Graduate student urgently looking for housing near UT (Toledo, Chillicothe: apartment complex, city hall)

[Tobias C]

Originally Posted by Chad2012

What do you guys think of the 1819 Garden Ridge area?

This particular area would be fine. I think most people would generally consider Glendale to be the beginning of "safe" South Toledo. Theres some crime here and there in the Southwyck area, as the whole Reynolds Rd corridor is declining overall, and it Southwyck used to be the site of a shopping mall so everythings sort of dying around there. By no means is it "dangerous" around there though. Its still completely fine. Theres just a lot of cheaper apartments in the Southwyck area so there might be a sketchy person or two here and there, but where youre looking at over by Eastgate and Glendale would be more away from all that, and more nessled in with decent residential neighborhood. The only thing that strikes me as kind of a pain might be the walk from Heatherdowns (your bus stop), up to Glendale. Its not super pedestrian oriented, really spread out, I dont know that theres even sidewalks......so you might stick out walking down the road, but whatever.....whatever your comfortable with. Either way, its a safe enough area. Maybe you can even take your bike and put it on the front of the bus, so when you have to get off somewhere slightly inconvenient like Heatherdowns, you can get back up to Glendale quick.

Did you look into the actual bus route and where they zig zag to and how long theyre supposed to take. TARTA is kinda janky and hard to understand at first.

[Chad2012]

Thanks for the info Tobias.

Yeah I called TARTA and asked for the best route from UT main campus to Garden Ridge. They said to go to downtown and then hop onto the 31H. They said it goes down Glendale, but then turns onto Byrne and then onto Heatherdowns. It heads down Heatherdowns for a bit. The closest intersection for my area would be Eastgate, then I could walk up Eastgate and then turn right onto Garden Ridge. I don't know the area at all, so I asked if that road had sidewalks on each side and the woman on the phone got kind of rude and said she didn't know...just walk in the grass haha.

This is the route/schedule http://www.tarta.com/wp-content/uploads/routes/31.pdf . From the looks of this the 31G would go there. I just don't know about the times it runs and if I could catch it from downtown after 10pm. I'm guessing not since they didn't suggest it.

[Rebek56]

You might also want to check with Noneman Real Estate (Noneman Real Estate Company). My husband rents in one of their complexes, they're decent landlords, and I think they also manage some small free-standing buildings in West Toledo that might fit your budget and be close to the U.

[Chad2012]

Thanks Rebek. I checked out some lofts from them called Greystone lofts (629 Reynolds). They seemed like a good deal and I really liked the look of the lofts. If the area where Greystone lofts are isn't too bad, then I'd definitely add them to my list! I'll just have to check about the bus situation.

[Rebek56]

I've driven past the Greystone Lofts; the area is a little dismal but not scary. If I remember, Noneman owns some little Thirties or Forties buildings (no names) right on Monroe. I've not been in them, but they're walking distance of UT. You might want to call. BTW, the Greystone Lofts are near the botanical gardens, a genuinely excellent produce market, and a couple of fun diners. (My spouse used to live near there.)

[Chad2012]

Originally Posted by Tobias C

Since theres not much in the way of grocery shopping anywhere in central Toledo, I would suggest just riding downtown to the Farmers market and getting as many good local foods as you can.

Thanks for suggesting this! I love farmer's markets and would definitely stop by to get my produce there when I can. My city has a really small one with a tiny selection, so it would be nice to check out the Toledo one! I'm guessing the downtown one is bigger than the Westgate one?

[ottorocket]

Check out Terrace View apts. bkproperty.net will guide you there. They're really nice people and keep the places clean and well maintained. You won't be disappointed plus the rates are reasonable.

[canudigit]

Originally Posted by Chad2012

Thanks for suggesting this! I love farmer's markets and would definitely stop by to get my produce there when I can. My city has a really small one with a tiny selection, so it would be nice to check out the Toledo one! I'm guessing the downtown one is bigger than the Westgate one?

Just keep in mind that Toledo's farmers market is seasonal, so from roughly October through April or May you would have to shop elsewhere. They also don't have staples such as milk and bread, so you would have to leave the area to shop at some point anyway.

With all of the great things happening downtown and all of the people moving down there, I can't believe that they don't have some kind of market, even a small one, in the Warehouse District. It does seem to me though, if I'm not mistaken, that they did have one for a time and it didn't do enough business to stay open. I wonder if a lot of the people who live down there in those lofts actually work out in west Toledo, Sylvania, Perrysburg, etc. and stop at outlying supermarkets on their way home from work to get their groceries. I live in a small town in SE Michigan now, and I have to admit that I would feel lost without a full service grocery store, but that's just me.

If you do end up living downtown, avoid the temptation to go to the nearest grocery on Cherry St. or the Old South End (I think there's a small supermarket on Broadway near South). Those are very rough areas, especially at night. Your best bet, if you want a full service grocery store, would probably be to drive out Monroe St. to the Kroger at Monroe and Secor. It's probably about fifteen minutes straight out Monroe St. from downtown and in a much safer area than the old neighborhoods that surround downtown.

[Chad2012]

@Otto Yeah I read about those apartments. Unfortunately they don't have any available at the moment.

I think I'm going to go with the one apartment on 2115 Collingwood. My friend who lives in Perrysburg doesn't like the neighborhood, but I'm not sure how to take her opinion, since she seems to be terrified of all areas of Toledo except for Southwyck. The Garden Ridge ones are filling up/have filled up too quickly for me to see them and get one.

[Rebek56]

The Old West End is beautiful: it's just surrounded by urban blight.