[DRW19]

After growing up in southeast MI, I'm going to be moving soon and working out in the Charlotte area soon. However, I'm not too familiar with safe AND nice places to live in the area. Ideally, I'd be interested in apartments within a reasonable drive to Charlotte. Is Lansing a nice place to live or should I look for an area just outside of town? I loved the feel of downtown Ann Arbor, is there somewhere (besides MSU) with a similar sense? I'm over the college lifestyle, but it would be nice to live somewhere I could find people relatively close to my age (I'm in my mid-20s) or where there are any other young professionals. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[PreservationPioneer]

Lansing isn't exactly a vibrant city. Unfortunately, a lot of the nightlife happens in the suburbs (East Lansing). If I were to move to Lansing, and I am also post-college (26 years-old), I would check out the downtown or Old Town areas. There are plenty of nice areas within the city worth checking out. Charlotte is also a cute little town. Just don't expect Ann Arbor vibrancy.

[losethatsmile]

I agree with the previous poster about Lansing not being vibrant. If you want to avoid the college scene, Old Town in Lansing is the closest you'll find - but it's not the safest area either. However, it's charming and full of younger people and the closest you'll find to a young professional vibe.
Charlotte itself has plenty of people your age, but it's about as far from Ann Arbor as you can get! It's got all the necessities, but it's still a rural town with farming roots. But the good news is if you get tired of it, it's not far from Lansing. You can take off after work and spend your evenings in the city and come home to a safe area to sleep.
Grand Ledge/Delta Township are between Lansing and Charlotte - that way you're living closer to the "action" (and I use the term loosely) without being right in the thick of the city (and the crime), but still pretty close to work.
I wish there was better news for you - but I'm afraid if you're looking for anything even closely resembling Ann Arbor, you'll be sorely disappointed. But you'll only be an hour from there, and an hour or so from Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. And Lansing has a little bit of nightlife; a lot of people like it here - I'm not one of them, so I'm not the best one to ask about entertainment. I do know that the downtown area has come up A LOT in the past few years - it's barely recognizable anymore. I'm 27 and trust me when I say that there are plenty of places where you won't see many undergrads. Look for places where the Cooley Law School students go. Housing there can get expensive though.
Good luck, and sorry for rambling.

[timeofseasons]

Perhaps look at the apartments around Dunckel Road, specifically main street wouuld be Trappers Cove Trail. It's a large apartment community and the area is generally safe and clean. Also could look near Groesbeck Golfcourse. After that I can only think of old town and downtown Lansing, other areas such as Holt, Diamondale, Grand Ledge, Dewitt mainly consist of young families rather than singles. Groesbeck also consist of young families but more young than the suburbs.

[michigander1987]

I pretty much concur with everyone that your best bet as far as nightlife goes (but away from MSU) is Lansing's Old Town or Downtown Lansing. Other than that, if you're looking for Ann Arbor-style vibrancy, you're not gonna find it outside of East Lansing.