Newly relocating to Bloomington-Normal (Chicago, Peoria: apartments, rentals, insurance)

[anon0230]

My wife has accepted a position at BroMenn Hospital and we are looking for a safe place to live in the Bloomington-Normal area. We know very little about the Central part of Illinois. Are there any neighborhoods that we should not look to rent in? I have heard to stay away from West Bloomington. Is this a true statement? And how bad is BAD?

Is the are around Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois a safe neighborhood to live in? In particular West Wood Street. I have seen posting for some houses in that area. We are really looking for a house or townhome to rent that accepts a small dog.

Any information on the area would be very helpful. Your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-Raised in Cook County Chicago (30 years)
-lived in OC California for the past year

[linicx]

BroMen is in Normal. It is smaller than Bloomington but it is the home of ISU and its 22K students. Both town are similar in services: malls, shopping restaurants. Bloomington is business town fueled by insurance giants State Farm and Country ?. Normal is fueled by ISU and its U-High. The towns have different vibes. Normal has Amtrak and Grayhound. Bloomington has the Airport and Trailways, a limo service, taxi (?) and the City bus that serves both communities. The Red Bird shuttle serves the college students; I'm not sure about the general public, though. BroMen (formerly Brokaw Mennonite) is a very decent hospital.

You don't mention children, but here is the scoop on schools. U-High is college prep high school. There is no lottery. Normal school students are accepted first followed by Bloomington students. The balance of the students are accepted from the rest of the state. There is usually a 2 year waiting list. Many of these students attend ISU after graduation. It is a very well regarded school that offers post graduate degrees.

There is no delicate way to describe Central Illinois. It is in the heart of the Grain and Livestock belt. IL is an AG state. The area surround most towns in Illinois excepting the City or Chicago are surrounded by massive farms and livestock operations. The B-N MSA is about 160K. You will se a ton of corn and bean fields on I-55 between Joliet and B-N. You might even see a few cows.

You can hop a train to Chicago or St. Louis very easily at the new Normal Amtrak station. It's the only two towns you will find Costco and Trader Joe's. You are also in between two larger midsize cities. Springfield (215K MSA) about 65 miles and Peoria (400K MSA) about 35 miles. Springfield is the political/business town whereas Peoria is a river town that is a business/medical/tech regional hub port city built among rolling hills and high forested cliffs. It is the oldest and the largest city on the largest river in the state. Between these three areas there are 4 zoological parks, 5 malls, 2 fish markets, 2 furriers, probable 500 restaurants, theatre, ballet, opera, civic centers, year round entertainment, sports, and more. You can take a horse drawn carriage ride, cruise the river, try your luck at the ParA Dice casino or sleep with the wolves in Peoria. You can do much the same in Springfield minus the river, gambling and wild animal zoological park. All have upscale dining and country clubs, pro sports farm clubs, etc. There is plenty to do and see, and you have a lower COL..

Since you are not so far away, you best option is boots on the ground. Lincoln Park Zoo and Miller Park Zoo share the distinction of being the two oldest zoological parks in Illinois.

[mark.caryl]

If you read up on the local paper, the Pantagraph, there does appear to be a fair amount of activity that occurs on the west side of Bloomington. Also worth noting is area in north Normal around Orlando and Northbrook. I have taken the bus through that area and it appears to get fairly active outside when it warms up and not in a good way.

There are other areas in Bloomington-Normal that would probably be more likely convenient to jobs and shopping. The far east sides of Bloomington-Normal are very suburban in character and would likely have complexes of apartments and townhouses that are fairly new. The area between the downtowns of Bloomington and Normal is also nice and has many historic properties, some rentals and is walking distance to the BroMenn campus . I would look around the area roughly bounded by Franklin, Virginia, Clinton, and Emerson in Bloomington.

Feel free to PM and I'll answer whatever I can.

[Spaceman3750]

There are some nice neighborhoods on the south edge of the airport and a mile or so north of the airport. You might check them out.

[linicx]

The job is at BroMen.

[Spaceman3750]

And?