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I've accepted a job in Miramar and will be moving from the NYC area down to South Florida in a few months, and I'm looking for some guidance as to where to live. Some facts about me: 30 yrs old; white collar professional; not single but will be doing long distance with my boyfriend, so although I don't care about the dating scene, I would like there to be some nightlife around so that I don't get totally lonely. My key criteria:
1. I'm not into the nightclub scene, and I haven't typically enjoyed living in areas that are buzzing 24/7. That means that in NYC, I've opted to live in places like Brooklyn or Hoboken that are very convenient and close to the city but are a little quieter/prettier/less hectic.
2. I'd like to have some bars and restaurants around, but I don't need super trendy options. A solid sports bar, and some good restaurant variety (in terms of food selection) would be fine for me.
3. Somewhat walkable would be nice. I have a car and I've lived in places like Long Island and Westchester in NY, so I understand what being in a car a lot is like. However, I would like to be able to walk to the above-described sports bar on a Sunday without getting in my car.
4. I'm fine being around families, or diverse ethnic groups, or whatever.
5. Safety is very important. I don't want to live in an "up and coming neighborhood."
6. My job will be in Miramar, and I'd like to keep my commute around 30 or so minutes.
7. I'll be renting and would like to keep my price under $2,000 per month (for a 1 bedroom).
Some of the places that I've seen suggested or have been recommended by some future co-workers are: Brickell/downtown; downtown Ft. Lauderdale; Aventura/Sunny Isles; Miami Beach (not South Beach). Brickell seems to have the sort of walkable part with bars and restaurants, but I don't want to live someplace that feels like the Financial District in NYC or Rosslyn in VA/DC.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Also, the job part is set so I don't need any comments telling me that I'll hate Miami or it's a bad decision to move At this point, I'm just trying to figure out the best place for me to live. Thanks all!
Downtown/Brickell and Miami Beach are pretty far from your job. Now I will say the drive will be 40mins maybe even a bit more but its mostly highway and you are going against traffic. If I was in your shoes I would go for something like Brickell where you can enjoy a nice place to live. Sure you have a drive a bit but traffic really won't be bad, its just a long distance.
Nothing in Miami is like NYC 24/7 bustle expect for the club/tourist areas of Miami Beach. Brickell is a large financial district but it is not NYC. It is busy at night but most walkable neighborhoods with bars and restaurants near by are. Its also usually only busy on Friday and Saturday nights. You have a good budget so you should be able to find something you like in much of the city.
If the commute is just too long I would suggest downtown Fort Lauderdale. From what you want it seems like Fort Lauderdale would be fine with you. It is not Brickell but it has its fair share of restaurants and bars all walking distance and the drive to work will be shorter. Miramar is in Broward County so you might want to post something in the Fort Lauderdale forum about where to look in Broward County.
Like parts of NYC, you can't necessarily judge time to work by miles to work... So I always recommend driving to/from work during the times you will be working and leaving work to see if it is acceptable to you. You also didn't say where in Miramar you will be working as that could make a difference in areas this forum recommends as well. If you are working close to I-75 the Ft. Lauderdale strip may be too far for you, but east Miramar it might be OK.
Another area, not mentioned you may also like is Miami Lakes. There are a ton of condos in the Lakes and if you are near Main Street, there is a night life that you could walk to with a lot of restaurants/clubs nearby. It is kind of an Artsy town too. This area also depends on where in Miramar you will be working. Also note that depending on your start and end location, there may be certain areas you will need to drive through may require a heightened sense of awareness.
Miramar is just not convenient to anywhere that's particularly walkable.
Reverse commute on I-95 can be unpredictable, Google gives you 25 minutes, but you get quite a few accidents, and when that happens, it's going to be similar or worse than driving with peak traffic. So I wouldn't recommend Miami unless they don't mind you being late occasionally or you normally like to come in like 20 minutes early. Sunny Isles would be the best "beach area" option, but the commute won't be much better than Miami. FLL to Miramar would be a somewhat more reliable commute.
Also, perhaps look into the Miami Lakes main street area. I know there are lots of businesses in Miramar Town Center and Pembroke Pines mall area, but most of the housing is in gated communities that are sadly "just outside of walking distance."
If your job is *in* Miramar town center, there are express busses that run the reverse commute nonstop between downtown Miami and there. Good luck!
Another area, not mentioned you may also like is Miami Lakes. There are a ton of condos in the Lakes and if you are near Main Street, there is a night life that you could walk to with a lot of restaurants/clubs nearby. It is kind of an Artsy town too. This area also depends on where in Miramar you will be working. Also note that depending on your start and end location, there may be certain areas you will need to drive through may require a heightened sense of awareness.
I am in Miami Lakes all the time on the weekends. Girlfriend lives there. Would love to know where these bars and restaurants are? There are a decent amount of restaurants, mostly chains, but most of them are sub-par. There is only one decent bar at Ale-House which is a subpar sports bar. No clubs to speak of what so ever unless I am completely missing something. Artsy? I think I have seen a gallery once in a while in Main Street but I rarely go to Main Street these days unless I am seeing a movie.
Miami Lakes is a nice area of a family. Not a place I would recommend unless you want suburbia. If you work near I-75 in Miramar it is an easy commute. And there are condos where you could walk to restaurants and one decent bar, but again these are mostly chain places or mediocre Italian, Thai etc.. Actually the Thai place is pretty good.
It would be important to know where in Miramar your job is. However IMO if you want good bars, good restaurants you have two options for a livable commute. Ft. Lauderdale, and Downtown Miami/Brickell. Brickell wont be a short commute but IMO it will have little traffic. Ft. Lauderdale will be a bit shorter. There are other areas which meet your criteria I just think the commute would be too much.
FlyMIA - I guess I see it through different eyes is all. The OP is a white collar professional, so Shula's probably would not be above her pay grade either. I've eaten there a few times, mostly for special functions. Is that Mad Jacks club that changes names every couple of years still around? What type of place is it now?
Never had a problem finding a good restaurant around main street either. I don't bar hop, but isn't there still a Sports Grill in the area? Also, there are some good Cuban/Latin restaurants in the area. (Latin America Restaurant and El Novillo are two.
If it wasn't an artsy kind of town why did they go thru the trouble putting all those painted cows around the Town?
And yes, my main issue on areas is we have no idea where in Miramar the job is... I also agree your other areas would meet the criteria as well - as long as the commute to work is not that big an issue. Having to take I-95 is just such a gamble.
FlyMIA - I guess I see it through different eyes is all. The OP is a white collar professional, so Shula's probably would not be above her pay grade either. I've eaten there a few times, mostly for special functions. Is that Mad Jacks club that changes names every couple of years still around? What type of place is it now?
Never had a problem finding a good restaurant around main street either. I don't bar hop, but isn't there still a Sports Grill in the area? Also, there are some good Cuban/Latin restaurants in the area. (Latin America Restaurant and El Novillo are two.
If it wasn't an artsy kind of town why did they go thru the trouble putting all those painted cows around the Town?
And yes, my main issue on areas is we have no idea where in Miramar the job is... I also agree your other areas would meet the criteria as well - as long as the commute to work is not that big an issue. Having to take I-95 is just such a gamble.
I agree 95 is a gamble. I will say that my father has done the reverse commute for 20 years now. Leaving from Miami, Upper Eastside area to Broward county, Davie area. He rarely has problems with the commute and it is a breeze for him 48 out of 50 drives. So IMO it is not as big a gamble as people make it out to be. Pretty sure that Mad Jacks place closed down a bit ago, and it would not be a place for a young professional IMO anyway.
As for Miami Lakes, Shulas is there. That's a decent spot and there are some decent Latin American places. Miami Lakes is very nice area, like I said a very nice place to a family to live. There are some pretty decent places to eat, and things to do in town.
There is a Ale House right by Main Street. It is ok. Food is not great, but it gets busy for Heat Games and Dolphin Games. And the cows seems like a bunch of cities want to have some random animal painted. The cows are because there are areas of the city where there are still cow pastures for tax reasons. So I guess they wanted painted cows but Miami Lakes is not artsy at all. It is a Upper Middle Class/Upper Class suburban area with lots of families. There are some condos around though.
I know the roads there seem like cow paths... About the only area in the county that you have roads don't all run east - west or north-south. And it was an area that Graham Dairy had a bunch of their milk cows in...
Thanks for all the helpful comments so far everyone. The job is East of I-75, still relatively close to the interstate. Definitely closer to I-75 than I-95. (Sorry, but I don't know the area well enough to describe the location in Miramar better!)
I've accepted a job in Miramar and will be moving from the NYC area down to South Florida in a few months, and I'm looking for some guidance as to where to live. Some facts about me: 30 yrs old; white collar professional; not single but will be doing long distance with my boyfriend, so although I don't care about the dating scene, I would like there to be some nightlife around so that I don't get totally lonely. My key criteria:
1. I'm not into the nightclub scene, and I haven't typically enjoyed living in areas that are buzzing 24/7. That means that in NYC, I've opted to live in places like Brooklyn or Hoboken that are very convenient and close to the city but are a little quieter/prettier/less hectic.
2. I'd like to have some bars and restaurants around, but I don't need super trendy options. A solid sports bar, and some good restaurant variety (in terms of food selection) would be fine for me.
3. Somewhat walkable would be nice. I have a car and I've lived in places like Long Island and Westchester in NY, so I understand what being in a car a lot is like. However, I would like to be able to walk to the above-described sports bar on a Sunday without getting in my car.
4. I'm fine being around families, or diverse ethnic groups, or whatever.
5. Safety is very important. I don't want to live in an "up and coming neighborhood."
6. My job will be in Miramar, and I'd like to keep my commute around 30 or so minutes.
7. I'll be renting and would like to keep my price under $2,000 per month (for a 1 bedroom).
Some of the places that I've seen suggested or have been recommended by some future co-workers are: Brickell/downtown; downtown Ft. Lauderdale; Aventura/Sunny Isles; Miami Beach (not South Beach). Brickell seems to have the sort of walkable part with bars and restaurants, but I don't want to live someplace that feels like the Financial District in NYC or Rosslyn in VA/DC.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Also, the job part is set so I don't need any comments telling me that I'll hate Miami or it's a bad decision to move At this point, I'm just trying to figure out the best place for me to live. Thanks all!
I am from NYC originally also, and I also have lived in Long Island (Westbury). So I am familiar with what you are asking for, let me take a crack at this.
Brickell/Downtown would be nice, you have access to mass transit, bars, and they have a HUGE mall being built there as we speak. You would only need to drive to work and that is it. The rest of the time you could walk to everything. The good thing about Brickell too is, depending on what part of Brickell you live in will determine how noisy/busy it is. Some sections are really quiet and off the beaten path. Other areas are in the middle of the action, so you have the best of both worlds there.
Downtown Fort Lauderdale is cool, but your commute would be 45 minutes or so, depending on where your job is in Miramar. I lived in Downtown Fort Lauderdale area for awhile. Didn't like it that much personally, only because it didn't have all the amenities I wanted in walking distance. I don't drink so all the bars were not important to me. I wanted to be able to walk to the restaurants, grocery store etc. I mean, don't get me wrong, technically you could walk to the grocers but it would have been a hike. Also, there wasn't a lot of diversity in terms of things to do, or should I say, things that I wanted to do there.
Aventura/Sunny Isles are two nice areas. But, I don't know that you would have the walkability over there. It is like a newer looking Westbury to me, with a few more condos. They have a nice mall there but the traffic in that area is annoying.
Miami Beach is very cool too, BUT your commute would be stupendous. Unless you plan to come here, get your foot int he door and then get a job in Miami as soon as you can, I wouldn't consider it.
When I moved to Florida I HATED it with a passion. I was living in Fort Lauderdale. I never thought about moving to Miami at first because people told me the Latino's are overbearing and all this other stuff. It got to the point I just couldn't take fort lauderdale anymore. So we moved to the Grove, and we couldn't be happier. I am not sure how long your commute would be from Miramar to here (The Grove) but that is another place you could think about. I would also recommend downtown coral cables. TONS to walk to, access to major highway, so you could get north quickly. Also TONS of shopping, restaurants etc. You would only need your car for work or to travel to a event in another part of Miami if you wanted to.
You should also look into Edgewater, but the part closer to Downtown Miami and also look at the Design District area and Buena Vista East which is the neighborhood just to the north of the Design District. They have cool restaurants, very high end stores (Fende, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin etc.). You would need a car to get to the grocery store, so that is the only draw back to that area. Ohhh and Midtown Miami, which is just across the street from Design District. There is a entire shopping plaza there with all the amenities you have asked for in the middle, so again walkability is there.
Wish you the best
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At this point, I'm just trying to figure out the best place for me to live. Thanks all!
seems like a bunch of cities want to have some random animal painted. The cows are because there are areas of the city where there are still cow pastures for tax reasons. So I guess they wanted painted cows but Miami Lakes is not artsy at all. It is a Upper Middle Class/Upper Class suburban area with lots of families. There are some condos around though.
