21 Year Old Female Moving to Charlotte! (transplants, apartment complex, high crime)
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Hi! I'm a recent grad looking into apartments that are a short commute to uptown (I'm moving to charlotte for my first job!) I was pretty shocked to see the prices on the apartments, but I was able to find one that I liked in Wesley Heights that fell within my budget (on Morehead Ridge Drive). I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about Wesley Heights on this website- can native Charlotte people or Charlotte transplants give me their honest opinions about whether or not I'll be safe here? It seemed pretty gentrified to me when I was driving around and the apartment is in a brand new "luxury" apartment complex, and I don't plan on walking anywhere by myself at nighttime (driving or Ubers only!!). Would love to hear y'all's thoughts!
It is a transitional area. Definitely very popular with young people and you aren't far from popular restaurants and bars like Rhino Market, Pinky's, Noble Smoke, Not Just Coffee, Summit Seltzer, LuLu's, et. and you are also a short drive from much larger South End. You will need to deploy big city safety practices for a gentrifying area though and be aware of property crime as well. You will not be far from some of the roughest neighborhoods of the city on the westside of Charlotte.
Depending on where you are moving from, that may inform your perception of the crime level. If you are coming from Center City Philadelphia, you won't be too uncomfortable. It may seem rougher though if you are moving from a very suburban area or a safe small town / small city.
My daughter was looking at a townhome in that area and I'm so glad it didn't work out. The area still has a lot of crime (at least compared to what we are used to). I'm sure it will be changing more in the future but right now, being that you are a young single female, I would probably look at other areas.
Have you looked at NoDa? My daughter lived there when she first moved to Charlotte. The first place was Mercury NoDa. She rented a studio there. At first it was very well maintained but after awhile the maintenance dwindled. But it was still a nice place and so many places to walk to.
She then moved to 30 Six and got a larger one bedroom. That place was beautiful (brand new) and always clean when we visited. Her friends also decided to move into that complex. Again it was within walking distance to plenty of restaurants, breweries etc. It also had the blue line right there and Uptown was only a couple stops away.
Hi! I'm a recent grad looking into apartments that are a short commute to uptown (I'm moving to charlotte for my first job!) I was pretty shocked to see the prices on the apartments, but I was able to find one that I liked in Wesley Heights that fell within my budget (on Morehead Ridge Drive). I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about Wesley Heights on this website- can native Charlotte people or Charlotte transplants give me their honest opinions about whether or not I'll be safe here? It seemed pretty gentrified to me when I was driving around and the apartment is in a brand new "luxury" apartment complex, and I don't plan on walking anywhere by myself at nighttime (driving or Ubers only!!). Would love to hear y'all's thoughts!
I would not live on Morehead street itself, west (or south) of the Panthers Stadium at this time. Since you will not be walking alone at night or using Uber, I look for a place in a populated (non sketchy looking) area but I would do a drive-by at night to get an overall idea. I believe in safety in numbers. Go by your instincts. I would also talk to people in the area you are considering. That whole area is building up (and has been gentrifying for years) but is still not a truly safe place. personally, I would look at Southend, Southpark, Dilworth, or even NoDa (a short light-rail ride from uptown). It is difficult to be honest and forthcoming on these boards without being banned as a racist, therefore, it is necessary to read between the lines in most cases, in other words, just use good common sense and good luck.
I have spent part of a weekend evening sitting on a friend's back porch in Seversville (a block out of Wesley Heights) and heard gunfire. Friend said it was commonplace.
I have spent several weekend evenings on a relatives front porch in NoDa and never heard gunfire.
Just my personal observation and reason enough for me to give Wesley Heights a few more years of refinement before I'd try it.
Nope, high crime area. As a woman and especially a single one I wouldn’t do it. Download the CMPD crime app and following Charlotte news stations like WCNC on FB to get an idea of the issues going on in the city at the moment. It’s sad indeed. Heads up if it’s “affordable”’in Charlotte you don’t wanna live there. Murders and violent crime is already up compared to the same time last year and rose 89.9% the previous year. There’s been several shootings and murders around that area and an issue with women being assaulted while running in the greens. Imo NODA is overrated and the areas surrounding it are dumps. Was just there two days ago and heading in through the south side of the city straight in is a mix of burned out buildings, industrial areas, run down homes and some small businesses. Heading in the other way through the city is pretty much straight ghetto looking going in.
It’s essentially a “cleaned up” hippy liberal island in an ocean of sh**. Been countless times over the years and every time I go there I can’t imagine how the nastiness surrounding it hasnt seeped into that area yet. I would stay in South End area. Just my opinion
Nope, high crime area. As a woman and especially a single one I wouldn’t do it. Download the CMPD crime app and following Charlotte news stations like WCNC on FB to get an idea of the issues going on in the city at the moment. It’s sad indeed. Heads up if it’s “affordable”’in Charlotte you don’t wanna live there. Murders and violent crime is already up compared to the same time last year and rose 89.9% the previous year. There’s been several shootings and murders around that area and an issue with women being assaulted while running in the greens. Imo NODA is overrated and the areas surrounding it are dumps. Was just there two days ago and heading in through the south side of the city straight in is a mix of burned out buildings, industrial areas, run down homes and some small businesses. Heading in the other way through the city is pretty much straight ghetto looking going in.
It’s essentially a “cleaned up” hippy liberal island in an ocean of sh**. Been countless times over the years and every time I go there I can’t imagine how the nastiness surrounding it hasnt seeped into that area yet. I would stay in South End area. Just my opinion
Well this is a whole lot of nonsense.
Charlotte is a very affordable city...a few minutes of google research will justify that claim. Sure there are cheaper ones but in the spectrum of things, its cheap.
It's also generally safe. Is crime higher than last year? Well yeah...there are more people here than last year and the nation has generally decided to turn their backs on our hero police officers, so of course there's more crime in general. Fortunately, that crime is mostly localized to certain areas of town.
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