Prime Neighborhoods in St. Paul (Roseville, Marshall: middle-class, best neighborhoods, for sale)

[threemsmom]

We are going to be attending school next year at Concordia University, St. Paul. We are looking at buying a single family home or duplex as an investment to live in with a resale planned in a few years (following graduation). (Actually, our parents are the buyers). Living in Missouri, we are not familiar with the college's adjacent neighborhoods, but want low crime areas as the main criteria. Family neighborhoods are our choice as well - we are "small town." Our searches through area realtors have had rather mixed (sometimes dismal) results. Can you give us a list of some streets that could serve as boundaries for our search, as well as recommended neighborhoods? Thank you from icy Missouri!

[StPaulEastSider]

Your expectations may be a bit unrealistic. How would you define "low crime"? You are NOT moving into a "small town" environment. Period.

Provided you will have a car, based on your criteria, I would steer you to the suburbs of Roseville, Falcon Heights or Arden Hills.

If you want a "family neighborhood" in the city, you are going to have to pay for it. St. Anthony Park may be an option. The area immediately surrounding St. Catherines, St. Thomas and McCalaster (sp?) are better than the area immediately surrounding Concordia. There are plenty of condos in that area, so that might be an area to target. Highland Park is another neighborhood to target.

The thing is, in these neighborhoods you'll be lucky to find anything under 250k !!

As for the area immediately adjacent to Concordia University, you have to go block-by-block. It's revitalizing, you'll find some beautiful restored homes, but you'll also find a lot of homes in need of work.

I live in the 55106 zip code, there are housing pockets in this area which look and feel and for all practical purposes are middle-class and "suburban-like", such as an area just east of Phalen Lake. 1553 Atlantic, 55106 zip code might be what you are looking to find. Bonus - it's close to the lake! You would have to drive to school. Take Phalen Blvd.

And there are also areas within this same zip code which are as close to "the ghetto" which you are probably going to find in the Twin Cities (where we honestly don't really have a 'ghetto'.) A search of the percentage of homes which own owned vs. rented would be meaningless in this zip code.

St. Paul is really a crazy "spaghetti bowl" of streets. You need to find a Realtor who knows the streets of St. Paul. This can be hard to do, especially in the lower to mid-priced range of homes. When I was looking for a home I didn't depend on a Realtor to steer me to a home in a neighborhood where I'd feel safe. It's much too much of a personal decision.

If you choose a home with an attached garage or parking space on your property, there is no reason to worry about the so-called "crime rate". Just follow the usual precautions, keep to yourself, and you'll be fine.


Best Wishes!

[Lillietta]

Highland Park, Macalester Groveland, Como Park, Crocus Hill - all the best neighborhoods in the city.

Then you have the suburbs. There is small-time crime everywhere, but nothing big in these areas. These areas are more expensive, though, than other areas. None of these places are too far from Concordia - no more than 20 minutes at most. St. Paul has a small town feel mostly all over anyway. The Twin Cities is very residential and quiet for the most part.

[EA1114]

If you are looking right in the area around Concordia, I would say stay south of Dayton Avenue and West of Downtown and East of the River. The Summit Hill, Mac/Groveland, Highland Park neighborhoods are all nice. They can be pricey though so you may want to check out some other areas. There are plenty of condos for sale too though.

If you are doing searches by zip codes try 55105, 55104, 55102 (not all of this zip is great), 55116

Good Luck, it is a great area to live! I have lived in the Summit Hill neighborhood for about 4 years and love it!

[threemsmom]

Thank you all for the input. It sounds like there are many areas I haven't looked into yet. I can't wait to get started!

[nick is rulz]

Mac/Groveland

[music7lover]

If you can afford it, Highland Park is great. Cute little houses and the neighborhood is very safe. Has a "village" with stores too.

[Ben Around]

Some good areas to look in Merriam Park, roughly I-94 to Summit, between Cleveland and Snelling, have more affordable homes. Many student rentals there, particlarly more towrd Cleveland, where the St Thomas University campus is adjacent. Otherwise, it's a good mix of old and young, families and singles, middle and working class. Sinle family homes predominate on side streets, apartments and duplexes on the more major streets. Relatively low crime, plus some great stores and restaurants on Snelling, Marshall, and Selby, with some big boxes right across the freeway. Good bus service, directly to Concordia along Marshall Ave. Who knows what resale might be, but my guess is that Merriam Pk. will go up in value over the next 5 years.

It's not small town, but if you wanted that, Concordia's probably not your best choice of schools, as it sits ritght in the middle of a metro area of 3+ million people.

[K-Luv]

Anything within border of the river, Marshall, Snelling, and Ford Parkway would be awesome.

[clawhammerist]

I agree with the recommendations of Mac-Groveland and Merriam Park. The former is arguably the more consistantly nice neighborhood, but it's also generally more expensive. The latter has some great homes, though, and north of Marshall it should be somewhat more affordable than south and closer to Summit $$$. There are cute, small business districts in this neighborhood around Marshall and Cleveland, and also around Selby and Fairview, which, along with the overall family-friendliness of the area, may give you a sense of being in a small town in the middle of a big city.

Ben Around is right that bus service from Merriam Park to Concordia (and, really, to many other areas) is terrific. Will you have a car when you move? Even if you will, do you think you'd be game for minimizing its use if convenient transit options are available? Your thoughts on this matter could help dictate neighborhood options; for example, although I may be out of touch, I don't remember it being at all convenient to bus to the Concordia area from Highland Park or Mac-Groveland.

The Midway area (all in 55104 zip code...but so are many other neighborhoods, including Merriam Park) hasn't yet been mentioned, and I think it's worth pointing out. Home prices are lower here than in any of the other neighborhoods previously recommended, but it's still quite family-friendly and safe (better bets for these two criteria are the streets north of about Thomas), and certainly convenient. Most shopping needs can be met with the stores along University between Snelling and Hamline, and convenient bus service directly to Concordia can be had in that same stretch.