Moving to Baltimore - questions on columbia & federal hill (Silver Spring: environment, highrise)

[Bong477]

Quick background... 30'ish year old moving to Baltimore with my wife for medical fellowship at UMMC for 3 years, starts July 1st. We've lived in Norfolk VA and Pittsburgh PA. Trying to decide where to move currently trying to balance the pros and cons of city life versus the burbs. We lived in both and have enjoyed both for different reasons. My main concern, like most people, is crime and safety in the city especially since I often work late and sometimes overnight. I understand life has risks, but I'm not excited about taking excessive risks so I can walk to a cool italian place in the city rather than driving to the Olive Garden. I definately prefer the first option, but being in the city isn't critical to me. Done a lot of reading on these forums and elsewhere past week or two and I think I've narrowed it down to

Roland Park
Columbia/Ellicott City
Federal Hill

Our budget is $1500'ish, maybe as high as $1800 if its worth it. Need enough space for 2 people + a golden retreiver. We don't have kids, though they are planned in the not too distant future (but we'll be moving again in 3 years so not particularly worried about schools).

We're going to come down and look and some places but want to have some idea of how to approach this task. So have a few questions:

Federal Hill seems to encompass a pretty big area, any specific tips on how to select a place (mainly with safety and to a lesser extent parking in mind) and where to avoid?

How feasible would it be to commute from Federal Hill to UMMC without driving? We'd definately want to keep 1 car, but could we consider getting rid of the second?

Is it feasible to commute from Columbia to DC area (by driving to metro and then taking metro in if needed)? How about Rockville? Feasible for us means under an hour each way and leaving the house no earlier than 6am.

Lastly, any good places to look for listings other than craigslist & rent.com / apartments.com? I tried the baltimore sun website but it was terrible in terms of information and format.

Glad to hear any other suggestions or words of wisdom about this move.

[jonjj]

ok. If you enjoy walking, you can do that with a breeze to UMMC from Federal Hill. Parking is an issue all over town so Federal Hill is not going to be an exception. When you come to look at places, it will be pretty obvious to you what is safe and what isn't but as a whole, Federal Hill is very safe. The Baltimore Sun has a crime map for you to look into for safety of specific areas. For Roland Park, the closest rail stop would be Woodberry or Cold Spring on the light rail. There is bus service and the commute on either would be pretty short. I own and don't rent so I am not sure what you can get for 1500 in either of those neighborhoods. Roland Park I would think would be more expensive than Federal Hill. Beyond Federal Hill along Fort Avenue is Locust Point. That is a very safe neighborhood and parking would be a bit easier. One car for two people is sufficient in Baltimore especially if one of you is working downtown. Not sure on that Columbia commute. Another option for looking for rentals is the Baltimore City Paper.

[CHIP72]

RE: Columbia/Washington commute

There are a few Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) commuter buses that run on weekdays between Columbia and Washington; two of them (915 and 929) run via Silver Spring and one of them (995) runs via Greenbelt. These buses connect with the Metro stations in Silver Spring (Red Line) and Greenbelt (Green Line) too. In addition, MTA also has two commuter rail lines (called MARC) between Baltimore and Washington, the MARC Penn Line and MARC Camden Line. The Penn Line operates on the Northeast Corridor with stops at Baltimore Penn Station (just north of downtown), West Baltimore, and Halethorpe (just southwest of the Baltimore Beltway along US 1), while the Camden Line's northern terminus is at Camden Station, right next to Oriole Park at Camden Yards (and not far from Federal Hill). The Penn Line essentially has hourly service throughout the day (and more frequent service at peak periods) while the Camden Line only operates at peak times. Neither line runs through Columbia or Ellicott City; both run east of those places. For both lines the Washington terminus is Union Station, which is about 1/2 mile north of the U.S. Capitol Building. You can find more information about both the commuter buses and MARC train lines on the MTA website at Maryland Transit Administration Home Page.

Driving-wise, Columbia is on US 29 and near I-95. I suspect if you leave early enough you should be able to get to DC within 60 minutes without trouble. (In free flow conditions I'd estimate Columbia is about 30 minutes from DC, maybe a little less.) Greenbelt would likely be the easiest DC Metro station to drive to from Columbia. I'm not sure about a Columbia-Rockville commute, but I'd guess that can also be done within an hour. You'd probably want to NOT use the DC Beltway for that commute but exclusively use roads north of the Beltway. A friend of mine actually does this commute (lives in Columbia, works in Rockville) and it sounds like it isn't too bad. FWIW, Rockville is along the Metro Red Line, just like Union Station, so a MARC/Metro Red Line commute may be possible (though probably not as convenient as driving between Columbia and Rockville).

[Bong477]

Thanks for the helpful information both of you. Be glad to hear any more comments!

[Tallybalt]

You mentioned Roland Park. That probably means one of the apartment buildings along University Parkway from the Hopkins Homewood campus up to Cold Spring Lane. It's a lovely area where the apartments range from handsome pre-war buildings to 1970s modern highrises. It's probably my favorite part of town as it offers a green, open, environment yet so handy to many urban areas. There are buses that run down University Parkway to Charles Street and from thence to downtown, so surviving on one car is definitely doable. There are several neighborhood commercial corridors: the 5100 block of Roland Avenue which has an upscale supermarket, banks, post office, a Starbucks, a library and a pet store among others. Cold Spring Lane has several restaurants and a wonderful video store. Hampden with its chic boutiques and popular restaurants is only minutes away.

If you do a search for apartments in 21210, 21218, and 21211, you will find a number of listings. Buildings do vary, although 21210 won't have any rundown apartments.

I have friends who live at Wyman Park (see the link). It's a wonderful building with roomy apartments at relatively reasonable rents.

Wyman Park Apartments in Baltimore, MD

[Bong477]

I've seen a townhouse or two for rent in Cross Keys which is described as part of Roland Park. Is this correct and is this a similiarly nice area compared to the rest of Roland Park? Roland park looks great but is probably too expensive for anything other than an apartment... we'd prefer a townhouse/multilevel condo type of setup since we own a single family home in Pittsburgh, downsizing to an apartment might be tough.

[Tallybalt]

Cross Keys forms its own entity. It's not in Roland Park, but it adjoins it (actually occupies the site of the old golf course for the Baltimore Country Club, whose clubhouse remains on the Roland Park side of Falls Road that separates Cross Keys from that neighborhood). The shopping plaza has Williams Sonoma, expensive women's clothing stores, and a branch of Donna's coffee house/bistro. There's a tennis club and pool in Cross Keys. It's a well-kept private community, and while not as handsome as Roland Park, has its own charm.

Located between the I-83 exits on Northern Parkway and Cold Spring Lane, it's also very conveniently located. The one downside is that I can't tell you much about public transportation to downtown from Cross Keys, but I'm sure it's doable. You will have to do a bit of research.

The downside is that it's a very quiet place (perhaps not so much of a downside). There isn't much to walk to other than the expensive stores I mentioned. You could, however take a short hike across Falls Road and through Roland Park to the commercial corridors on Roland Avenue, but it's an uphill (if very pretty) walk.

Originally Posted by Bong477

I've seen a townhouse or two for rent in Cross Keys which is described as part of Roland Park. Is this correct and is this a similiarly nice area compared to the rest of Roland Park? Roland park looks great but is probably too expensive for anything other than an apartment... we'd prefer a townhouse/multilevel condo type of setup since we own a single family home in Pittsburgh, downsizing to an apartment might be tough.