Maple Bay versus Marina Shores (Virginia Beach: apartments, renting, townhomes)

[Strunan]

Okay, so I have pretty much decided to move into either Maple Bay or Marina Shores. What does everyone think about these 2 properties?

[thorntonm]

As far as the apartments themselves, Marina Shores is a little more upscale and spacious, even though they are just 1 floor apartments. I always liked it there. With Maple Bay you are getting either 1,2 or 3 bedroom 2 story townhomes. The front living room area always seemed cramped to me, and the kitchen is all the way at the back of the unit, removed from the living room. If you get a unit which is not on the end, or next to a firewall (which, I believe, is the 1 bedroom unit), you might have to deal with noise from your neighbors. If they have any kind of stereo, or play video games or watch TV through a stereo system, you will hear it like they are in the room with you.

Other than that, it is really about location. With Maple Bay you have Trader Joe's, Target, and the rest of Hilltop within walking distance. As well as easy access to 264. You will have to deal with jet noise.

With Marina Shores you have walking distance to the beach, as well as a nightclub (Hot Tuna) and Bloom supermarket. Chick's Beach is a a cool area. Removed from the tourists and jet noise. But if you need to take 264 to work, you must fight congestion on First Colonial and Great Neck twice a day, which can be a real pain.

[Strunan]

Thank you for the information. Very helpful!

[Randomdude]

Maple Bay is in a very run down shady area

[Strunan]

Randomdude....thank you for telling me that. I wouldn't want to move my family into such a place.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Strunan

Randomdude....thank you for telling me that. I wouldn't want to move my family into such a place.

I grew up across the street in Oceana and we moved just when it was starting to get really bad around there. I hear the neighborhood has a few drug houses, and the last time I went by there were 6 cop cars and a paddy wagon parked outside of a house. The whole area from there up to First Colonial is trashy (actually, all the way up to the beach from the Great Neck/Va Beach Blvd intersection is trashy). Last time I was around there it was nothing but strip clubs and pawn shops. I think they put in a new fancy gym, like a Golds, but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Strunan]

Anything bad about the Marina Shores area?

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Strunan

Anything bad about the Marina Shores area?

I dont know much about the complex itself, but the area is much nicer then the Oceana area. Generally, anything sitting off of Great Neck is going to be more upscale.

You mention family, and if that includes children, I think I should warn you about one thing. That area is comfortably within the Great Neck MS and Cox High School zones. If you are not outwardly wealthy, your kids may have a rough time.

I went to Great Neck MS as a poor kid for a couple months when we were staying with friends in that school zone, and it probably was the worst experience of my childhood. I would have taken getting in to gang fights in Oceana over that, any day.

[Strunan]

Well, it's actually my husband and I with our 2 dogs (them being the only children right now), but hopefully kids on the way soon. So for now it will just be renting to decide where we would want to live. Again, I greatly appreciate all of the information you have provided me with.

[thorntonm]

I lived in Maple Bay for 3 years. It was not run down or shady at all. It was a very nice area. The townhomes have even been remodeled since then. You are talking about a complex that is a block down from Hilltop, an "upscale" shopping center. They are also fairly high priced, keeping out undesirable crowds.

What is shady, and what randomdude is probably referring to is Virginia Beach Blvd. But that does not start to get shady until the overpass, so if you are trying to get back and forth to the highway from the back of the development, there is nothing to be worried about. Just a storage unit, a used car place, a mechanic (the very excellent London Bridge Auto, by the way)....etc.

The stretch of Virginia Beach Blvd that starts at the overpass to the east of the Maple Bay entrance all the way down to Atlantic is indeed shady, particularly the strip from the overpass to First Colonial. It's nothing to be scared of driving through, but you would not want to walk through there at night. Foot traffic generally does not wander past the overpass, because there is nothing really worth walking to for the sort of people that would be hanging out in that area.

There is nothing to be worried about to the north on Donna or Laskin Rd.