Apartment Suggestions Please ;-) (Denver, Aurora: apartment complex, rentals, crime rates)

[PRenee]

Any suggestions on good apartments we can rent while we house hunt? We have like Champions in Thorton so far. There is also another in a town just north of that can't remember don't have paper in front of me. We are looking at a decent commute to Henderson/Commerce City for husbands work.

It needs to be a nice apartment complex with a pool and rec room.

[cowboyxjon]

I have a friend who works at the airport and lives at The Regatta in Northglenn. He seems to like it.

[PRenee]

Cowboy that's the other one I was talking about and I couldn't remember the name haha! I think we will visit it when we arrive in two weeks! Thanks!

[PRenee]

Anyone else on apartment suggestions? If you had to move to Thornton or SE Aurora which would you pick? And why would you pick them? We come up in two weeks and I think those are the two towns we have on our agenda to look at.

How are the schools in both these towns?

[jaekn]

Between Thornton or SE Aurora, you should probably go with Thornton, depending on the part of Thornton. I say this only because Im not a fan of Aurora.. I'm not really a fan of Thornton either, I'd definitely find something in Westminster, Northglenn, Arvada, Golden etc.. These towns *tend* to have better schools, lower crime rate, nicer houses, less meth (thornton) fewer gang members (than thornton/Aurora) and generally nicer shopping/living conditions...

Just my two cents having lived in many denver/colorado towns in the last 23 years

[cowboyxjon]

I know everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I can't stress enough that Aurora is HUGE and there is much much more to it than the 'bad' area along East Colfax. I guess I'm touchy about Aurora because I live near the border of Denver, Aurora, and Unincorporated Arapahoe County near Florida Ave and Parker Rd and frequently dine and shop in this area. Another friend of mine just moved to an apartment in my general neighborhood, but would not consider anything in the neighborhood that has an Aurora address, which I think was silly, because he passed up a few nice places for fear of having the 'dreaded' Aurora, CO mailing address.

I think Thornton and Aurora are similar in the sense that they both have a mix of brand new neighborhoods and older, less desirable areas. I personally like Aurora more, but it's just a personal preference, most likely because I'm more familiar with it.

[jaekn]

I may have jumped the Gun on Aurora... I've only just visited it and perhaps in a lower income part of town. It is huge and the area closer to Denver is nice. In General though, the towns I perviously mentioned have lower crime rates as a whole and more open spaces

[PRenee]

What about Stapleton and Arvada? I know it's on seperate sides of Denver but spoke with my cousin this morning and she suggested to live in either of those areas.

She said the same thing about Aurora. She said people don't like to live there because when you say you are from Aurora it's a stigma ;-) It must have a bad rep but I'm willing to look past that if I find something really nice in Southeast Aurora.

[jaekn]

I dont know Stapleton area at all but Arvada is also prettty nice. A little bit more expensive in terms of cost of living, but definitely a huge step up from Thornton. I'd never live in Thornton (no offense to anyone) I prefer Westminster or Broomfield for their relative close proximity to both Denver and Boulder. I live in Westminster, go to school in Boulder and Work in Denver... I can take direct busses both to my school and my work but I drive anyways because the traffic on 36/I-25 moves efficiently and I can get to either town quickly if its not rush hour. You can also take a look at living in denver city, which can be expensive but also very nice, or one of the suburbs I mentioned. It all depends on whether you want large open spaces, Suburban housing and mostly well done new shopping centers (Westminster, Broomfield, Arvada, Golden) or if you prefer a more urban city setting (Denver City Apartments). You should also check out Brighton, it is a bit isolated but it is the safest city in Colorado/Denver Area.

If you really like methamphetamine, terrible schools and a propensity of mexican thug wannabe's then by all means, move near the Thornton HS* area where I went to school, from out of district, for 4 years.

It may be best to just keep the commerce city visting as work commute only. Move to Commerce City if your favorite smell is, well, Commerce. I'm not kidding, if you drive past Commerce City on the Interstate, can handle the pollution and industry fumes from the highway, you may be able to live there.

*They have an International Baccalaureate program here which offers students a very stronge education and college placement...The public school program is horrific

[cowboyxjon]

Stapleton isn't its own city. It's the name of a Denver neighborhood that is being built on the site of the former airport, so if you live in Stapleton, you are a resident of the City and County of Denver. I don't live there, but the price of housing in Stapleton is a bit higher than it is in the surrounding area, most likely because it offers newer, energy-efficient construction that is relatively close to downtown and not far-out in the suburbs. It may be worth a look although I don't know of many rentals in the area, but I'm sure there are some.

SE Aurora is pretty much all newer construction. I personally wouldn't live there because it's far away from where I work, but the homes look nice and the people I know who live there seem to enjoy it and constantly talk about the family-friendly atmosphere. Also, if you're researching schools, Cherry Creek School District seems to be well regarded on this forum, and SE Aurora is part of the Cherry Creek district and not Aurora Public Schools, oddly enough!