Moving to cleveland from florida (apartment, to rent, townhomes)

[tonyp972972]

Hey,
I am moving up to cleveland to go to CWRU from florida. I was just wondering about a couple places to live. I am going to have 2 other roommates and they are both from Canada, so they won't be able to travel to cleveland to check the area out and i probably won't either. anyways, i had originally almost signed with a place near case western off of chester pkwy...they were newer townhomes located right by the cleveland clinic. the only problem was that across the street was a bad neighborhood, so i was urged by family friends to stay away from there. so i just found ludlow gables online. this place looks really really cool and i've heard that shaker square is a good area. now the same people are saying it's not the best area...but i've heard many people say it's a good area. can anyone who knows the area please give me some opinions about either ludlow gables or shakers square? i would greatly appreciate it.

[Steve36]

I'd avoid renting sight unseen south of Shaker Square. You can probably get away with renting blind north of Shaker Square on North Moreland and Kemper (I think that is the other road north of Larchmere) but south of the square around South Moreland Blvd and that area is scetchy. One of the things about Cleveland is the entire feel of the neighborhood can change in the span of one block. I'm pretty sure from the name of the place that Ludlow Gables will be south of the square. I also think I know of the townhomes you were thinking about. Those are actually pretty nice, at least on the outside, but your friends and family are correct; they are not in the best area. The area around those homes is kind of strange: in addition to those townhomes there are a few nice, large, newer, fairly pricey single family homes and there is also a lot of run-down and abandoned homes, vacant lots, vacant factory buildings and low rent apartment buildings. It's not the kind of place to move to unless you really know what you are getting into. I think the Clinic offers or did offer employees an incentive to buy those townhomes but I don't think very many took them up on the offer.

There are lots of places to rent around Case. Just do a search on this board the topic has been covered frequently.

[costello_musicman]

Shaker Square is a very cool area IMO. If anything, it somewhat borders questionable areas. But as long as you have common sense, you'll have no problems. You're also right on the rapid rail line right through Shaker Square to Downtown--big plus.

You can also do a goggle street view of the area now (especially for your out of town Canadian friends) 2900-2910 Ludlow Road - Google Maps