a few questions about downtown St. Paul (Roseville: apartments, rental)

[timmy38]

First off, my heart and prayers goes out to everyone envolved in this tragic
inncident that just happened. My prayers are with you. My question is, Im looking at going to Mcnally Smith Music college in downtown St. Paul. I was wondering is it possible to live and work dowtown possibly without a car and still get around easily?. Are there affordable apts. in the area? mainly studio apts im interested in. Also are there things available to do for college students in downtown st. paul? shops, movie theaters, bars etc..? And are there other colleges in downtown st. paul, or just Mcnally? I just want to make sure I wold have a life there outside of school.

Thanks

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by timmy38

First off, my heart and prayers goes out to everyone envolved in this tragic
inncident that just happened. My prayers are with you. My question is, Im looking at going to Mcnally Smith Music college in downtown St. Paul. I was wondering is it possible to live and work dowtown possibly without a car and still get around easily?. Are there affordable apts. in the area? mainly studio apts im interested in. Also are there things available to do for college students in downtown st. paul? shops, movie theaters, bars etc..? And are there other colleges in downtown st. paul, or just Mcnally? I just want to make sure I wold have a life there outside of school.

Thanks

Downtown St Paul is experiencing somewhat of a rebirth nowadays thanks to the new Xcel Centre, the new Science Museum, the renovated public library and some great new bars and restaurants. There used to be a cinema in one of the highrise apartment/shopping complexes on Mears Park but I think it closed along with the rest of the shops there. However, downtown apartments are probably going to be expensive and you might find more affordable places up around Grand Avenue (there is a bus that runs all the way along Grand into downtown) and there is a large student population with lots of social activity around there thanks to other colleges such as Macalester, St Thomas, William Mitchell and St Cate's.

[Robert P Stewart]

My office is actually right in Lowertown overlooking Mears Park. I've got a bunch of friends who rent apartments too.

Send me a msg if you'd like their contact info.

Downtown St. Paul is fun. Good restaurants, farmers markets, music, shopping - don't know if you'll be here for the light rail, but that will rock as well.

Robert

[mudmuffin]

I've found rent in the downtown area to be rather on the high end for apartments.

Chilaili is correct in stating that there is a lot of rental housing on Grand Ave. Some places are higher priced but there are lots of reasonable places too. As a student you would probably feel more at home in this area. Lots of students in this area. St. Paul in general has lower apartment rates than Mpls.

As far as commuting, if you lived on the far west end of Grand you'd never be more than a 15-20 minute bus ride to downtown. Grand has lots of shops and also has a major bus route that intersects it that runs to the Light Rail (with stops at Mall of America, Airport and Downtown Mpls) and to another major mall in Roseville.

[timmy38]

Thanks guys, this helps me out alot!

[mudmuffin]

You're welcome.

While it's true that business seems to be coming back to the downtown area, it's going to be a while before it's as busy as it was in the late 70's and early 80's.

The positive thing is that it's easy to get out of the downtown area as it's only 11 blocks by about 9 blocks.

Great Pizza places downtown are Cossetta's on W. 7th Street about 1 block west of the Xcel Center and Savoy Inn on E. 7th on the east end of downtown.

[timmy38]

I was meaning to ask too, are there any workout gyms in the
area also? And is there any health food stores close by? Thanks,

Tim

[mudmuffin]

There are a few gyms in the area. I think there is still a Bally's on University and there is a YMCA nearby also.

Contact me if you're interested in the Grand Ave. area, I can give you at least one building owner to avoid renting from.

There are several health food stores in the area and co-ops also.