Kids friendly apartment complex in DSM area (Des Moines, West Des Moines: houses, condos)

[DJF]

Hi everyone,
I hope someone can help me with my search for nice, quiet and kids-friendly apartment complex in West Des Moines/Urbandale, preferably with a daycare center nearby. Price is not a real issue.
We are moving in June and I really have no time to fly again to Des Moines to see apartments. I have a realtor who is willing to check few out for me. I seen many websites, went on aptratings.com, got confusing reports about ones I liked. Any good suggestions/positive experience? Thanks.

[metro223]

There are a TON of nice apts out that way so I doubt you'll have trouble finding any. Don't overlook Johnston either - they have very nice places too.

Aptratings.com is a good tool - but take it with a grain of salt. People usually only leave comments on there when they've had a bad experience.

[tptvosox]

We're in the Wellington Apartments @ 50th St and E.P. True Pkwy in WDM and we like it there for an apartment complex (we just moved here in July; we'll look at houses at some point). We looked at a ton of WDM apartments, having the luxury of having family in the area. The *renovated* 2BR apartments at Wellington beat out the others for our price range, <$900. Ours is $850/mo + a $50/mo garage. Vaulted ceilings on 2nd floor, all new appliances (micro, stove, dishwasher, fridge, disposal in sink, stack washer/dryer combo in one of the baths), new carpet, a covered porch, and new paint (although the painters need a class on taping and laying dropcloths before painting...that aside, we've been happy).

We have a 2.5 y.o. son, and we've found the complex (at least the half of the complex east of 50th) to be very kid-friendly. I mean, not in the sense of swing sets and a parky or sand area to play in, but in the sense of there being other families in the complex, and there are good places to walk (nice homes surrounding, bike path that leads to a couple of parks - 15-20 mins max walk, etc). And it has felt very safe.

And I would second that comment re: apartment ratings sites...they're all the complaints, for the most part, so it's not very helpful; although looking at the # of complaints over a long period (even through 2008), that can clue you into probably avoiding a particular complex. Management has changed at Wellington (some time before we got there), and I can say that this team knows how to take care of business. For an apartment complex, this is the fastest turnaround on work requests I've ever seen (from same day to a couple days, thus far, depending on the urgency). The only beef we had upon move in was the fact that they power painted everything (read: sloppy painting, spotty mirrors, floors and hardware), though it should be noted it was contractor work, not Wellington personnel; and the quality of the window screens...screen replacement was not part of the reno budget. Supposedly that's slated for sometime this year. We threw ours all in the garage. I'll take them out and spray & tape them as needed for the nicer / buggier weather until the new ones come in.

The downside in my mind? Not really a Wellington comment, so much as a WDM / general suburbia apartment living comment. We moved from NYC, so we realize we had to lower expectations regarding proximity/walkability to food, shopping, anything "hip", etc. That said, there's really nothing around within walking distance, save your basics -- nice grocery store, a gas station, a so-so restaurant or two, and a dry cleaners. You'll have to drive to everything unless you live across from Jordan Creek Mall or West Glen condos. There are little pods of good eats, but not much is all together.

Other places to check out, from what I hear (if you want to spend more) are Turtle Creek and Country Club, or if you want more "hip", West Glen condos / apartments. Our style is more modern / West Glen, but having lived in the City over business for 5 years, we were ready for more green space. So the stock khaki-colored apartment scheme was a trade off. We just wanted new, clean, and a nice place for our son, which we found.

Hope that helps!

[tptvosox]

OH - sorry! Forgot you also asked about daycare. Yeah, that was a toughy. We had high expectations from a few centers and were disappointed, with a couple of exceptions...and those two were Exceptional: Kids Company in Clive, and Montessori Children's House in WDM. Putting ourselves in July on waiting lists for those two, we had our son start at Traditions on S. 51st (we had to start work) and then pulled him out as soon we were able to get into one of the other two. On the surface, it seemed fine enough, but after doing an observation, my wife was in tears in the parking lot. I would say avoid Traditions for Age 2-3, whose teachers were mostly nice, but several were very lacking in skills -- organizational, supervisory, teaching, you name it (e.g., grossly overusing "timeouts", sitting planted in a chair on one side of the room and correcting kids when needed during freeplay, which went on for what seemed like for most of the day). Our outgoing son was getting reduced to a "bored" demeanor, and he'd cry nearly every day I dropped him off. We did several observations at various times of the day and were just baffled. We're educators, and my wife specialized in this age group for a while, so we were alarmed. We notified the director and they were working on things. Anyway, surprisingly, we squeaked into MCH with a last minute cancellation, and got a call from Kids Co about 1.5 months later. Our son's demeanor now is priceless. Talks about his "work" at school all the time, and he smiles and bounces in the room nearly every day. If you're not into the Montessori thing (but we're huge fans), you'd also be thrilled with the Clive Kids Company (no website yet, family run). Get on the list now, or at least contact them and let them know when you'd need a spot. If you do want to look into Montessori: Montessori Children's House, West Des Moines, Iowa

Other centers that were "OK" where we observed: Koalaty Time, Apple Tree Learning Center. I think 1 or 2 Iowa Child Care Teacher of the Year awards have come from Apple Tree recently - one in WDM and one from Clive: The Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation Programs.

[DJF]

Thank you all for your comments. I will definitely look into Wellington, though I would really prefer 3BR. After living in Westchester, NY we finally deserve more space! I was thinking about Ashworth/Foxboro with Apple Tree Center nearby. Traditions is close too but thanks to your comments I will definitely stay away. I don't think my kids need that kind of stress.
I would love to have my kids in Montessori but problem is transportation. My husband is starting new job in DSM, I am not sure what kind of hours he will be putting in. I still have to spend most of my time in NY and I will be home for weekends only at least for half a year.