How safe/good is area around 7th St just south of river east of US1? (Miami: apartment)

[Samantha6]

Hey guys,
I have previously posted on here to get your advice on safe areas to live and now I think I finally found a place. Just to remind you I am a single female moving down to go to university and never experienced crime b4. However I'd like final confirmation from the locals of the neighbourhood before I go ahead and sign the lease.

The apartment is b/w 7th & 6th ST SW and 2nd Ave directly south of the miami river and east of US1. Any remarks on this area in terms of reputation, safety, cleanliness, traffic going west in morning, are there any homeless people etc etc. Also would this area still be considered Brickell? I unfortunately have to rent it unseen b/c Im so far away.
Thanks alot for your input and help...I dont know what I would do without this site!

[Hero]

Hi Samantha, it's not easy trying to get a place when you're so far away. Many of my friends and myself were in a similar situation.

Once we got here, it wasn't too much trouble to find a place. Some of us stayed in a hotel for a week while apartment shopping. Others planned to rent month to month and then either found a better place or stayed for the full year. (All of us ended up staying for the full year.) If this is a year-long decision, you don't have to make it from long distance. Then again, you might get lucky.

I can't fully answer your question as I've only been through the area a few times. But overall location, safety and cleanliness I would say is above average.

Public transportation appears to be decent in the area:
Miami-Dade County - Transit (http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/transit/moverstations.asp - broken link) Metromover Map
Miami-Dade County - Transit (http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/transit/metrorailstations.asp - broken link) Metrorail Map

Good luck and welcome to Miami!

[crisp444]

It's a good area, and yes that is considered Brickell. My best friend lives right around the corner from where you might move.

[Samantha6]

Oh thats good to hear. Your friend has never experienced anything weird around that area or had any scary stories?

[crisp444]

Though he's been living there for less than a year, he hasn't experienced anything weird. He likes it and plans to stay in the neighborhood for a while. He plans to move to another building (on Brickell Key, a few blocks away) not due to crime or anything, but due to a nice pay raise he recently received. I would consider living in that neighborhood, it really is central to everything you'll need and great dining and nightlife is right across the bay in Miami Beach.

In your original post, you asked about traffic going west. To where do you plan to commute? Traffic in Brickell itself isn't that bad but generally in Miami traffic is an issue and I can give you some traffic advice if you let me know where you'll be working.

[Samantha6]

Ill be going to FIU on the south campus so will I be against traffic in the morning and evenings? What road will get me there fastest? Can I just take 8th or 7th street straight or is it better to go on the dolphin? Is there a sketchy, creepy area I should avoid in my commute? i know I sound paranoid now haha :P

[crisp444]

There is no "sketchy, creepy area" through which you will have to drive when going to FIU. Going west in the mornings and east in the afternoons is a reverse commute and traffic on the Dolphin Expressway (836) won't be that bad. It will definitely be faster than taking SW 8th St. the whole way to FIU. The Dolphin Expressway is notorious for bad traffic (eastbound in the morning, westbound in the afternoon) but fortunately you won't have to deal with it.

[Chelito23]

I wanted to add a comment to your post.

That area isn't "bad", but here is the carch. Like most of Miami, the condos are in previously cheaper areas that weer poorer and industrial. Now you have these huge condo towers surrounded by warehouses and other condos...and there are not many people actually living in these buildings. So you do have the homeless people coming around from downtown across the river, the area is DEAD at night...Brickell is alive during business hours...and of course the hype is that this will change as more people move in...but this isn't an area you would go walking around at night.

Sketchy areas nearby? YES, uprivier on the other side of the I 95 bridge, areas west in East Little Havana and Overtown. Driving to FIU, if you take the backroads, parts of Little Havana are sketchy.

[eaglecall]

Yeah overall is a good area. Like Chelito says, there's a lot of new buildings still empty, but new people WILL MOVE IN; that's for sure. Just be careful like in any big city, but nothing crazy in that area. Besides, being against the traffic is priceless. For FIU, take I-95 north, then dolphin west and get off on 107th Ave south. Go down to 8th street. should be around 12-14 miles.

[ReSpEcT]

Originally Posted by Samantha6

Hey guys,
I have previously posted on here to get your advice on safe areas to live and now I think I finally found a place. Just to remind you I am a single female moving down to go to university and never experienced crime b4. However I'd like final confirmation from the locals of the neighbourhood before I go ahead and sign the lease.

The apartment is b/w 7th & 6th ST SW and 2nd Ave directly south of the miami river and east of US1. Any remarks on this area in terms of reputation, safety, cleanliness, traffic going west in morning, are there any homeless people etc etc. Also would this area still be considered Brickell? I unfortunately have to rent it unseen b/c Im so far away.
Thanks alot for your input and help...I dont know what I would do without this site!

You should check out googlemaps.com and go to that area and hit streetview...and you can get a 360 degree look at that area from street level....and see if it looks good for yourself