Apartment Hunting General Discussion

Introductions - Urban Issues - Miscellaneous News, Topics, Interests
Pip

Apartment Hunting General Discussion

Postby Pip » May 27th, 2013, 8:54 pm

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm 24 and after living in the western suburbs almost my whole life, I'm looking to move to Uptown in about 6-8 months. I've been looking at places online but have yet to do any showings since it's still awhile away. I've been focusing somewhat on Solhem apartments on Holmes Ave. Their studios start at $1250 but I want to consider some other places. I'm mostly looking at studios although a 1BR would be nice. I'd like the option of underground parking and in-apartment laundry if possible but it's not certainly not a requirement and I realize that might be difficult given my budget. $1250 isn't a hard limit but I'd like to be under $1500 for all expenses including utilities.

Just out of curiosity, where you would stay if you had a $1250 budget for a place in Uptown?

ECtransplant
US Bank Plaza
Posts: 711
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 9:56 am

Re: Best Apartment in Uptown for $1250?

Postby ECtransplant » May 27th, 2013, 11:10 pm

Your budget is kinda in a weird middle area of the uptown market, from what I've seen. Most of the newer stuff is a little bit more than what you're looking for, but there's lots of older housing stock, which can still be quite nice, that can save a fair chunk of what you're looking to spend.

Since you asked, with your budget, I'd probably get one of the nicer one bedrooms in an old brownstone building in the $1000/mo range, and put the saved money towards making it really nice. Many, but not all, of the landlords for these buildings post on craigslist. That would be a good place to start. I'd also walk around the area though and get the numbers from buildings that look nice, in case the landlord doesn't use craigslist.

But parking and in-unit laundry are less important to me than they may be to you. If you'd rather have new construction, all the new developments have websites that would have all their info, and they would pretty much all have parking.

Also, something you're probably aware of, as it's not really different than any other neighborhood I've looked at, but the most turnover in the housing market happens during the summer. I'm not sure if that's because of people not wanting to move in the winter or because of the fairly high student population in the cities, but if you're looking at moving in the winter, you may want to sign a 6 month lease to give you the opportunity to possibly look at more options that may be available to you next summer. Then again, I'm not sure off the top of my head when a lot of the current construction in uptown is coming online, so there may be a chunk of new units available when you're looking to move.

I probably rambled, but hopefully there's useful nuggets in there for you to chew on.

Minneboy
US Bank Plaza
Posts: 669
Joined: January 15th, 2013, 1:18 pm

Re: Best Apartment in Uptown for $1250?

Postby Minneboy » May 29th, 2013, 4:56 am

You could also perhaps be a renter in someone's house. I rented out a room or two for years. Some with success, some without. I guess if you can pay your rent on time and you can bring something to the household and not someone to pick up after. You could save a bundle and perhaps live in a huge historic house, with a yard.

IllogicalJake
Target Field
Posts: 513
Joined: January 30th, 2014, 9:03 am

Loring Park neighborhood

Postby IllogicalJake » February 18th, 2014, 8:30 am

I'm working quickly to make my move to MSP a reality. Right now, I'm looking to live in the One Ten Grant building along the Loring Greenway. The area looks great - decently-priced apartments within a short walk to grocery (Lunds), Nicollet Mall, and the skyway.

But really wanted to check in here, since I haven't lived in Minneapolis before and would rather have first-hand accounts. Ideally, I want to be downtown or nearby, and the Loring Park area looks ideal. It's looking like I'll be working downtown, which is nice because I've lived and worked in downtown Indianapolis for a few years now.

So, any thoughts or other recommendations? Much appreciated.
i talk too much. web dev, downtown. admin @ tower.ly

bubzki2
Foshay Tower
Posts: 811
Joined: September 19th, 2012, 5:38 pm
Location: Snelling-Hamline

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby bubzki2 » February 18th, 2014, 8:39 am

It's a great place to live, work and play. Just be aware of the tight parking surrounding this area if you're used to everywhere parking.

Silophant
Moderator
Posts: 4471
Joined: June 20th, 2012, 4:33 pm
Location: Whimsical NE

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Silophant » February 18th, 2014, 8:39 am

I really like the Loring Park neighborhood. As someone who's currently living by the University, but will be graduating and getting a job downtown soon, I'm looking to move either there or the St. Anthony Main area when my lease ends this summer.
Joey Senkyr
[email protected]

IllogicalJake
Target Field
Posts: 513
Joined: January 30th, 2014, 9:03 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby IllogicalJake » February 18th, 2014, 8:51 am

It's a great place to live, work and play. Just be aware of the tight parking surrounding this area if you're used to everywhere parking.
110 Grant offers garage parking for $80/mo, which sounds decent. I'll be in a two-person household sharing one car. Ideally, I'd love to abandon having a car altogether, but I'm not quite sure we'll be able to do that yet.
i talk too much. web dev, downtown. admin @ tower.ly

User avatar
Nathan
Capella Tower
Posts: 3695
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:42 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Nathan » February 18th, 2014, 10:33 am

Loring Park is great, and so is North Loop, North loop is going to have a lot more retail shops and restaurants. In Loring Park, I find you have to go to Downtown in order to find a variety of shops or food, and a lot of downtown closes when the offices close. North Loop is definitely "open later" and also has whole foods near by, and is walkable to downtown.

QuietBlue
Target Field
Posts: 579
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 8:50 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby QuietBlue » February 18th, 2014, 10:39 am

It's a nice building in a great location. It's also definitely a Target dorm, so you'll be around lots of Target employees in their 20's/early 30's.

IllogicalJake
Target Field
Posts: 513
Joined: January 30th, 2014, 9:03 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby IllogicalJake » February 18th, 2014, 12:09 pm

Loring Park is great, and so is North Loop, North loop is going to have a lot more retail shops and restaurants. In Loring Park, I find you have to go to Downtown in order to find a variety of shops or food, and a lot of downtown closes when the offices close. North Loop is definitely "open later" and also has whole foods near by, and is walkable to downtown.
I've considered North Loop... but I've never been in person, so I've been pretty skeptical of the shopping situation there. I don't really require a lot to be around me, but if I can walk to a grocery and a lunch spot, I'll be pretty happy. The area seems to still be missing good grocery and quick-food options, though.
i talk too much. web dev, downtown. admin @ tower.ly

Tyler
Foshay Tower
Posts: 976
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:10 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Tyler » February 18th, 2014, 1:13 pm

I've lived in one ten grant and enjoyed it. The location is great. Super easy to walk down the greenway and be in the heart of downtown in minutes. The construction is solid and noise from neighbors was never once an issue. Immediately after I lived there I moved to a warehouse conversion in north loop and that place was LOUD. You could hear the neighbors telephone conversations.

I'd say Lunds is actually a good 10 minute walk. Not a huge deal but there are plenty of places in the North loop with a similar walk to Whole Foods. In general, the immediate food options are better in the north loop but I think one ten grant will fulfill your requirements as well.
Towns!

User avatar
Nathan
Capella Tower
Posts: 3695
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:42 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Nathan » February 18th, 2014, 2:46 pm

Loring Park is great, and so is North Loop, North loop is going to have a lot more retail shops and restaurants. In Loring Park, I find you have to go to Downtown in order to find a variety of shops or food, and a lot of downtown closes when the offices close. North Loop is definitely "open later" and also has whole foods near by, and is walkable to downtown.
I've considered North Loop... but I've never been in person, so I've been pretty skeptical of the shopping situation there. I don't really require a lot to be around me, but if I can walk to a grocery and a lunch spot, I'll be pretty happy. The area seems to still be missing good grocery and quick-food options, though.
There is a grocery store, whole foods, in the North Loop, at Hennepin and Washington, as well as many places for lunch (Moose and Sadies, Be'wiched, Darby's, on and on) where as Loring Park really only has Loring Kitchen and bar, which is grossly over rated in my opinion, unless you walk into the DT core.

Tyler
Foshay Tower
Posts: 976
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:10 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Tyler » February 18th, 2014, 3:17 pm

Kind of True. But One Ten Grant isn't nearly as isolated as you're making it out to be. It's closer to Vincent/Brit's/Local/Newsroom/Dakota/Chipotle than Elsewarehouse is to Moose+Sadies or Darby's. Plus you're forgetting Lotus. Which is unlike anything in North Loop.
Towns!

User avatar
woofner
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1242
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:04 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby woofner » February 18th, 2014, 3:19 pm

For restaurants the quality tends to be better in the North Loop, but the variety is 1000x better in Loring Park. Lotus (greasy Vietnamese), Salsa a la Salsa (Mexican), Market BBQ, Jerusalem's... none great, some borderline bad, but at least you have something besides pizza and sandwiches. Sadly Maude is gone, but on the north end of Loring Park you have some good places, too, like Eli's, Butcher & the Boar, and Dancing Ganesha. These places are all 4-6 blocks from One Ten Grant.

Personally I prefer the north end of Loring Park to any other neighborhood in Minneapolis, and I've lived in many. The fact that it is convenient to both Downtown and Uptown is really crucial if you don't want to drive. The buses in the North Loop are too unreliable and circuitous to be convenient to Northeast and there are too many barriers to walking in that neighborhood. There is also a good mix of place types, which makes for the best street life of any place in town.

The biggest downsides, I'd say, is that the freeways are hard to ignore, and that the bottleneck is going to be part of your life. But that is true of many parts of Minneapolis.
"Who rescued whom!"

User avatar
Nick
Capella Tower
Posts: 2719
Joined: May 30th, 2012, 9:33 pm
Location: Downtown, Minneapolis

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Nick » February 18th, 2014, 4:57 pm

Loring Park = Great, but like others have said, parking is tricky if you don't have your own spot.

I do get the sense that One Ten Grant is probably overpriced though. It might be because, as some posters said, Target is paying for a lot of the apartments. $1,300 seems like a lot for a one bedroom in a 30 year old building, especially if that doesn't include utilities.
Nick Magrino
[email protected]

John
Capella Tower
Posts: 2102
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 2:06 pm

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby John » February 18th, 2014, 6:02 pm

The Laurel Village apartment complex on Hennepin Ave is very near Loring Park and has great walkable access to downtown and mass transit. Rents are probably similar to One Ten Grant. Also, Symphony Place apartments are located in downtown four blocks from Loring Park and near the Loring Greenway. Some of the units have great skyline views. Again rents are comparable to One Ten Grant.

xandrex
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1384
Joined: January 30th, 2013, 11:14 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby xandrex » February 18th, 2014, 7:27 pm

Loring Park is great, and so is North Loop, North loop is going to have a lot more retail shops and restaurants. In Loring Park, I find you have to go to Downtown in order to find a variety of shops or food, and a lot of downtown closes when the offices close. North Loop is definitely "open later" and also has whole foods near by, and is walkable to downtown.
Many parts of Loring Park are closer to downtown destinations than North Loop apartments are to other places in the North Loop. Last summer I had a friend who was looking in the neighborhood, and she really wanted to be able to walk to places like Target or nearby bars/restaurants. The stroll to test it out was about ten minutes.

Additionally, you're walking on streets that generally are calmer and more attractive than, say, Washington Avenue. I love the North Loop, but it still needs a lot of love (mostly on the gaping lots along Washington).

User avatar
Nathan
Capella Tower
Posts: 3695
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:42 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby Nathan » February 18th, 2014, 10:20 pm

I guess I don't see the room for growth as a bad thing, being into urban growth. I'd rather be in north loops neighborhood meetings than loring parks, and get to discuss all the exciting things going on there. neither Hennepin our la salle are that much more glamorous than Washington in these areas, and you walk long distances between retail for how dense loring park is, even if you have pretty streets to walk down.

IllogicalJake
Target Field
Posts: 513
Joined: January 30th, 2014, 9:03 am

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby IllogicalJake » February 19th, 2014, 8:22 am

Loring Park = Great, but like others have said, parking is tricky if you don't have your own spot.

I do get the sense that One Ten Grant is probably overpriced though. It might be because, as some posters said, Target is paying for a lot of the apartments. $1,300 seems like a lot for a one bedroom in a 30 year old building, especially if that doesn't include utilities.
Yeah, $1,300 is a little higher than I'd like to pay, sure, but it includes all utilities plus cable and 6mbps high-speed internet (or an equivalent discount if I choose to upgrade that.) Factoring that into the price, that's easily a couple-hundred dollars that I'd normally be spending additionally.

I would still consider something better if I can get a similar price, but I definitely like the neighborhood feel Loring Park seems to have. And the LPM tower shows that there's still development in the area to get excited about. Plus, I've lived in a downtown before but never a view like below (sample from OTG,) that feels alive and vibrant with so many balconies and residential units.

Image

I'm loving all of the discussion. It's really helping me get a feel for the downtown area. I can't wait to call the city home.

EDIT: If anyone does have experience with other similarly-priced apartments, I'd love to hear it. Symphony Place seems like decent interiors but, really, an ugly building, heh. I've liked The Churchill, Laurel Village/Hennepin Crossing, and others.
i talk too much. web dev, downtown. admin @ tower.ly

John
Capella Tower
Posts: 2102
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 2:06 pm

Re: Living in Loring Park area?

Postby John » February 19th, 2014, 12:44 pm

One plus in living in the Loring Park area versus North Loop is you are a bit closer to the Chain of Lakes, Uptown, Lynn-lake, and Eat Street, Midtown Greenway etc, yet you still live within easy distance from the riverfront, North Loop etc. The access to bus lines in Loring is much better (if you don't own a car), and its more centrally located. The LRT lines are walkable from both neighborhoods.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 25 guests