Possibly relocating (Corpus Christi, Spring, Ennis: apartment complexes, lease, homes)

[sdb3739]

Good evening (or afternoon or morning, depending on what time you read this thread ). Some of the other threads are kind of old, so I was hoping for some updated information.

Looks like my job here in Arkansas might be going kaput soon. They have given me the option of moving to Corpus Christi and transfering to our office down there. I started thinking about it, and the allure of the costal life is starting to pull on me.

I guess at first, I was thinking of a nice ocean city, like Ft. Lauderdale or even more like Biloxi, but after reading alot of the posts on this forum, seems like CC is nothing like those cities. From what I have been reading, I get the impression that downtown CC is pretty run down. Is this the case?

I understand that there are some nice areas, mostly in the southern portions and north around Portland and Aransas.

A little background on me. I'm a single white male, 39 years old. No kids. I'm not into the party scene, bars are not something that I really care to frequent. I like to go to concerts, sporting events, movies, and going out to eat. I currrently live in Conway, AR., which is about 35 miles north of little rock. Our population here is about 50,000. We are a small but nice community, we have 2 movie theaters, 2 wal mart supercenters, various chains of restraunts....but not much else.

I guess what I am wanting to know is, should I decide to move to CC, would the average mid-size town resident find, with interests such as mine, find life there appealing? Granted, a change of scenery would be a welcome sight anyway.

Also, i've been looking at apartments online, mostly at rent.com. Since it's just me, i'm really looking for a nicer 1 bedroom 1 bath furnished apartment for the $600-$750/month range. A couple of places that looked nice (from the pictures anyway) are Sugar Tree, Kingston Port, Sawgrass and Camden Copper Ridge.

Other places on my list are Sutton Place, Chandlers Mill, Ocean Drive Estates, Harbour Landing, regency square and Christiwood. If anyone can give me some ideas as to the reputation of these apartments, it would be appreciated. I am looking for a quiet, safe, and clean area.

Also, what is meeting new people like there? I consider myself to be a friendly and outgoing person and would hope that making new friends wouldnt be too hard, but I don't know the demographic of the people down there. From what i've been reading, most people say that the people there are very friendly. Something that I find appealing.

From what I gather, staying away from places east of the airport, north of SPID and west of crosstown expressway is a wise thing to do. What is life like around Oso Bay (which is where sugar tree is located)? Also, is Callalen, Portland or Port A pretty expensive places to live?

Lastly, where I will be working is near the airport up on Bear Ln. How long of a commute would it be to there from Oso Bay area?

Anyway, i'll stop with the 20 questions now, but would appreaciate some tips and input on these apartments (or other apartments if you have any to suggest).

Thank you

...sdb

[jbtx]

sbd,

Welcome to our forum.

I know Conway, AR pretty well and CC is nothing like Conway. I did a consulting job last year working mostly out of Heber Springs, but spent some time in your area. CC is quite a bit bigger than Conway, we are close to 250,000 souls and spread out quite a bit more.

To answer some of your questions:

We have a few summer concerts here, (free in Cole Park on the bay), and we have 2 schools with music departments, Del Mar Community College and Texas A&M, they both do concerts from time to time. And there are of course plenty of water orientated recreation available year around. If you are into fishing, or just enjoying seafood, CC is hard to beat.

Many of the apartment complexes you mentions are very nice and are mostly located on the east side, on or close to, SPID. (South Padre Island Drive), which is a major traffic artery. My son lives at Harbor Landing and likes it very much. He is a mid 30's single white male and enjoys the social life of a large well kept community.

Making friends will depend entirely on you, Corpus Christians are a friendly bunch and if you find people who share common interests, you will have no trouble fitting in.

Since your job will be near the airport I 'd not recommend you consider Portland or Port "A", as the commute would be brutal. Your drive time from Harbor Landing (Oso Bay area) to Bear Ln would be about 15 minutes on average. Except during the Christmas season, SPID @ Staples is home to the largest shopping mall in town and during the months of Nov and Dec traffic can get backed up pretty good during the Christmas season.

I hope this helps.

[sdb3739]

Thanks for the reply. That does help. So now I know that portland and port A are out, I pretty much know where I want to be. The Oso bay area is pretty nice, correct? Coming from a mid-small sized town, living on the bay just sounds nice. Breezes, water sports, not to mention being 3 hours away from NFL games would be nice. Arkansas doesnt have any professional teams, unless you count the minors. We have the Arkansas Travelers and the Twisters.

[Marlow]

Not sure what kind of music you're interested in but all kinds of bands do play here. Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen, John Mellenkamp, Bob Dylan, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Elton John, Charlie Daniels band, 50 Cent and Martina McBride have all played here in the last couple of years. In addition lesser-known bands from all these genres play here fairly frequently.

For sports we have minor league baseball and hockey and Texas A&M CC has men's and women's basketball as well as some of the other standard college sports. There was, or maybe is, an indoor football league but I'm fuzzy on the details. Oh, and roller-derby. You don't want to miss that.

I don't know much about apartments in town, but I will tell you that Oso Bay has a distinct odor at low tide. You might want to give a sniff before you sign your lease if you're not used to it.

[SOM]

I'm a big fan of the area around Ocean Drive, from about Ayers all the way down to Ennis Joslin. There are some apartments on Ocean Drive, and a lot of smaller, older complexes a block or two inland. To me, this is where the CC "flavor" is....close to the water, older, established neighborhoods, almost no traffic, close to downtown....

Assuming you take the leap.....welcome!

[sdb3739]

Thanks alot. As far as my music tastes. I like a variety of music. Country, 80's and some 90's rock, classical, a little jazz and some blues. I'm all over the spectrum on that one

[CalallenMom]

Just say NO to Regency Square apartments. Brother-in-law lived there and the atmosphere is blech!

If you're going to be working near the airport, I'd recommend the Annaville/Calallen area (78410 zip code). Safe and super wasy commute and you're only 15-20 mins from downtown.

[Marlow]

Originally Posted by sdb3739

Thanks alot. As far as my music tastes. I like a variety of music. Country, 80's and some 90's rock, classical, a little jazz and some blues. I'm all over the spectrum on that one

I forgot to mention that we have a great free jazz festival every year in October. It's one of the best weekends in CC if you like jazz. I can't wait....

Also, CC has a symphony that is very good.

[ohmanon]

Originally Posted by SOM

I'm a big fan of the area around Ocean Drive, from about Ayers all the way down to Ennis Joslin. There are some apartments on Ocean Drive, and a lot of smaller, older complexes a block or two inland. To me, this is where the CC "flavor" is....close to the water, older, established neighborhoods, almost no traffic, close to downtown....

Assuming you take the leap.....welcome!

SOM, you're making me homesick! I like that area too. Coming down in a few weeks, can't wait. Kind of hoping a cold front doesn't blow through or if it does, we'll have a little bit of Indian Summer - love the ocean any time of the year but sure would like to just sit on the beach.

I guess at first, I was thinking of a nice ocean city, like Ft. Lauderdale or even more like Biloxi, but after reading alot of the posts on this forum, seems like CC is nothing like those cities. From what I have been reading, I get the impression that downtown CC is pretty run down. Is this the case?

It will be fun coming down for the first time in 5 years - when I was there, the downtown area didn't look run down at all, it was a weekend and, of course, almost empty but appeared very clean...things can change though - will find out soon.

[sdb3739]

Well, looks like i'll be arriving tomorrow (wed.) at about 4pm (flight leaves little rock here at noon). I'll be down there for about 2 weeks for work, then coming back to arkansas. At that point, when I get back, I will make my decision as to whether or not I want to make the move permanent. I'm leaning toward it, though. Besides the fact that my employer offered me a chance to transfer down there, or risk being laid off here and having to start all over with another company, just the coastal atmosphere, beaches, and palm trees, and mild climate sound nice.

Anyway, I did have another question. I did some searching for pictures of CC. Most of them are some posts that were made here, others were on other websites. I even used google maps to look at different areas of CC, using the ability to zoom down to street view. One thing I noticed is that you hardly see any people. I looked at pics of downtown...nobody. Looked at pics of several beaches...nobody. Are the pics that I am seeing taken at a bad time of year, or are the beaches and towns pretty barren of people?

...sdb