Accomodation near Temple U (Philadelphia, York: apartments, rent, houses)

[aoifster]

HI, Im moving with two roommates to philly in august to study in Temple U. We want to live within a few blocks of the campus, but arnt sure what are the safe areas around there because i gather some of the neighbourhoods up that way are fairly dodgy. We were looking at Girard and Broadst, or N.18th st in particular. any advice about the area would be much appreciated. thanks!

[JHG722]

Nothing around campus will be particularly great/safe. Are you British?

Go Owls!

[aoifster]

Nope, Irish! We dont mind if the area is kind of run down (lower rents by Temple U are a big draw for us) but really dont want to be anywhere thats actively dangerous! Ive heard that once we stay within a few blocks either way of the campus its mainly students and is ok, but not really sure what 'a few blocks' really means!

[toobusytoday]

Listen to JHG, I believe he is a rising senior at Temple. It's funny how different the areas are around Temple depending on which direction you approach it from. When we went to Temple for my son's robotics tournament one day we approached it following our GPS's directions and it seemed run down but fairly safe. The next day I went in with my husband and we turned off the Garmin after hitting some major construction (and Garmin kept directing us back to the construction zone) and came upon lots of boarded up houses and a generally scary looking area. This was followed by a re-habbed street that looked really nice and was close to campus.

[CheeSteak]

For student housing around Temple, you want to stay within this area:
From W Diamond St to W Jefferson St and from N Broad St to N Gratz St.
I work with builder in that area that is building student housing apartments, let me know if you want his contact info.

[N. Buck]

Yeah, I would say to stay one block on the WEST side of the campus. I see more students on the west side than on the east.

[aoifster]

I have 2 places in mind at the moment, one on north 16th street at susquehanna and the other on Girard at north 15th. Any opinions on these two locations? Im concerned the first place is a bit too far north maybe?? thanks for all the input so far, its great to have some opinions from people who actually live in philly!

[niceguy19125]

As someone who has lived in Philadelphia for awhile, and has rented out my second bedroom to Temple grad students, I can tell you living near campus is not the best idea. It's incovenient because there is little to do there and you'll find yourself leaving the 'hood for things to do and potentially dangerous if you let your guard down....or plain annoying trying to not get robbed/mugged/killed on daily basis.
Many students give it a year like you're planning and move on to other areas further but still convenient to campus. Fishtown, a trendy up and coming area east of campus (and about a 15 minute commute), and originally an Irish neighborhood, has plenty of affordable options. Fishtown proper can be considered anything east of Frankford Avenue, south of York Street, north of Girard Avenue and west of Aramingo Avenue. Rent is similar or less than the hyper-inflated "student ghetto" near Temple, with easier access to stores, restaurants/bars and downtown.

[archgirl2007]

I like the East side of campus the best... past the train station. I went to Temple. I have lived here for 5 years.

[pman]

re basics, the new fresh grocery supermarket will open in january at broad and thompson? across from the movie theater. there are increasingly fewer reasons to have to leave campus. If they actually build the two 12 story dorms, one at 12th and cecil b, the other at 15th and cecil b, things will continue to change rapidly.