Job at Denver Health, Where to Rent? (Glendale, Lincoln Park: for sale, real estate)

[all user names are taken]

Hi all,

My wife, 2 year old son and I are relocating from Chicago (the actual city, not the suburbs) to Denver. She is going to be working at Denver Health Hospital.

We plan on renting until I can find a job in architecture (good luck right?) and then worry about buying a house later.

We are almost 40 and have lived in two different mid-rise loft conversions while in Chicago. I'm not sure we would enjoy living in a generic mega apartment complex, but would do so if necessary.

Two bedrooms, recently constructed or renovated, a short commute to downtown, a child friendly neighborhood, some shops/bars/restaurants nearby, and no students or recent grads making noise all night, those are our primary concerns.

Our renting budget is $1000 a month due to having a single income.

With the above information can anyone please suggest neighborhoods to look for rentals in? Thanks!!

[Sulewskid]

Just south of Denver Health is the Wash (Washington) Park neighborhood. I don't have any kids but that has been the hot place to live and I believe that it is very kid friendly and safe around there. As far as finding something affordable to rent in Wash Park, that might be another story. There are some large apartment complexes in that area but I couldn't tell you many details about rates. Real estate is very expensive in Wash Park compared to other Denver neighborhoods, but it is a short commute to the city and is safe/quiet.

I am in construction so I feel your pain being in architecture! I have a feeling that Denver will be picking up a little faster than some other cities (Chicago included) so it won't hurt to come on out here! The winters are 100 % better anyhow!

[all user names are taken]

Thanks for your response Sulewskid, I'm totally unemployed at the moment, hence our having to rent until I can get a job to raise our mortgage approval amount.

Is Washington Park West similar in feel to Washington park? The reason I ask is because nothing in our price range shows up in Wash park proper.

Has anyone had any dealings with boutiqueapartments.com as a management company? They seem to rent the type of spaces that we're used to from Chicago.

They have properties in Congress Park and City Park West (and Washington Park West.) How are those other two areas for a couple that has lots of urban experience, but now has a young child? I can't imagine Denver's central city area being as crazy as Chicago's in terms of raising a child, but maybe I'm wrong.

I know we definitely want to avoid Capitol Hill from what I've read on apartmentratings.com and this forum.

Any more feed back would be greatly appreciated!

[steveindenver]

Washington Park was hot until 2000 or so when prices made obvious what the place was/is.

You might find a nice house just south of the hospital in the Baker district. It is .. eclectic and maybe not for everyone -- but hey your wife can walk to DG.

The Botique apartments are run by a couple of solid guys.

If you can name areas you are looking to replicate in Chicago that might help.

[Katiana]

I believe Wash Park west is less expensive than Wash Park east. My nephew rented a duplex there (WPW). It was a dump, IMO, but they liked the urban lifestyle. Interesingly, my nephew and some of his neighbors worked in the burbs.

[all user names are taken]

Hey steveinsdenver thanks for your response.

Now you've gotten me curious about baker, I've heard that is is inexpensive and had quite a few 'fixerupper' type houses for sale. What do you mean by "eclectic?" in relation the the neighborhood?

Chicago neighborhoods that I tended to like were the ones closest to downtown such as: Printer's row, Old Town, River North, Goose Island, Streeterville, and Little Italy. I have lived in both East Pilsen and the South Loop and liked those two also.

I would like to avoid areas like Bucktown/Wicker Park/Lincoln Park and similarly overly gentrified neighborhoods.

Katiana thanks for your response as well. I definitely don't want to live in a dump. I hope the whole Wash Park West area would not be catorigized as such?

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by all user names are taken

I would like to avoid areas like Bucktown/Wicker Park/Lincoln Park and similarly overly gentrified neighborhoods.

You might find Washington Park to be overly gentrified.

[all user names are taken]

Ok, so someone pointed me in the direction of the Baker photo tour (thank you!) and it looks like an awesome little neighborhood to live in.

I also read the neighborhood descriptions on devner.com that someone had posted a link to, and if Capitol Hill through Wash Park really runs the hipster to yuppie gamut then that's a definite no for me.

When it's time to buy Baker may top my list.

But I'm still having a problem with apartments. All of the online rating sites that I've found make practically every rental property close to downtown, and in Cherry Creek, and Glendale sound like hellholes. Maybe that is just the nature of the those websites - people are going there to vent.

My current thinking has me wondering if I should just take the easy way out and rent temporarily somewhere in a new urbanist community like Bradburn or Stapleton. Those apartment complexes seem to get good reviews. I know a community like that may seem be somewhat artificial and Disneyesque. But it would only be temporary.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by all user names are taken

My current thinking has me wondering if I should just take the easy way out and rent temporarily somewhere in a new urbanist community like Bradburn or Stapleton. Those apartment complexes seem to get good reviews. I know a community like that may seem be somewhat artificial and Disneyesque. But it would only be temporary.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Bradburn would be an unnecessarily long commute to Denver Health. There are apartments in the immediate area around Denver Health and Baker, but many of them are probably populated by college students that go to Auraria. Perhaps you could find something along the Broadway/Lincoln corridor going south from Denver Health?

I am a little dubious about the good reviews of apartments in Stapleton and Bradburn, like perhaps the people residing in those places might have rose-colored glasses on.....

Unfortunately, most everything in Denver proper is either hipster, yuppie, or poor. There are very few "normal" places within the city limits, though I do live in one. You could check out SE Denver as well, and see if it would work for you (zips, 80224, 80222, 80231, 80237).