New Apartments In Laurel? (Baltimore, Columbia: apartment complex, rent, safe area)

[Zhennie]

I am looking to move to Laurel in the next month or two. I saw an apartment complex I really liked called Westchester at Cherry Lane across from the mall. Does anyone know whether this is a safe area? Would I be better off in Columbia or Ellicott City?

Thank you for any help you might be able to provide!

[doubbltunman]

You'd be better off anywhere, besides Laurel. I think that location your talking about there's public housing down the street. If you do move to Laurel, I suggest a alarm on your vehicle, club on your steering wheel, and wheel locks on your tires, and those funny license plate screws that need a special tool to take them off with. good luck.

[Zhennie]

Thank you for taking the time to answer. Do you think Elkridge would be any better? I saw a new complex there as well, but I'm not familiar with the area. Thanks again for your input!

[Pedro2008]

The funny thing about Laurel is that apart from Laurel City itself, it is divided into 4 parts and they are all different counties; all separated by the Patuxent River:

Howard County
Anne Arundel County
Prince Georges County
Montgomery County

Depending on what you want (schools, shopping etc...) pretty much determines what county you should look in...

There are very nice apartments in Russett Green (can't link it for some reason?)

It's about 5 minutes from Ft Meade and right off the Baltimore Washington Parkway (295)

russett.org

[Zhennie]

Thanks Pedro! I will check them out.

[fulcrcle]

I moved to Laurel from Fort Washington MD. I have NEVER had a problem. I know exactly where you are thinking about and as far as i know, It is pretty safe. My car has not been tampered or no other car in my community. Laurel Police are always present. I would go for it. You will enjoy it

[Mike Jones 1999]

Originally Posted by doubbltunman

You'd be better off anywhere, besides Laurel. I think that location your talking about there's public housing down the street. If you do move to Laurel, I suggest a alarm on your vehicle, club on your steering wheel, and wheel locks on your tires, and those funny license plate screws that need a special tool to take them off with. good luck.

...my wife and i just moved from marymount in laurel down from the mall and NEVER had any problems. our friends have never had any problems either. i always wonder why people slam laurel so much? it is not a bad place to live.

[Zhennie]

Thank you fulcrcle and Mike! It helps to get others thoughts. The apartment and parking garage are both controlled access, so hopefully that helps a bit.

[Wilkester]

Concord Park Apartments are the priciest and probably safest apartments in the Russett part of Laurel. You have to have an electronic key to get into the main parking lot. Also, access is controlled. From what I've seen, they have excellent fitness facilities. The next stop down from there would be Archstone Apartments which are across the street from Concord Park. They have a nice fitness center with controlled access but their swimming pool is a joke. The lowest rung on the apartment ladder in Russett is Camden Russett in my opinion. They've had problems with break-ins and I know for a fact about a month ago, someone broke into a number of the mailboxes. The complex managers are now replacing all the old mailboxes with new ones. Presumably, the new ones will be harder to break into. Concerning fitness facilities, their pool is like Archstone's and is a joke for serious swimming. It's great if you just want to get wet and cool off but you definitely can't do any laps in it. As far as fitness equipment, they've had problems with people tearing up their stuff or even stealing some of it. At one time, they had a full set of barbells. The only ones they have left now are the 45 and 50 pounders, ones people aren't likely to use.

The main advantage of living in the Russett area of Laurel is as Pedro2008 said. It is right off the Baltimore Washington Parkway. You can get to D.C. in an hour as long as the traffic isn't bad (it gets bad during rush hour) or Baltimore in 45 minutes. Baltimore Washington International Airport is about 25 minutes driving away. If you want to take the commuter train into either D.C. or Baltimore, you're about 10 to 15 minutes away from the Laurel train station where the MTA runs commuter trains from (I think) 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and then from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Please check their website for exact times.

The Russett area also has a Sam's Club, a Weis Supermarket, Target, an excellent wine store called Corridor Wine Store, a Panera restaurant and plenty of fast food joints.

One note: You will see an outstanding swimming pool and tennis courts cross from Camden Russett apartments. These belong to the Russett Housing Association. You can only use them if you pay housing association dues. If you rent an apartment, you don't and consequently, you don't have access to them. Sadly, they don't sell passes so non-homeowners can use them. The swimming pool there opens in late May I believe and stays open till Labor Day.

[Zhennie]

Thanks Wilkester. Will definitely check them out.