Is Dadeland a good place to live? (Miami, Kendall: apartments, condos)

[jsw123]

Hi,

I'm moving to Miami next month. I was wondering if Dadeland is a good place to live? I was looking online and it has a shopping mall, grocery stores, movie theater, etc. How safe is the area? Since I'm moving from new york, I wasn't planning to have a car. Thus, I wanted somewhere that's near the metro rail. I was looking into the Metropolis, although I am open to suggestions. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

[tallrick]

Dadeland is relatively safe, but not an exciting place. It's a remodeled 60's suburban mall that has converted to a place to buy clothes or shoes now. While there was a movie theater across the street, the Wometco was replaced by a computer store and I am not sure if any are within walking distance. There are some really nice homes north of the mall but they tend to be overpriced. The condos range from the 60's-70's style condos north of the mall to the overpriced "colonnade" to the towers south of the mall. The metrorail is right there so if you are looking at the metropolis (built on the old williamson cadillac lot) you're a few feet away from the dadeland north station. My suggestion, to experience Miami at it's fullest, get a car. Dadeland is quite boring.

[bale002]

Just to follow up on tallrick's response, it's okay if you are willing to pay to be near the Metrorail and probably also inflated prices for basic shopping.

Otherwise indeed you will still need a car, if at least to have access to more economical shopping, though you could reach by rail such spots as South Miami, University of Miami, Coconut Grove, the Vizcaya Museum, Brickell, and downtown Miami, in that order from south to north.

You would be hard-pressed to find a nice SFH for less than $500,000 in the area and, yes, the older condos are for the most part cruddy.

It helps to speak Spanish, and maybe you do, but not absolutely necessary.

Good luck!

[doggiebus]

Those Dadeland condos are new and probably pretty nice. The location is good, there are many things around this area. But I still think you will need a car in this area. The only place in Miami-Dade that you could get away with not having a car is South Beach because you can live, work and play there.

[heydade]

Dadeland is very safe and is up and coming as far as trendy and exciting places to live goes....I am talking about downtown Dadeland specifically. My ex-wife lived in Metropolis. It's very nice.

[big mean bear]

Downtown Dadeland sucks.You go there to shop at outlets like Target and Best Buy, not to live. Traffic at 88th street and US 1 is the epicenter of bad traffic in Miami. Dadeland is a fake, ugly city with too many 8 lane roads and not enough trees or nice people, and too many cars.

[crisp444]

I wholeheartedly disagree. I think it's a nice place to live, either in the "downtown" section in one of the highrises or in one of the more traditionally suburban areas between SW 87th Ave and US1. Plenty of shopping and dining on US1, downtown South Miami, and SW 88th St... AND you can take the Metrorail to Brickell/Downtown instead of having to be a slave to your car every morning and afternoon.

[kevinkagy]

Dadeland is nice. The new apartment buildings have made the area more urban and more pedestrian friendly. The biggest benefit of living in Dadeland is its access to Metrorail, which is a godsend. You also have Dadeland Mall across Kendall Drive and a few other things in the area. However, everything around Dadeland is very suburban and quite boring, since it's mostly residential. If you want the big city feel without having to have a car, I'd highly suggest you look into Downtown or Brickell or even Midtown which is further north of Downtown and south of the Design District.

The benefits of living in Downtown is that it's cheaper than Brickell, although not as safe as Brickell, which is really safe, close to everything (MIA, South Beach, Coconut Grove, Brickell, Midtown, Coral Gables, etc.), you have great public transit access, lots of activity, parks, etc. Midtown is also nice. It's cheaper than Downtown and is a bit similar to Dadeland but bigger, and more city feeling. Hope that helps!

[miamiblue]

Originally Posted by kevinkagy

Dadeland is nice. The new apartment buildings have made the area more urban and more pedestrian friendly.

Kendall Drive and US-1 are quite the opposite of being pedestrian friendly, and I think this is the main problem with the "Downtown Dadeland" concept. It is urban infill in a suburban commercial area without any kind of compensation for the auto-centric infrastructure to help people get around on foot. Yes, you can theoretically walk to the mall, etc., but you are risking your life to do so. A few pedestrian bridges would be a big help.

You're even risking your life to walk across the Dadeland mall parking lot! In order to make the area truly pedestrian friendly, Dadeland mall and the surrounding strip malls (Container Store, Old Navy, etc.) would have to be razed and rebuilt to accomodate a more urban mixed-use environment, rather than catering to people in cars (this will never happen because to many people are forced to have cars). As it is, the mall is still a typical suburban mall with a sea of parking lots that pedestrians have to cross (all the while dodging fashionistas in their Land Rovers looking for the closest parking space) in order to reach the actual mall. Only now it has been surrounded by high-density residential development without any real provisions for that density.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by kevinkagy

Dadeland is nice. The new apartment buildings have made the area more urban and more pedestrian friendly.

The problem is building apartments in itself doesn't make the area more pedestrian friendly. You need to update the infrastructure around it, which wasn't designed for that kind of dense population. Miamiblue covered it better than I could have. I do agree however that it's a decent place to live otherwise.