Young Couple Moving to SLC (Salt Lake City, West Valley City: 2015, apartments, lofts)

[Allie3592]

Hi Everyone!

My husband and I are looking to move to SLC from Nashville. We're in our early 20s, no children (not planning on any in the near future), secure jobs, and passionate about the outdoors. After much consideration, we feel that SLC is a fantastic location for us to pursue our outdoor goals (climbing, hiking, biking, skydiving, photography, etc).

My question is about which areas we should avoid when searching for an apartment. I've heard to avoid areas west of SLC, but I'm not sure how accurate that warning is in 2015. Since we won't know anyone, we would like to be within 10 minutes of downtown, or walking distance from shopping areas / restaurants / gyms / community centers. We are hoping to pay less than $1100 for a one or two bedroom apartment, but would like for it to include washers / dryers in the unit, covered parking, 24 hour gym. I've found a few apartments just by a quick online search, and was curious if anyone has heard about them / seen them / known someone who has lived in them. The list is below:

2250 South Main Apartments

Wilshire Place

Meadowbrook Station

Birkhill on Main

Residencies at the Fairbourne

Eaglewood Lofts

Lions Gate

Any information that can be provided would be so helpful! We're anxious to get the details sorted out. Thanks, yall!

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Allie3592

Hi Everyone!

My husband and I are looking to move to SLC from Nashville. We're in our early 20s, no children (not planning on any in the near future), secure jobs, and passionate about the outdoors. After much consideration, we feel that SLC is a fantastic location for us to pursue our outdoor goals (climbing, hiking, biking, skydiving, photography, etc).

My question is about which areas we should avoid when searching for an apartment. I've heard to avoid areas west of SLC, but I'm not sure how accurate that warning is in 2015. Since we won't know anyone, we would like to be within 10 minutes of downtown, or walking distance from shopping areas / restaurants / gyms / community centers. We are hoping to pay less than $1100 for a one or two bedroom apartment, but would like for it to include washers / dryers in the unit, covered parking, 24 hour gym. I've found a few apartments just by a quick online search, and was curious if anyone has heard about them / seen them / known someone who has lived in them. The list is below:

2250 South Main Apartments

Wilshire Place

Meadowbrook Station

Birkhill on Main

Residencies at the Fairbourne

Eaglewood Lofts

Lions Gate

Any information that can be provided would be so helpful! We're anxious to get the details sorted out. Thanks, yall!

If you can add addresses for these, it would very very helpful to us, and you'll probably get more responses to your question. I can tell you for sure that a couple of these are not near downtown (2250 South Main Apartments and Meadowbrook Station), but I can't give you any information on the others.

[elcee499]

I am familiar with Eaglewood Lofts. It is new and features some nice amenities, but it's situated in an unattractive area north of the city (just past the gravel pits and across the road from the oil refinery).

The best way to find an apartment in Salt Lake is to do your searching using the rentler listings at ksl.com. You can search by either city or zip code, price range, and amenities - that makes it easy toeliminate those without a washer/dryer and fitness center. To focus on east-side locations within close proximity to downtown, try 84101, 84102, 84103, 84105, 84106, 84107 and 84108. Be sure to check out the soon-to-be open Library Square apartments - they seem very nice, and a 1 bedroom would fit your price range.

[CCSLC]

I second elcee499, mostly.
Given what you're looking for, you will want to focus on 84101, 84102, 84103, and 84111 ZIP codes, with 84105 and maybe 84106 as backups. I'd forget 84108 and 84107 though; 84108 doesn't have much non-student apartment housing, and 84107 is too far south (it starts south of 3900 South!).

And yes, Library Square looks like it will be nice, and it's both in your price range and in a great location.

I don't know much about the listed complexes specifically, but am familiar with them from a location standpoint. My opinions of the following in bold:

Originally Posted by Allie3592

2250 South Main Apartments
Not bad, but not spectacular, either. It's not the most desirable part of town (for SLC; so probably fine compared to most cities), but it's very near some so-so shopping/restaurants and the TRAX line to downtown.

Wilshire Place
Absolutely not. There is nothing within walking distance here, and it's a 25-35 minute drive to downtown. It's suburban middle-of-nowhere.

Meadowbrook Station
Not as far away as Wilshire Place, not as close as 2250. Good transit access to downtown again, but two stops after 2250.

Birkhill on Main
One more stop down the TRAX line from Meadowbrook. But still not as far away as Wilshire!

Residencies at the Fairbourne
West Valley City's new "city center" redevelopment project. It's become a pretty nice area with quite a bit of shopping (I own property a block away), and the end of the green TRAX line is right there. But it's ~20 minutes from downtown (driving) and ~25 minutes on TRAX. Definitely still the suburbs.

Eaglewood Lofts
In Davis County, just across the border from Salt Lake County/Salt Lake City. Nice enough complex, and around 10 minutes from downtown, but you'd have to drive EVERYWHERE. There's no transit nearby and nothing but gravel pit and refinery within walking distance. Definitely not a pretty area.

Lions Gate
A 5-minute walk (literally... 0.3 miles) from Birkhill on Main.

You've not picked anything terrible (except for Wilshire's location, perhaps), but given your budget you could do SO MUCH better right in downtown SLC. Some places to consider (I think these all have the amenities you've mentioned, but you'll want to confirm):
Liberty CityWalk
Liberty Midtown
Liberty Gateway
Park Capitol
Brigham Apartments
Northgate at the Gateway