Coral Gables, S. Miami, and Coconut Grove: Help Needed (Kendall: apartments, crime)

[twiggers]

After considerable research I have narrowed down my areas to search for apartments. I have received numerous tips about the good areas and the areas to avoid. I have a full street map of Miami pulled out and I’m starting to mark the boundaries of areas to look for places (that way when I GoogleMap something I know right away if it’s in my ‘good’ areas).
I am having some problems though and I hope you can all help clarify!

Coconut Grove:
I was told to avoid the area around Grand & Douglas (by several people). This pretty much blocks out the entire Grove area South of US1. Am I missing something here? In my mind if someone says to avoid that area that means stay at least a good 5 blocks away in all directions. If I do this on my map that means I should stay south of Poinciana Ave., N. of US1, W. of McDonald Street, ad E of US 1.
I was also told that the area of US 1 north to 22nd and from 27th Ave. west to SW 37th was pretty blue collar. IS that area even considered Coconut Grove? Should I completely avoid this area?
Another question....what are the boundaries of the Grove? And where is ‘The Roads’?

Coral Gables:
Avoid 8th Street. That seems pretty easy....will probably avoid 5 blocks south of 8th Street as well.
Also told to avoid the area immediately west of campus. Looking at the map does this mean from San Amaro to Red Rd? Or should I be going further west?
Is everything else in the Gables OK? Also, does the Gables technically extend south of US1? My city map shows it being purple from US 1 south to 72nd....is that a correct assessment? Is that area south of US 1 still safe?
Also, what happens if I venture west of Red Rd., but still within the boundary of US 1 to 8th St.? Is that to be avoided?


South Miami:
Was told that a really good area is N. of US 1 to 64th St. and from Red Rd. west to 62nd Ave. Is this correct? What if I stay north of US 1 but venture further west past 62nd, is that not a good idea?
Is the entire area S of US 1 OK?
ON my map there is a white area (unincorporated?) that extends from US 1 south to SW 88th St. and from Red. Rd. east to Sw 47th. What is this area?

I appreciate any and all help!!! This map is now my bible for the next 6 weeks until I get down there and actually check things out!

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by twiggers

Coconut Grove:
I was told to avoid the area around Grand & Douglas (by several people). This pretty much blocks out the entire Grove area South of US1. Am I missing something here? In my mind if someone says to avoid that area that means stay at least a good 5 blocks away in all directions. If I do this on my map that means I should stay south of Poinciana Ave., N. of US1, W. of McDonald Street, ad E of US 1.

For Coconut Grove, I would say that you should avoid the area in which:
US1 forms the western bound
Franklin Avenue/Charles Terrace/Grant Drive forms the southern bound
McDonald Street forms the eastern bound, and
Bird Road forms the northern bound.

Virtually everything else is very nice.

Originally Posted by twiggers

I was also told that the area of US 1 north to 22nd and from 27th Ave. west to SW 37th was pretty blue collar. IS that area even considered Coconut Grove? Should I completely avoid this area?
Another question....what are the boundaries of the Grove? And where is ‘The Roads’?

The area between 37th Ave. and 27th Ave. from US1 to Coral Way (22nd St.) is a lower-middle class area. Safe, but more blue collar than affluent. This is not Coconut Grove, but rather the part of the "Coral Way" area of the City of Miami. West of 37th Ave. (Coral Gables) and East of 27th Ave. (Shenandoah neighborhood of the City of Miami) are nicer. The Roads neighborhood is located east of 12th Ave. and south of 11th St (I-95 curves and makes up the eastern and southern boundaries of the neighborhood).

Originally Posted by twiggers

Coral Gables:
Avoid 8th Street. That seems pretty easy....will probably avoid 5 blocks south of 8th Street as well.
Also told to avoid the area immediately west of campus. Looking at the map does this mean from San Amaro to Red Rd? Or should I be going further west?
Is everything else in the Gables OK? Also, does the Gables technically extend south of US1? My city map shows it being purple from US 1 south to 72nd....is that a correct assessment? Is that area south of US 1 still safe?
Also, what happens if I venture west of Red Rd., but still within the boundary of US 1 to 8th St.? Is that to be avoided?

There is nowhere in the entire City of Coral Gables that I would recommend that you avoid. 8th St. is the northern boundary of Coral Gables and there isn't anything south of there that isn't nice. North of 8th St. is lower-middle class / middle class area, so you don't have to worry about large amounts of spillover crime (because that area isn't a ghetto).

The generalization to avoid the area west of US1 is a bad one to use; there are some beautiful streets west of the university. What your friend may have meant is to avoid some streets SW of the university that are in the City of South Miami, particularly the small area around 64th Street directly west of Red Rd. (57th Ave.)

Yes, Coral Gables does extend over US1 toward Biscayne Bay. ALL of that is an extremely safe and affluent area.

Originally Posted by twiggers

South Miami:
Was told that a really good area is N. of US 1 to 64th St. and from Red Rd. west to 62nd Ave. Is this correct? What if I stay north of US 1 but venture further west past 62nd, is that not a good idea?
Is the entire area S of US 1 OK?
ON my map there is a white area (unincorporated?) that extends from US 1 south to SW 88th St. and from Red. Rd. east to Sw 47th. What is this area?

I appreciate any and all help!!! This map is now my bible for the next 6 weeks until I get down there and actually check things out!

You must have mixed up your friend's advice because the area s/he recommended is actually the "bad area" of which I speak above. Everything else in South Miami is nice.

The area whose boundaries you are trying to find is either South Miami or Coral Gables. I am not sure which it is, but I can tell you that all of it is very safe and nice.

[twiggers]

Crisp: Thank you soooooo very much!!! I really appreciate all of the help!

I must have misinterpreted her about the S. Miami area....I'm guessing that is the area SW of the University that she was saying to avoid.
With S. Miami she definitely recommended staying south of US 1.

Also, I'm guessing if I spillover into the far north boundaries of Pinecrest (that touches S. Miami boundaries) I am probably OK too?

The Roads seems like it is quite a ways from the University...so I think I'll cross that off my list.

Regarding Coconut Grove again, is it all south of US 1 then (or east of US 1 depending on the way that darn road curves)?

[sjones123]

Try out Doral they have some really nice areas over there.

[twiggers]

sjones: I am going to be working at the University (Coral Gables campus). Would that not be too far of a drive every day?

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by twiggers

I must have misinterpreted her about the S. Miami area....I'm guessing that is the area SW of the University that she was saying to avoid. With S. Miami she definitely recommended staying south of US 1.

This is too restrictive of a recommendation. See my above post for a description of the area around where the "not so nice" section of South Miami is. There are some nice areas of South Miami that are west of US1. One of my good friends lives off of Ludlam Rd. (67th Ave.) in the area between Bird Rd. (40th St.) and Miller Dr. (56th St.) - this is part of South Miami and is nowhere near not-nice areas. It is mostly houses but there are a few apartment/townhome complexes near where Ludlam meets SW 46th St... he has said that many UM grad students live there; the university is really close, which is a straight shot east down 48th or 56th Sts.

Originally Posted by twiggers

Also, I'm guessing if I spillover into the far north boundaries of Pinecrest (that touches S. Miami boundaries) I am probably OK too?

There are no "bad" parts of South Miami east of US1, so both the Pinecrest and downtown South Miami areas are very safe.

Originally Posted by twiggers

Regarding Coconut Grove again, is it all south of US 1 then (or east of US 1 depending on the way that darn road curves)?

Yes, all of Coconut Grove is east of US1. Anything on the other side of US1 in that area is either Coral Gables or Miami.

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by twiggers

sjones: I am going to be working at the University (Coral Gables campus). Would that not be too far of a drive every day?

It's not terribly far, but since you would be going west to east in the morning and east to west in the afternoon, you'd be going with the commuter traffic flow on some very heavily-traveled roads. I would stick to eastern Kendall (Dadeland area), South Miami, Coral Gables, and Coconut Grove if I were you... your commute will be much quicker and you will be living in a much more interesting area with more to do. Doral is extremely cookie-cutter; not my style.

[kevinkagy]

Hey! I think you've got a great area that you're looking into and crisp444's advice is really great and accurate. I'm going to add my 2 cents.

Coconut Grove: Crisp444's boundaries to avoid are spot on but you should also note that although say Charles Terrace is in the seedy part of the Grove, the next street down (Kumquat Av) is really nice and it's night and day transformation. It's funny because, you wouldn't think the transformation is so blatant, but it is. The Grove is beautiful outside of the areas Crisp444 stated. The most charming aspect is it's forested streets with small, old homes that have a ton of character. Not to mention the Grove has a great sense of community which is always nice. Another advice I can give you when looking into the Grove, is when on Google Maps, follow the tree coverage. If you see a lot of tree coverage, it's probably a nice area. No trees= not as nice.

Coral Gables: There is no part of Coral Gables that is ghetto or ugly. Although 8th St may be the Gables' northern border, it's still a really nice area and the area just north of it, is not the ghetto. It's a normal working class neighborhood (Lower Middle Class). Overall though, the Gables gets nicer as you go south from 8th St, but again, there is no ugly or poor part of the Gables, it's all beautiful.

South Miami: I don't know as much about South Miami as the other areas, but from personal experience, South Miami is also another really beautiful area. Some areas are more iffy than others, but I wouldn't categorize any part of South Miami as dangerous, poor and anything of the like. It's all uppper middle, lower upper class. Although I may be wrong on this one.

I hope this all helps! Cheers!

[twiggers]

Kevin: Thank you very much for all of that information!! It is very helpful.

Crisp: Thank you so much as well!!!

I had my friend highlight on Google Maps the areas (in S. Miami, Coconut Grove, and Coral Gables) that I should avoid....Google Maps

Would you agree with those areas? Any others that I should avoid?

Also, aside from that area of Coconut Grove that is highlighted, is pretty much anything south/east of US 1 OK (i.e. everything from US 1 to the water)?

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by twiggers

I had my friend highlight on Google Maps the areas (in S. Miami, Coconut Grove, and Coral Gables) that I should avoid....Google Maps

Would you agree with those areas? Any others that I should avoid?

That map is pretty much spot-on. It's about as accurate as you can get.