Nice, urban neighbourhood in Ottawa to retire? (apartments, rentals)

[Wwanderer]

This is just speculation. We have a cottage outside of Ottawa, but live in Toronto. We live downtown, in the Annex, so are used to a walkable neighbourhood, with great restaurants and bars, plus access to transit. We do like going out to hear live music, jazz, alt country, bluegrass, that kind of thing.

We'd be looking at an apartment, so it's got to be an area where there are some, not just single-family homes. Walkability is very important. Price would be too, don't want a luxury condo rental I think.

We went to the Elmdale Tavern once last year to hear a great band, and that neighbourhood, Mechanicsville I guess, on Wellington West, seemed kind of funky, but nice.

Any ideas? As I say, this is just a fantasy, but Toronto is getting less and less appealing to us, and an apartment in Ottawa would be much more affordable.

Any favourite live music venues? By the way, the band we saw was Hootie and the Blowfish I think.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Wwanderer

This is just speculation. We have a cottage outside of Ottawa, but live in Toronto. We live downtown, in the Annex, so are used to a walkable neighbourhood, with great restaurants and bars, plus access to transit. We do like going out to hear live music, jazz, alt country, bluegrass, that kind of thing.

We'd be looking at an apartment, so it's got to be an area where there are some, not just single-family homes. Walkability is very important. Price would be too, don't want a luxury condo rental I think.

We went to the Elmdale Tavern once last year to hear a great band, and that neighbourhood, Mechanicsville I guess, on Wellington West, seemed kind of funky, but nice.

Any ideas? As I say, this is just a fantasy, but Toronto is getting less and less appealing to us, and an apartment in Ottawa would be much more affordable.

Any favourite live music venues? By the way, the band we saw was Hootie and the Blowfish I think.

Ottawa has a lot of really nice urban neighbourhoods to be quite honest. The one you mentioned is a good one and is a bit less expensive than the usual suspects which are Westboro and the Glebe.

Note that it would be quite rare to have live music readily available anywhere outside of the two main downtown nightlife districts which are the Byward Market and Elgin St. Both of these are also nice areas to live but would be much noisier than the others I mentioned.

[Wwanderer]

Thanks for the reply. As for the music, I know, but we don't mind taking public transit. And I'm not talking about every day, although a couple of times a month or so would be nice.

This is all moot, since my husband has now said that he would never live in Ottawa--he thinks it's a very boring place. So I guess this speculation is useless, at least for now.

[soft_duck]

Hmmmm...

I would think somewhere like Westboro/Hintonburgh may be a good fit, as would Centretown/Golden Triangle as both places have apartments for rent (as well as tons of condos). Although less populated with condos, you can find a variety of unique rentals in New Edinburgh and it does tend to be a bit quieter (although still very close to downtown and a decent collection of shops/restaurants nearby).

And lets not forget the Byward Market/Sandy Hill as there would be lots of rentals around and you'd be right in the thick of things as well.

Good luck!

[kroeran]

Eastern end of Wellington west has become a hot area, with the new Bridgehead and Taco and donut places, Hintonburger moving across the street, and three or four high end restaurants popping up overnight.