Wallheaven area (Akron, Green, Fairlawn: apartments, rental homes, how much)

[lemmings]

Hi all,

Tons of good advice here. I am seeking info on the Wallheaven area. I have never been to the area thus I have no idea. The little that I have gotten based it claims to be close to Highland Square? Is Wallheaven consider Highland Square, or would I be better looking elsewhere? Also I am seeking to rent a home, before I do an apartment. I am not been too succesful looking online, perhaps there is a more local sites that I should look. My questions on this area are:
1) The park in this area, how safe is it?
2) Would you feel safe walking at night?
3) As pointed there will be students in off campus housing, will this be mainly the grad students, or the undergrad that still want to have loud and late parties on weekend?
4) Would this be an area where a professional couple with an infant feel ok?
5) Are there a lot for rent sign, if I take a trip to do some research. We are planning a trip, but we mainly wanted to schedule a few showings. I wanted to narrow the drive by search.

Based on some of the info about the area there seems to be walking distance to the local shops, we are mainly looking for local rest/coffee shops, not the chain, those little hole in the wall type of places.

TIA

[ksu sucks]

Wallheaven is where people from Wallhaven go when they die.


...Well...not everyone from Wallhaven goes there...hehe

[htlong]

wallhaven is a nice middle class neighborhood, hardesty park is safe and a great place for kids to play,not to many party's around wallhaven as per the akron u area.its 1 1/2 miles west of highland square

[lemmings]

Great Thanks, I am eying some rentals and access to the park would be a plus.

[5Lakes]

Live in highland Square if you are younger. Both areas are safe, but highland square caters more to a younger demographic. In Highland Square don't go too far south of Market Street though

[ksu sucks]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Live in highland Square if you are younger. Both areas are safe, but highland square caters more to a younger demographic. In Highland Square don't go too far south of Market Street though

Yeah I agree. When you're looking for the things that the OP posted, then I can't see any way in which HS isn't superior to Wallhaven.

And I wouldn't worry too much about college parties. Although I've seen a lot of UA students during the short time I've been in Highland Square, the big parties always happen south of campus in University Park.

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by lemmings

Hi all,

Tons of good advice here. I am seeking info on the Wallheaven area. I have never been to the area thus I have no idea. The little that I have gotten based it claims to be close to Highland Square? Is Wallheaven consider Highland Square, or would I be better looking elsewhere? Also I am seeking to rent a home, before I do an apartment. I am not been too succesful looking online, perhaps there is a more local sites that I should look. My questions on this area are:
1) The park in this area, how safe is it?
2) Would you feel safe walking at night?
3) As pointed there will be students in off campus housing, will this be mainly the grad students, or the undergrad that still want to have loud and late parties on weekend?
4) Would this be an area where a professional couple with an infant feel ok?
5) Are there a lot for rent sign, if I take a trip to do some research. We are planning a trip, but we mainly wanted to schedule a few showings. I wanted to narrow the drive by search.

Based on some of the info about the area there seems to be walking distance to the local shops, we are mainly looking for local rest/coffee shops, not the chain, those little hole in the wall type of places.

TIA

Wallhaven will probably be a little bit cheaper to rent a house than in Highland Square if you're matching equal levels of safety in each neighborhood.

Wallhaven is fine, but it does depend on where you are. Most of it is pretty good. The place to skip is the area of duplexes farther to the north, north of Thurmont. Zahn Drive, Dominion, Treeside, Cromwell, Karg - it's like a special little pocket of ghetto that is completely out of place.

The other spot that I would say is not as good as the rest (but not bad) is the strip N/S between Shatto and and Tanglewood east to Hawkins, maybe Firestone HS. Again, a lot of duplexes. Not like Zahn Drive but tenant quality in there seems to be a little lower than the rest of the neighborhood.

Aside from that, you're good to go. Hardesty Park is great and I wouldn't hesitate to rent a house in the neighborhood around there. Further east is the neighborhood around Castle Boulevard (Melbourne, Harcourt, Kenilworth, etc.) Great neighborhood. Not too many rentals. But if you can get over there you'll have lots of company with young families that walk.

Any of that strip in there I wouldn't worry about walking around at night.

Also if you get west to Pershing Avenue, pretty much anywhere west of there you are golden.

South of Market for the most part is pretty good although it's not as choice of a selection because the schools aren't as good. But if your kid isn't in school then it shouldn't be an issue. Village Green Apartments (south side of Market inside the Wallhaven semi-circle) are the only place I will say I've heard mixed reviews of.

As far as college people go, there's a few floating around but Wallhaven isn't a college neighborhood. They're just people that have moved away from the University nonsense. And besides I wouldn't count them as a very large group relative to the general neighborhood population.

In the end I think Wallhaven is probably going to be a closer fit for a young family than a good chunk of Highland Square unless you're looking north of Edgerton.

Good luck!

[lemmings]

@square
Many thanks for the great tips. We have a newborn, so schools is not an issue. We are more concern to access to safe places, Akron Childrens, and taking part of a nice walkable community while renting a home. I coudl always do an apartment, but I think I can get more for my money while at a home.I have been eyeing CL, the usual home sites to look for rentals but now that I have this info, I may be able to narrow the list. I am sure, when we take our trip, we may pick up more info as a lot of times peple may post signs, vs trying to advertise.

[CityGrrl77]

Originally Posted by lemmings

Hi all,

Tons of good advice here. I am seeking info on the Wallheaven area. I have never been to the area thus I have no idea. The little that I have gotten based it claims to be close to Highland Square? Is Wallheaven consider Highland Square, or would I be better looking elsewhere? Also I am seeking to rent a home, before I do an apartment. I am not been too succesful looking online, perhaps there is a more local sites that I should look. My questions on this area are:
1) The park in this area, how safe is it?
2) Would you feel safe walking at night?
3) As pointed there will be students in off campus housing, will this be mainly the grad students, or the undergrad that still want to have loud and late parties on weekend?
4) Would this be an area where a professional couple with an infant feel ok?
5) Are there a lot for rent sign, if I take a trip to do some research. We are planning a trip, but we mainly wanted to schedule a few showings. I wanted to narrow the drive by search.

Based on some of the info about the area there seems to be walking distance to the local shops, we are mainly looking for local rest/coffee shops, not the chain, those little hole in the wall type of places.

TIA

Hello hello
As for the Wallhaven area....if I wasn't already living in Highland Square, Wallhaven would be the next place I would prefer to live.
Hardesty Park is very safe and a cool place to go - certain times of the summer they will have art shows and concerts (not like Korn or Kanye West lol - more like Akron Symphony Orchestra). Beauparc, Wallhaven Drive and Alton border the park.
1) & 2) I would never feel unsafe walking in that area by any means.
3) There might be college students living in the Village Green apartments on W. Market across from Acme grocery store, but there is a lower probability of it. I think there are probably more college kids living in Highland Square, altho you would never know it - I've never noticed any rowdiness on part of anyone.
4) Yes.
5) I don't really know how many for rent signs you will find - especially for houses. I always thought of Wallhaven as a single-family-home-owners area, with the exception of Village Green apartments and a handful more apartment buildings down towards the Fairlawn end (i.e. N. Pershing Ave). Maybe one of the others knows more than I do in relation to rental homes in the area.

SquareBetterThanAll was right about Thurmont. A friend of mine used to live in a home on the corner of Thurmont and N.Hawkins Ave. (her ex still lives there). I didnt mind going over to her house but we were able to sit out on the porch and watch the random 'activity' if you will. I'm not a fan of anything north of Garmin Rd., personally.
Castle, Melbourne, Kenilworth and Harcourt are all super beautiful streets. From what I understand if you live on Castle, your taxes are higher and I think you have to pay extra money to help keep the street (plants, flowers, grass) in tip-top shape along with your neighbors. I also like the streets north of Elm Hill Park, which is bordered by S.Hawkins and W.Market St. as well as the area west of N.Pershing.
As for the walkability of Wallhaven - its pretty good. The following is in the Wallhaven area:
(Eats):
Quizno's, Domino's, Caribou Coffee, Einstein Bagel Bros., Robeks, Pizza Hut, Subway, chinese, Arby's, Swenson's, McDonalds, Nervous Dog Coffee Shop, Burger King, Ken Stewarts
(Other):
Acme grocery, West Point Market (high end grocer), Blockbuster, CVS, 2 main gas stations, Gabriel Brothers, Pat Catans

I'm sure Im missing a lot. All of the above is in a less than 5 minute driving distance on W. Market in Wallhaven (from one end to the other). Nervous Dog, Zack's Frozen Yogurt, Swensons, Ken Stewarts, West Point Market all call Akron home and are not chains altho Swensons is around Summit County. 10 minutes down the road in Fairlawn you will find all of your big box retailers and Summit Mall.
I know you'd rather go the home route, but there are 2 bedroom apartments right across from Hardesty (they are next to Zacks and Nervous Dog). They have garages. I drive past there all the time - I'll post the number tonight if there is a sign out and will keep my eye open for home rentals in the area.
Sorry this was so long - just not sure how much you know about the area and want to be thorough. We are all more than happy to help, so, ask away

[CityGrrl77]

Oh - you can also check the classifieds in the West Point Leader Akron Ohio Classifieds
or even Akron Beacon Journals' website Ohio.com - Homepage

More than likely listings won't be under Wallhaven but under 'Northwest Akron' or even 'West Akron' - altho make sure you Google the West Akron addresses because sometimes West Akron can = not good in the hood.