Moving soon to LR, AR. (Little Rock, Austin: best neighborhood, apartment complexes, rental)

[DiSure]

I'm new to the forum and the country as well. My husband and I will be moving to Little Rock in Jan '09, as he's going to be working at UAMS. I know this question's been asked many times and there've been various answers, but will still persist; we've narrowed down our search for safe, clean, well maintained apartments to a few, mostly near the Pleasant Valley area. Is this a good move? We have no idea about the city and would really like some honest opinions about safe neighborhoods, as we are quite nervous about the move. We've looked at The Grove, Pleasant Pointe, Berkeley, Fairfields, Brightwaters and Parham Pointe. Anybodys' 2 cents on any of these places are welcome. We are taking the apartment reviews with a pinch of salt! Please help!!!!!

[johncronejr]

LR is a great town. Any apartment complexes near the Pleasant Valley area should be nice enough. I think you may be overworrying. Have you visited any of the complexes personally or had someone else check them out for you?

LR gets quite a bad rap and it surely has its bad areas. All in al though, it is no worse than any other city you may move to. My wife is from Minneapolis and she loves LR. LR doesn't have quite as much to do as Minneapolis, but all in all its fine. For big time shopping, friends of ours typically drive to Dallas for a weekend of shopping.

One of the things we had both been missing was a really nice grocery store that carried hard to find and specialty items ala Central Market in Austin or Byerleys in Minneapolis, well she found one called The Fresh Market somewhere around Hwy 10 area (I wasn't with her when she found it).

I know this is a rambling post, but its just to say don't let the hype of "Bangin in the Rock" get to you. We have our problems, but who doesn't?

Good luck in your move...

[CAB1979]

The Grove and Pleasant Pointe are great places. My wife lived at one of them (can't remember which) but I believe they are across the street from each other. The Fresh Market that John mentioned is within walking distance of these apartments. West Little Rock is the safest part of town, and there is lots to do within a short drive. Good luck!

[DiSure]

Johncronejr and CAB1979, thank you very much for the information. I'm looking forward to the move now!

[Aporkalypse]

Some of these have been renamed and so I may err a bit with the names, so I'll try to steer you towards the clusters and let you sort out the individual complexes.

You mentioned Brightwaters. That's in Riverdale and generally that area is clean, safe and very popular with young 20-something college grads. A lot of UAMS students live down there. It's close to downtown and 5 min from UAMS.

Some you mentioned are at Green Mountain and Rodney Parham, technically Pleasant Valley. Most of these have been declining for some time. They aren't terrible but were much nicer a decade ago. Crime there isn't heavy but there certainly are some break-ins, etc from residents in the complexes. The surrounding area (excepting apts) is very nice and safe.

The Pleasant Ridge area has several complexes that are very nice and safe and preferable to the ones near Green Mtn. Nobody ever has issues there. These are off of Cantrell near Pleasant Ridge Towne Ctr and a couple you mentioned are back there.

[DiSure]

Thank you Aporkalypse

[ozark240]

No offense intended to those trying to help with suggestions, but I wholly disagree about the wisdom of choosing Pleasant Valley. Crime in this town is average, and none of the West LIttle Rock neighborhoods escape being targeted for burgulary from time to time. I own a house near downtown and have great neighbors. In five years I have had zero problems with crime.

I have played soccer with great guys at UAMS, doctors and students alike, and they all live in Hillcrest. How can you go wrong when the hands-down best neighborhood in the city is across the street from the hospital that employs you?

Again, I don't want to be rude, but Pleasant Valley sucks people in and isolates them from the city, in my opinion. Do you want to pay more rent for the priviledge of being stuck in traffic for half an hour each day trying to get to work? Do you want to walk to one grocery store and maybe a couple of shops, or walk to parks, restaurants, bars, boutique shopping, coffee shops, post office, and a grocery store in a historic neighborhood with a pulse? Of course, there aren't the same type of large apartment complexes to choose from in Hillcrest, and it's all about personal preference I realize. Lots of luck with your decision.

[Aporkalypse]

I like Hillcrest as well but she picked large complexes in a certain part of town and I'm sure she did that for a reason.

Riverdale is actually very popular with medical students and physicians at UAMS and I was both of these within the last decade (I had a house in Walnut Valley). Hillcrest is very popular at UAMS but the large complex (Crestwood Manor) is in very bad shape, worse than any of these. The best options are locally managed apartments that you usually find in craigslist or the Demozette. The nice ones like Spanish Court can be very high. The cheaper ones often lack central heat/air. I think Hillcrest is a better option if you are looking to rent a house but it's not cheap for that.

Most people moving in from out of town pick a large complex and live there for 6 mos or a year until they get the feel for the city and where they might want to live for a longer duration. A lot of apartments/duplexes and rental houses in Hillcrest are advertised on flyers around UAMS.

[DiSure]

Thank you for taking the time and writing. You've both been very helpful as personal experiences and opinions matter a lot. Thanks again.

[podmate]

I live very close to the apartments you are asking about in West Little Rock (in the Pleasant Valley area).
The apartments in the Pleasant Valley area are very nice and crime is not bad at all.

The apartments on Green Mountain Drive (in the Pleasant Valley area) are seeing more and more crime and it seems like some of the complexes are not being well cared for.

IMHO: Stay AWAY from any of the apartments from Breckenridge down to Reservoir (all the apartments are very close to Rodney Parham Rd.). There are 6 or so complexes in that area that have been having serious crime problems ever since the influx of Katrina refugees. The Apartments on Reservoir rd. are the worst in the area, so watch out for them.


If you are going to live in the Pleasant Valley area, you should know that traffic can be an issue on Rodney Parham Rd. from Hinson rd. down to Markham (the way you would travel to get to UAMS). That entire stretch can get clogged up very easy during the rush half-hour.

If you lived in Riverdale, you would not have much of an issue with traffic.