Relocating to Ft.Myers - Good Apartments? (Fort Myers, Cypress Lake: section 8, apartment complexes)

[FSUNole21]

Hi, my fiancee and I are relocating in late March/early April to Ft. Myers for work. I'll be working in the Gateway area and she may be transferring to Chico's HQ. Within the general Fort Myers area, does anyone have advice on apartments they believe are nice and in safe areas, and which ones to completely avoid based on true experiences?

We would like something close to shopping and dining and around no more than a 25 minute commute.We don't want to live in an area with high crime or drug activity which I see can be an issue in Ft. Myers.

Looking for a 2BD for $700-$900, a pool and some amenities. We DO NOT want to be in low-income apartment complexes (we wouldn't qualify anyways but I see there are a number of them). We do have 1 cat.

Some apartments we have been looking at online and plan on checking out next weekend are:

Reflections, Sienna at Vista Lake, Iona Lakes, ParkCrest at the Lakes, Lago del Sol, Salamanca Pointe....


Anyone have advice on those or which zones to avoid?

Thanks so much!

[Nate_VA]

My mother lives at the Promenade at Reflection Lakes, and loves the neighborhood. It's a great location because it's centrally located, and not far from the beach, downtown Fort Myers, the airport, and lots of shopping choices. She did extensive research before she moved down there, and is happy with the choice she made. I'm not sure of the rent costs, but it's one of the better apartment communities in the area.

[CDusr]

Originally Posted by FSUNole21

Hi, my fiancee and I are relocating in late March/early April to Ft. Myers for work. I'll be working in the Gateway area and she may be transferring to Chico's HQ. Within the general Fort Myers area, does anyone have advice on apartments they believe are nice and in safe areas, and which ones to completely avoid based on true experiences?

We would like something close to shopping and dining and around no more than a 25 minute commute.We don't want to live in an area with high crime or drug activity which I see can be an issue in Ft. Myers.

Looking for a 2BD for $700-$900, a pool and some amenities. We DO NOT want to be in low-income apartment complexes (we wouldn't qualify anyways but I see there are a number of them). We do have 1 cat.

Some apartments we have been looking at online and plan on checking out next weekend are:

Reflections, Sienna at Vista Lake, Iona Lakes, ParkCrest at the Lakes, Lago del Sol, Salamanca Pointe....


Anyone have advice on those or which zones to avoid?

Thanks so much!

That price range might put you in affordable housing. Much in that price range would be considered such. Doesn't necessarily mean ghetto though. I would seriously investigate the commute because traffic can be a real mess. crimereportsdotcom is helpful. Change the layers to show 6 months and property crime. Crime indexes on CD are skewed toward weighting violent vs non-violent crime differently, last I looked, so it is important to look at the breakdown.

I don't think access to shopping or restaurants is really going to be much of an issue really anywhere in SFL. Maybe a handful of places. There are shopping malls and centers everywhere. Google maps can help see what places look like much better. Lee county police from what I have seen are some of the most concerning. Though all over FL I think it is bad. The transient nature of the entire state I think contributes to this. People talk about "criminals" when they talk safety issues, but the police are every bit as important.

This kind of thing should never happen.
Death In The Devil's Chair: Florida Man's Pepper Spray Death Raises Questions About Jail Abuse. Unfortunately, in FL in general, you see far more crazy alarming stuff like this than many places. If you are coming from some place like NJ certainly I am sure it might not phase you. They had a 50 car pile up in FL recently. Super scary especially when it gets rainy. Also you have the drivers and red light cameras on lights with crazy short yellow light sequences. Very dangerous imo. Have seen plenty of problems due to these. The only method I have seen for these is to be aware of where these are and drive slower than the speed limit to increase reaction time.

I am not trying to sound negative btw, but giving you a heads up on areas I think need to be considered to avoid nightmare situations and other stresses. I have included these because they directly relate to concerns I would have picking a place. I find people seem to get extreme with this view of people's opinions being negative or positive. I personally want to hear about it, see what is is based on and go from there.

[Florida Paradise]

Salamanca townhomes are just a block down from my condo association. Cypress Lake Drive is mostly churches (all in a row) until you cross over Winkler (heading to McGregor) Then you have the middle school directly next to Salamanca townhome appartments and a park across the street. It is pretty quiet in this area. Not much going on at all. Crime is realatively low. There isn't much around to attract the criminals. There is one bar that seems a little shady (Elbow Room) and a convenience store that attracks those looking to purchase beer/cigs and lottery... but it isn't too bad. ( I bought a bottle of wine there out of despairation one evening when I didn't have a car) I can't tell you what they look like inside, but they look very well kept from the outside. They do however look a little small and I wouldn't want one that backs up to Cypress Lake Drive. (traffic noise) Other than that, I think you will find the area very nice and very close to everything.

[FSUNole21]

Just in case anyone else ever comes across this thread looking for similar information, we took a trip down to Ft. Myers to scout out apartments and my thoughts are:

Reflections: Looked pretty bad and the apartment had a very odd layout.

Iona Lakes: In a nice residential neighborhood, closer to the beach, decent looking community but did not have any units they could show us.

Lago del Sol: Looked terrible. We drove in and out. Someone said this might be Section 8 housing.

Sienna at Vista Lake: This was our favorite based on the complex, unit, and value. Only thing that concerns me is that it is close to the US 41/Colonial/MLK area of town. The crime maps don't show anything bad at this particular complex though.

Salamanca Pointe: Looked ok. Across the street from a school. Looked like they were working on their parking lots (maybe to address the flooding issues mentioned?). Couldn't show us any units when we visited though so cant speak to the apartments.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by FSUNole21

Just in case anyone else ever comes across this thread looking for similar information, we took a trip down to Ft. Myers to scout out apartments and my thoughts are:

Reflections: Looked pretty bad and the apartment had a very odd layout.

Iona Lakes: In a nice residential neighborhood, closer to the beach, decent looking community but did not have any units they could show us.

Lago del Sol: Looked terrible. We drove in and out. Someone said this might be Section 8 housing.

Sienna at Vista Lake: This was our favorite based on the complex, unit, and value. Only thing that concerns me is that it is close to the US 41/Colonial/MLK area of town. The crime maps don't show anything bad at this particular complex though.

Salamanca Pointe: Looked ok. Across the street from a school. Looked like they were working on their parking lots (maybe to address the flooding issues mentioned?). Couldn't show us any units when we visited though so cant speak to the apartments.

Reflections: BAD neighborhood.

Lago del Sol: These were the projects at one time. May no longer be but still...

Sienna at Vista Lake: May not be bad but very close to some very bad apartment complexes like Westchase.

Salamanca Pointe: Years ago these were not good apartments. They've since fixed them up. Neighborhood is fairly decent and they use to stick out as being a bad complex in a good area.

Iona Lakes: Out of all of the choices above, these are the only ones I would consider. Head and shoulders above all the rest on location, alone.

[Nate_VA]

Just to be clear, Reflections Apartments are not the same as The Promenade at Reflection Lakes Apartments.