Looking for neighbourhood feel within Tampa Bay? (Gandy: apartments, for rent)

[AJ28]

Greetings future neighbours,

I am moving down to Tampa Bay area from NC this month (actually on a recky mission this weekend to check out apartments and the like) and wondered if anyone could recommend interesting areas to live. Im 30, single, love the beach, neighbourhood bars, parks and hiking.
Somewhere with a neighbourhood feel- so you can walk to a coffee shop, park or bar etc and with other young singles. To give you an idea of budget Im looking to pay around $600 for a room in a shared apartment.

I'll be working in NY during the week, so proximity to the airport is my main concern (pref within 10-15mins). I suppose it would be nice to be between the airport and the ocean (so St Pete), but Ive heard the Gandy (?) bridge can get really congested, which is worrying when you have a flight to catch- Id be travelling either Sunday eve or Monday 4-5am and then back Fridays around 6-7pm.

I have viewings of Apts at Gandy/MLK (St Pete) and a place in Carrollwood, any thoughts on those?

I have searched the boards but could not find anything which specifically answers my question, so please forgive me, as I am sure this has been asked before.
Thanks so much!

[BBI]

Originally Posted by AJ28

Im 30, single, love the beach, neighbourhood bars, parks and hiking. Somewhere with a neighbourhood feel- so you can walk to a coffee shop, park or bar etc and with other young singles. To give you an idea of budget Im looking to pay around $600 for a room in a shared apartment.

I'll be working in NY during the week, so proximity to the airport is my main concern (pref within 10-15mins). I suppose it would be nice to be between the airport and the ocean (so St Pete), but Ive heard the Gandy (?) bridge can get really congested, which is worrying when you have a flight to catch- Id be travelling either Sunday eve or Monday 4-5am and then back Fridays around 6-7pm.

I have viewings of Apts at Gandy/MLK (St Pete) and a place in Carrollwood, any thoughts on those?

In Pinellas, look in/around downtown St. Pete. It's walkable in the way you want, 20 minutes to TPA (25 at rush hour), and I'm sure you can find a 1-bedroom apartment for $600/month either downtown or in one of the surrounding neighborhoods. The Old Northeast neighborhood is the nicest adjacent neighborhood, followed by Crescent Lake, then Uptown. You could also look in Kenwood, which is just past walkable to the best part of downtown, but is bike-able and has a few of its own neighborhood bars. I'll note that Kenwood is a very gay-friendly neighborhood, if that matters to you one way or the other. Also, a lot of the places for rent in the neighborhoods surrounding downtown are for rent by owner (e.g., over-garage apartments) or very small apartment buildings, so you need to walk/drive around to find the for rent signs.

Gandy/MLK is not walkable. It's just residential, other than strip malls on the larger roads (like Gandy, MLK, Roosevelt, etc.) So you'd be driving to downtown St Pete or South Tampa for fun. The good news is that you'd be less than 20 minutes to either of them, so it's not a bad place to start out and figure out which of those two areas you like more. Do not worry about the Gandy bridge. It'd probably be faster to take the 275 bridge to TPA than the Gandy, but, either way, on Sunday evening or any day at 4-5am, traffic will be very light. At 6-7pm on Fridays, the Gandy might get backed up (someone who commutes that way might know better), but the fastest way home will be over the 275 bridge, and traffic will be 70+mph to the MLK exit.

Someone else is going to have to help you with Carrollwood. Not enough going on there for us (I'm 30, married, no kids). You should look in South Tampa near South Howard Ave (south of Kennedy), though I'll admit I'm not sure what prices are there.

[AJ28]

Thanks so much for your input! I did read this before I went down but was on my phone so I couldnt respond. I loved the city and cant wait to get down there in 3 weeks :-)

I've ended up taking the Carrolwood place for now (it was fully furnished so less hassle!)...but will be hopefully koving to downtown St Pete once I find something more permanent.