Moving to Columbia area from San Diego- Need help finding right area for us! (Sumter: low crime, houses)

[AALVB]

My husband will be working at the Shaw AFB for a couple of years, but we don't think the Sumter area is for us. We're from San Diego, early 30's Mexican-American couple with 3 little girls who enjoy movies, art, good food, live music and a good beer/cocktail. We would really like some advice as to which neighborhoods in Columbia would be a good fit for us. We're looking for a 2-3 bedroom, $1250 max, in a low crime, young family, "artsy" area with a good school district, with a 40-45 min max drive to the Shaw AFB.
Any suggestions???

[Columbiadata]

Rosewood or the VA Hospital area if the latter is zoned for Dreher High School like the former is.

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by AALVB

My husband will be working at the Shaw AFB for a couple of years, but we don't think the Sumter area is for us. We're from San Diego, early 30's Mexican-American couple with 3 little girls who enjoy movies, art, good food, live music and a good beer/cocktail. We would really like some advice as to which neighborhoods in Columbia would be a good fit for us. We're looking for a 2-3 bedroom, $1250 max, in a low crime, young family, "artsy" area with a good school district, with a 40-45 min max drive to the Shaw AFB.
Any suggestions???

I agree with Rosewood - also look at Melrose Heights and Wales Garden.

[AALVB]

Thanks, I'll look into those neighborhoods.

[AALVB]

Any nice areas closer to the shaw AFB? Are there ANY neighborhoods in Sumter that kinda fit what we're looking for?

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by AALVB

Any nice areas closer to the shaw AFB? Are there ANY neighborhoods in Sumter that kinda fit what we're looking for?

To be perfectly honest - no, but the neighborhoods we listed are all on the east/southeast side of downtown and Shaw is about 10 miles on the Columbia side of Sumter so you're only looking at a 30-40 minute drive against traffic (if you work typical hours).

There's nothing particularly wrong with Sumter, but it's a small town and you're not going to find an artsy type of neighborhood there.

[Columbiadata]

Downtown Sumter is making strides in reinventing itself as an urban attraction, mainly for Sumter residents. There must be some nice neighborhoods in Sumter, but if the amenities of a city and a reasonable commute to work are equally important in your everyday life, OP, your best bet is to reside in the southeastern quadrant of the Columbia metro. If you reside too close to Sumter in the southeastern quadrant of the Columbia metro, though, you won't be zoned for Dreher High School.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

You might check out parts of historic Sumter in the rectangle roughly bounded by Broad to the north, Washington to the east, Guingard to the west, and Liberty to the south.

There's an arts center there, which includes the art gallery, the local little theatre, and a big performance space called Patriot Hall that occasionally has stuff going on. There are some pretty homes in that area, too. Not as good a bet as Columbia, but much closer to Shaw, and you'd probably get more for your money, so it's worth taking a look.

[HowardRoarke]

Rosewood.

[vinceisvince]

Everyone who lives in Sumter (including me at one point) wants to leave! There are some nice neighborhoods along patriot highway (441 right)? There's a newer patriot park, dentist, piggly wiggly and little stores sprinkled around there and downtown is 10 minutes away but Sumter is either you are going to live there the rest of your life or you have to leave. If you want to live in Columbia it's going to at least be a 40 minute drive. You can find something around Garner's Ferry, they are building around there and that's a straight shot to Shaw and could make it there in < 40 minutes. Rosewood has charm but I'm not crazy about it myself. Some of it is run down, really old houses that are occupied by the college kids. Garner's Ferry gets nice the closer into town you get (including closer to rosewood)...