urbanMSP

Hello,

What neighborhoods have you seen change the most in recent years? I.E. become more desirable, gentrified, seem like a good place to live/rent? I am looking to move to the area within 6 months.

Thanks!

If you can deal with not-yet-gentrified, I'd look in the areas surrounding the intersection of Payne and Phalen. Seems like there are some cool things ready to happen in that area. Railroad Island is especially intriguing.

A lot depends on your budget, and what you want to have near you for amenities. St. Paul has several great neighborhoods.

Merriam Park, around the intersection of Selby and Snelling. There are a fair number of "classic" brick apartment buildings, duplexes, quadplexes, etc in the area, along with a large new project, currently under construction, at the corner of Selby and Snelling that contains a Whole Foods. Good location between the downtowns & relatively close to the Green Line Snelling station. I lived there for six years.

Midway, along University between Western and Fairview. This is a grittier neighborhood but still pretty safe. There's big-box retail stores (Target, Cub, Herbergers, etc) in the area, and lots of ethnic restaurants and groceries that serve the Somali and Hmong populations that live in the area. Apartments in this area can be harder to come by; it seems like more of the housing stock are single family homes. The Green Line runs through the area and there are several stations - very convenient to both downtowns and the U of M. Its hard to tell if this area will gentrify in the traditional sense with the LRT service, or if its current character (working to upper-middle class, more diverse than average, lots of immigrants) will continue. I bought a house in Midway last year, near Lexington Parkway. So far, it's been great and I enjoy living here.

West 7th - southwest of downtown St Paul. I think many of the same comments as Midway apply here, except it is less convenient to Mpls.

East Side/Payne Phalen - As mentioned above, this is currently a poorer and somewhat more dangerous neighborhood, but good value can definitely be found. There seems to be some definite gentrification momentum growing along the Payne Ave corridor, a street that has got some great bones. It is really only convenient to DT St Paul by transit, which kind of struck it off my list when looking for houses last year.