DuPage County Relocation (Naperville, Wheaton, Downers Grove: apartments, loft, luxury)

[NAVBOE]

My Fiancee and I are relocating to the DuPage county area primarily for education reasons--I'm getting out of the Navy, and due to very good Illinois veterans' benefits, I'm looking to go to CoD to knock out a lot of early/basic coursework.

As you might guess, I'm originally from the area; I spent my Middle & High School years in Downers Grove. It has been, however, almost 7 years since I've spent any more than 2 weeks there. I'm now on my own (well, WE'RE on our own), and the area has changed A LOT.

So, to cut to the chase: we're mainly looking for a little walk-up or loft type of apartment near one of the cutesy downtown areas. So far, we've done a bit of online apartment browsing for Wheaton, Naperville, Downers Grove, Lisle and Glen Ellyn. We'd prefer to avoid living in any sort of a complex if it can be helped.

Are there any other suggested DuPage suburbs that have the downtown main street idea going on? I'm less familiar with anything west of Naperville, north AND south of Downers, and east of Westmont. Sorry for this being so long-winded (so to speak), but your responses are greatly appreciated!

[Steve-o]

You might want to look into Geneva or St. Charles. Im not sure of loft-style places near any of those downtowns (I could be wrong though), but they definitely have lots of luxury apartments, the most popular being Amli, but they can get pretty pricey (expect over 1 grand a month for a one bedroom). Wheaton has a nice "Main St USA" feel, as does Glen Ellyn, St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Hinsdale, etc. Just be warned about the apartments around CoD, theyre notorious for obnoxious parties (yes, even thought its a community college).

[NAVBOE]

Thanks for some of the recommendations, Steve-o. Unfortunately, communities like Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles seem to fall just outside of the CoD school district. I think I'm leaning a bit more towards Glen Ellyn and Wheaton though. Regarding Hinsdale: isn't that on the pricier/ritzier side of the Western 'burbs? I have trouble finding any sort of apartments there on Craigslist or the local papers.

Here's a link showing a map of communities falling under CoD's district umbrella. You will need Acrobat to open it.
http://www.cod.edu/AdRegRec/Admiss/map.pdf

Concerning the cost angle: we'd prefer a two bedroom unit with a ceiling of around $1000 with some utilities. I realize that might be asking for a lot, but after living near Newport, RI for the past 4 years, most of the rents in the Western suburbs are comparable bargains, especially when factoring in quality of life and job opportunities for my other half.

As for the apts. immediately surrounding CoD, my fiancee made the same remark as you did. As you might imagine, turning twenty-five next month, I feel a pinch worn out on the "yay! We're 18 and free!" party scene. Of course I say this now, living 1000 miles and one month away from being there.