWE, before we moved out to West County before kindergarten to take advantage of the excellent county school districts.

That's kind of the thing in St. Louis. People with the mean$ rent out in the nice parts of the city to start off, for the liveliness of the city, but then move out to the county for the school districts when they have kids that need schooling. (The country districts are some of the best schools you can come by, Ladue and Clayton are in the top 500 or so for the nation.)

Don't live in O'Fallon. O'Fallon is one of those places I would never live in. You want to be on the west side of the river, I promise.

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by brokenshard

If you've got that much to spend, I'd recommend Clayton or Central West End. Clayton is not in the city, but has it's own business district and is well-connected to the city and in close proximity. It has a more 'upscale' type of downtown with local (and high quality) cafes, shops, boutiques, coffee joints, etc. It is also VERY WELL policed. I would feel completely safe traversing downtown Clayton at night. There's practically a cop car around every corner. Downtown Clayton is definitely one of the nicest places around, I'd look there first. And there are CONDOS GALORE. It seems to be the Clayton-thing.

Central West End is another great location, it's in the city, and in the heartbeat of St. Louis, especially the artsy side. (Symphony, Fox Theatre, Muny, Rep, etc.) The town has a lot of history, and generally a beautiful location. It will definitely be more city-like, with housing closer together and such. Also, CWE is a bit grungier than Clayton, being in the city. (But everything's grungier than Clayton. You could practically eat off Clayton's streets. lol.) CWE is the perfect place for the young adults--college and grad school age, 20+ without kids, that is. You really are in the thick of everything near Forest Park, the Delmar Loop, and mid-St. Louis art scene. It's just a neighborhood or two east of where I (and a lot of my St. Louis friends) plan to live after I'm done with school, but before I 'settle down'. When I was a baby we used to live in CWE, before we moved out to West County before kindergarten to take advantage of the excellent county school districts.

That's kind of the thing in St. Louis. People with the mean$ rent out in the nice parts of the city to start off, for the liveliness of the city, but then move out to the county for the school districts when they have kids that need schooling. (The country districts are some of the best schools you can come by, Ladue and Clayton are in the top 500 or so for the nation.)

Don't live in O'Fallon. O'Fallon is one of those places I would never live in. You want to be on the west side of the river, I promise.

Clayton to O'fallon, IL would not at all be a pleasant commute.

CWE to O'fallon would be tolerable.

[STLMetro]

Originally Posted by brokenshard

If you've got that much to spend, I'd recommend Clayton or Central West End. Clayton is not in the city, but has it's own business district and is well-connected to the city and in close proximity. It has a more 'upscale' type of downtown with local (and high quality) cafes, shops, boutiques, coffee joints, etc. It is also VERY WELL policed. I would feel completely safe traversing downtown Clayton at night. There's practically a cop car around every corner. Downtown Clayton is definitely one of the nicest places around, I'd look there first. And there are CONDOS GALORE. It seems to be the Clayton-thing.

Central West End is another great location, it's in the city, and in the heartbeat of St. Louis, especially the artsy side. (Symphony, Fox Theatre, Muny, Rep, etc.) The town has a lot of history, and generally a beautiful location. It will definitely be more city-like, with housing closer together and such. Also, CWE is a bit grungier than Clayton, being in the city. (But everything's grungier than Clayton. You could practically eat off Clayton's streets. lol.) CWE is the perfect place for the young adults--college and grad school age, 20+ without kids, that is. You really are in the thick of everything near Forest Park, the Delmar Loop, and mid-St. Louis art scene. It's just a neighborhood or two east of where I (and a lot of my St. Louis friends) plan to live after I'm done with school, but before I 'settle down'. When I was a baby we used to live in CWE, before we moved out to West County before kindergarten to take advantage of the excellent county school districts.

That's kind of the thing in St. Louis. People with the mean$ rent out in the nice parts of the city to start off, for the liveliness of the city, but then move out to the county for the school districts when they have kids that need schooling. (The country districts are some of the best schools you can come by, Ladue and Clayton are in the top 500 or so for the nation.)

Don't live in O'Fallon. O'Fallon is one of those places I would never live in. You want to be on the west side of the river, I promise.

Why no love for the Metro East? I am from O'Fallon and it was very comparable to most STL county cities. I would even say it has better access to the city and is just as crime free. Other parts are a little seedier, getting closer to the river, but you just go over them on the interstate. O'Fallon is very comparable to Clayton, just not as expensive. Just ask the Cardinals who have homes out this way.

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by STLMetro

Why no love for the Metro East? I am from O'Fallon and it was very comparable to most STL county cities. I would even say it has better access to the city and is just as crime free. Other parts are a little seedier, getting closer to the river, but you just go over them on the interstate. O'Fallon is very comparable to Clayton, just not as expensive. Just ask the Cardinals who have homes out this way.

Nothing wrong with O'fallon, but its a very different suburb than Clayton.

Clayton



I couldnt find a picture of O'fallons downtown because there really isnt much of a downtown. It is certainly comparable to many suburbs on the other side of the river, just not Clayton.

[BoomBoxing]

Originally Posted by STLMetro

Why no love for the Metro East? I am from O'Fallon and it was very comparable to most STL county cities. I would even say it has better access to the city and is just as crime free. Other parts are a little seedier, getting closer to the river, but you just go over them on the interstate. O'Fallon is very comparable to Clayton, just not as expensive. Just ask the Cardinals who have homes out this way.

The metro east definitely gets looked over a lot and I am guilty of that too, but I know there are some pretty neat places on the other side of the river. However, the post he was responding to was someone looking for "lofty" city living, in which case, Clayton, CWE and Downtown would be much better options than suburban O'Fallon IL. You're right that it's comparable to many St. Louis county cities, but that's not really what the poster is looking for.

[Brickmama]

Honestly if you are looking for city life you are better off downtown, Soulard, or CWE than Clayton. Not sure why but I never found Clayton than appealing. Its not nearly as vibrant, overpriced, and is practically void of pedestrians after 6pm. Not knocking it, just different strokes for different folks.

Ofallon is actually one of the better suburbs in STL. If I had to choose living in Ofallon or anywhere west of Lindbergh I would choose the metro east in a heartbeat. You can get to downtown from Ofallon during non rush hour in like 15 minutes.