best "central" location for living around Denver-area job sites (Colorado Springs: apartment complex, lease)

[ranakaits]

Hi! I'm a 23 year old pharmacy student who is going to be in Colorado this upcoming winter for pharmacy rotations. Due to other housing options falling through, I'm actually going to be starting a lease in Denver area, as I plan on relocating there after graduation in May anyway. My problem is, however, that I'm going to be all over the place for rotations, so I'm not sure where the best place to actually look for an apartment is. I don't have a complete grasp on where places actually fall in the Denver area, yet, so I'm just going to give as much information about where my rotations are as I know, and hopefully it makes sense.

I have one rotation that is based out of three different locations (in the same month): Sheridan BLVD in Westminster, E Dakota Ave in Denver and Lutheran Parkway in Wheat Ridge. My next rotation is someone in the Denver area, and it's likely in Littleton, though that hasn't been 100% decided yet. My third month I will have to commute to Colorado Springs (E Boulder Street)

After my rotations end in May, I will still have the lease, and I'm looking at getting a residency in Denver. If that doesn't pan out I will look for a job in the area, but the locations of the possible residencies would be
-Bannock St--Denver
-Franklin St--Denver
-Potomac St--Aurora
-University Hospital--Aurora
or -Clermont St--Denver

I know this is a TON of uncertainty and a lot of spread out locations all over the Denver area so there is no good answer or any great way to make a fabulous decision. I also know I'm going to be spending a LOT of time in my car commuting and driving to and from places. However, it's the situation I'm in so I'm just trying to get as much information as possible. I had been looking at some different suburbs/surrounding cities because I've never lived in a huge city before, but I'm not opposed to that either.

I'm trying to think of any other information I could possibly throw in there, but I guess if you have any questions to help clarify things just ask. I will be so grateful for any advice because this is all quite confusing at the moment. I know that once I'm out there for a year and finish a potential residency I'll know the area better to figure things out as to where I want to work and live but right now I just feel like I'm randomly pulling places out of a hat.

[steveindenver]

Bannock or Franklin are the most central of those areas you listed.

Generally getting from east to west or the other way around can be a hassle. The same goes for North to South. The closer you are to central Denver the easier it is going to be.

Don't think of Denver as the island of Manhattan. The city itself is very suburb like once outside of the business district with housing laid out on a city grid system with a few non-grid streets thrown in.

[ranakaits]

Thanks! Just curious, how are those streets/areas in regards to places to live and safety and such?

I'd assumed that it's a hassle to get from east to west and north to south like you said. Just out of curiousity, what's an average commute ranging from to get from one of those directions to the other. I know it varies, but are you talking like over an hour of driving?

[sunsprit]

I'd be looking in the LoDo area, which gives good access to the Bannock and Franklin areas, or possibly the East end of Capitol Hill, up towards the Park area. Lots of condo's, townhomes, apartments in the area, with good access to much of the activity of core Denver.

This also connects to a number of main parkways that will take you East to Aurora, via 13th/14th, 6th, or Alameda. While they're surface streets with a fair number of stoplight intersections, traffic tends to move along fairly well except during the height of "rush hour" traffic, which you can substantially avoid by picking your commute time to miss.

[ranakaits]

Thanks!
Just curious as to whether any of the surrounding areas would be feasible at all, such as Centennial, Englewood, Lakewood, etc. I guess I'm wondering what those commute times would look like to some places?
I have been looking in Capitol Hill, LoDo some...I've never actually lived in a big city before so I'm slightly intimidated by that but definitely not ruling it out...just wondered what the surrounding cities were like though.

[vegaspilgrim]

Ideally I think you would want to be located near I-25, relatively close to (but south of) I-70 as well, so you'd have quick freeway access when you need to go to Westminster, Aurora, or Littleton. LoDo actually would not be a bad location if you have a lot of cash and you like living in a sports/bar district.

One spot that's a decent quasi-urban, jack-of-all-trades area that's right in the middle of everything in Denver is around the old University Hospital/ National Jewish Medical Center/ City Park area, basically Colorado Blvd/Colfax/6th Ave vicinity. But getting to I-25 from that spot can take a long time. I-70 is a little bit easier, just head north on CO Blvd. You could easy take surface streets (even busses) to Aurora and downtown Denver from there though.

I wouldn't worry so much about finding the "perfect" "central" location since for your purposes such a spot on the map won't exist. Rather, what kind of living setup are you looking for? Dense "city" urban? Historic "street-car suburb" urban? Late 20th century apartment complex suburbia? Do you like gritty or squeaky clean?

[ranakaits]

In regards to living setup, I'm probably looking more for the apartment complex "suburbia" and leaning much more towards the squeaky clean side of things than gritty. Like I said above, I don't want to completely limit myself by saying I can't live in certain areas because obviously I'll never know unless I experience it, but I'm also going to be a single female coming out by myself who doesn't know anyone and who's never lived in a city with more that 15,000 people, so I am a little wary of the heart of Denver.

[Jerry Bckr]

I would shoot for east Denver. That way you're about half way between Aurora and the Denver locations. If your work hours are different that the 9-5's then your commute shouldn't be to bad. About half an hour to 40 minutes at the worst.

[ranakaits]

when you say to the east, what areas do you mean? sorry for all the questions, I just can't tell for sure exactly how far things really are with driving by looking at the map since I know traffic is a big factor.

[steveindenver]

I'd be looking in the LoDo area,

noooooo ... Lodo is good for one thing -- well two. Getting drunk and getting beaten by cops. There are no gas stations, grocery stores etc in that area -- and no quick access to anything.