moving to philly, need advice on neighborhoods (Drexel Hill, Lansdowne: apartment complexes, for rent)

[zapat]

hi everyone

i will be moving to philly in early october. i am a single male with no family or kids. i did lots of research online to find a good apartment and will come there to check out a couple of places in two weeks. before i do that i wanted to get advice from this forum to narrow down the search:

musts:
- i need a one bedroom apartment
- no more than 10 miles away from city center
- budget for rent is up to 950 but you know how it goes, the cheaper the better
- it HAS to have good access to public transportation, this is very important.
- safety of the neighborhood is important, i will be telecommuting, so not ghetto please
- i don't want to deal with parking hassle, so on-site parking is important.


desirable - but no big deal:
- urban, artsy feeling, young professionals, green areas nearby

which neighborhoods do i need to avoid? which ones are good? below is a list, if there is any area that i did not include in this list, please don't hesitate to mention it.

southwest philly
clifton heights
glenolden
landsowne
drexel hill
beverly hills
overbrook
wynnefiled heights
roxborough
upper roxborough
manayunk
east mt airy
west mt airy
germantown
melrose park
chelten hills
fern rock
cheltenham

in the following link, i marked some apartments. some of them are further away than 10 miles, you can disregard those. can anyone comment on the areas they are located? does anyone has anything to say about the apartment complexes? any suggestions?

Philly Apartments - Google Maps


thanks!!

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by zapat

hi everyone

i will be moving to philly in early october. i am a single male with no family or kids. i did lots of research online to find a good apartment and will come there to check out a couple of places in two weeks. before i do that i wanted to get advice from this forum to narrow down the search:

musts:
- i need a one bedroom apartment
- no more than 10 miles away from city center
- budget for rent is up to 950 but you know how it goes, the cheaper the better
- it HAS to have good access to public transportation, this is very important.
- safety of the neighborhood is important, i will be telecommuting, so not ghetto please
- i don't want to deal with parking hassle, so on-site parking is important.


desirable - but no big deal:
- urban, artsy feeling, young professionals, green areas nearby

which neighborhoods do i need to avoid? which ones are good? below is a list, if there is any area that i did not include in this list, please don't hesitate to mention it.

southwest philly
clifton heights
glenolden
landsowne
drexel hill
beverly hills
overbrook
wynnefiled heights
roxborough
upper roxborough
manayunk
east mt airy
west mt airy
germantown
melrose park
chelten hills
fern rock
cheltenham

in the following link, i marked some apartments. some of them are further away than 10 miles, you can disregard those. can anyone comment on the areas they are located? does anyone has anything to say about the apartment complexes? any suggestions?

Philly Apartments - Google Maps


thanks!!

Of your choices, I'd recommend West/East Mt. Airy as well as Manayunk for convenient, reasonably safe city neighborhoods. Roxborough is fine but you would be commuting downtown primarily by bus. Cheltenham and Melrose Park are fine suburbs but built more for families than young professionals.

I'd recommend Drexel Hill sooner than its neighbors Glenolden, Beverly Hills, Lansdowne or Clifton Heights. The light rail trolley is convenient and IMO its the most comfortable neighborhood of your immediate choices.

The apt complexes in SW Philly bordering the airport may be okay but there's really nothing to see here otherwise.

Wynnefield Heights and Overbrook are interesting. They should be solid neighborhoods yet there seem to be theft issues occasionally.

Unless I've missed any, I'd probably only recommend the other neighborhoods if you are comfortable with urban reality. They're not ghettos by any stretch but they're not Wisteria Lane or Santana Row either.

One extra rec I'll throw would be University City. It's a true melting pot which I consider to be a good thing. Depending on where you live you can choose from up to three light rail trolleys, two buses and a commuter rail station. You may find the option of renting in a converted home to be more ideal than many of the apartment buildings.

[chessimprov]

Wynnefield Heights is different than Wynnefield technically speaking, and I'd say characteristically speaking they are different enough that they are like two different sections to me despite the proximity from each other and sharing the same zip code. Wynnefield seems to have 1 community association, whereas Heights has at least 2 different ones for subsections. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a 3rd one for Pencoyd or Belmont Hills.

You should consider Clark Park too.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

You should consider Clark Park too.

When you say Clark Park, are you referring to the University City neighborhood surrounding it?

[chessimprov]

That or next to the park. The park is basically around 43rd and Baltimore. There are some antique houses on Locust around 40-45th and down further south toward Baltimore Ave.

[chessimprov]

I don't know Fern Rock well, but I don't get a good impression of it. I'd only been there once, about 7 years ago. I haven't heard about many changes in North Philly besides around Temple mostly.

[MikeFromPhilly]

Tone 509 pretty much summed it up.

[FindingZen]

Thanks for clearing that up, chessimprov. I figured that was what you meant.

And thanks to you too, MikeFromPhilly!