Cleveland Heights Neighborhood Comparisons (Ohio City, Gordon: apartments, to rent, neighborhoods)

[TexasTransplantToCleve]

Hey all,

I recently accepted a job located in an eastern suburb and have decided to look to rent in Cleveland Heights. I'm a single young professional (late 20's, male). I'm looking for a walkable neighborhood convenient to restaurants (particularly, patios), bars, and other conveniences (for example, drycleaning, ATM, coffee shops, bookstores, grocery, etc.).

Through the week I'm more interested in living in an area with a moderate happy hour scene rather than a late night (translate: noisy) party scene although it wouldn't bother me if it were more rowdy on the weekends.

Based on my research of this forum, it looks like the 3 best options are:

Cedar Fairmount
Coventry Village
Cedar-Lee

How would you rank order the safety of each neighborhood?
Which neighborhood has the best dating scene, opportunities to meet other young professionals (not necessarily constrained to bars)?
How would you rank-order the 'hoods in terms of available options for dining/entertainment?

I apologize if this is reinvinting the wheel but I wanted to see if I could get an updated comparison describing how the neighborhoods are trending from locals. Any benefits and drawbacks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[CLEJoe]

Hey Tex!

North Colinwood is probably your best bet of Eastern Neighborhood on the rise, thanks to artists and whatnot moving in. But as I have in many posts, I'm all about living downtown or in Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit Shoreway, or Edgewater. They're all safe and have plenty of nearby options for happy hour, and you can make sure your place is just far away enough from the noise. Google East Fourth and Gordon Square for two of our more recent developed areas.

Let me know if you have any questions! Hope to have ya moving in the city!

Cheers,
Joe

[Flee to the Cleve]

Originally Posted by TexasTransplantToCleve

Hey all,

I recently accepted a job located in an eastern suburb and have decided to look to rent in Cleveland Heights. I'm a single young professional (late 20's, male). I'm looking for a walkable neighborhood convenient to restaurants (particularly, patios), bars, and other conveniences (for example, drycleaning, ATM, coffee shops, bookstores, grocery, etc.).

Through the week I'm more interested in living in an area with a moderate happy hour scene rather than a late night (translate: noisy) party scene although it wouldn't bother me if it were more rowdy on the weekends.

Based on my research of this forum, it looks like the 3 best options are:

Cedar Fairmount
Coventry Village
Cedar-Lee

How would you rank order the safety of each neighborhood?
Which neighborhood has the best dating scene, opportunities to meet other young professionals (not necessarily constrained to bars)?
How would you rank-order the 'hoods in terms of available options for dining/entertainment?

I apologize if this is reinvinting the wheel but I wanted to see if I could get an updated comparison describing how the neighborhoods are trending from locals. Any benefits and drawbacks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You can't go wrong with any of those neighborhoods. My personal favorite is Coventry. There you are right up the hill from Little Italy and University Circle as well, which also has a lot going on.

[gofuzzy]

Cleveland Heights is a great choice!

I'm thinking about your options in terms of conveniences. I would say that Coventry and Cedar-Fairmount are the most convenient because they have grocery stores right there for you. Coventry has a little Marc's and Cedar-Fairmount has a Dave's Market. I believe the closest store to Cedar-Lee is Zagara's, which is farther up on Lee Road.

Besides grocery stores, I think all three options have a lot to offer. You won't have to worry about ATMs, coffee shops, dry cleaning, etc.

I would say that Coventry is the noisiest, busiest of them all, while Cedar-Fairmount seems the calmest.

I hope this helps a little, these were the thoughts that came right to mind.

[han23]

Hi Tex,

All three neighborhoods are great choices in Cleveland Heights, I've lived here most of my life and with the exception of cedar-fairmount have rented in both Coventry and Cedar-Lee areas. My favorite has been the Cedar-Lee area. There is a good hustle and bustle but not too much when you're ready to get some sleep. Great walking neighborhood (they all are), great coffee shops (go to Phoenix at once!), indie movie theater, wonderful library, mix of restaurants all on lee rd. There aren't a lot of apartments in this area, mostly duplexes with great porches! Coventry and cedar-fairmount offer a lot more in the way of apartments, and in my opinion you can pay about the same cost for more space and parking included in the cedar-lee area. The utilities will be all yours of course. All areas are so close, literally two minutes by car, that you'll see how close you are to everything here. I say go for Cedar Lee, considering your age, what you're looking for, etc. Coventry is kind of where you go when you first move out. Fun place, but you know what I mean by early twenties right? It's great you're coming here...there is no other place I'd live in this state.

[TexasTransplantToCleve]

Thanks for the helpful responses! So, just to recap (feel free to correct or offer a different opinion), it sounds like all would be safe bets for someone in my situation and they are all so close by car as to not really stress about too much if I find a great place in any of the three.

Coventry would be the most happening in terms of nightlife options... followed by Cedar-Lee (C-L), and Cedar Fairmount (C-F) the calmest.

I have also gotten a general vibe that C-F might be a little more upscale/classy with there being a jazz club, gelato shop, and martini/wine bar there... Thus it might cater even more to us yuppy/young prof. types? Opinions on this? Is this a fair assumption?

I also noticed there was an option for a mexican food place (very attractive to a native Texan) and a different wine bar in C-L. So, this also still seems like a great choice..

Judging by the fact that none of the prior posts have expressed strong opinions on differences in safety across the 3 neighborhoods, I assume they are all relatively equivalent in terms of safety.

han23, I think you are "getting" what I'm looking for, and you lay out a convincing argument for looking in to duplexes in Cedar Lee near the main drag... I also failed to mention that I do have a small dog so being near more greenspace would be a nice perk.

I've been quite impressed by the friendliness that we typically attribute to our southern region which I've experienced from the Clevelanders I've interacted with during my trips up that way and through this forum. Thanks again for the suggestions!

[Flee to the Cleve]

Originally Posted by TexasTransplantToCleve

Judging by the fact that none of the prior posts have expressed strong opinions on differences in safety across the 3 neighborhoods, I assume they are all relatively equivalent in terms of safety.

Yes. Cleveland Heights has a very active police force that takes a proactive approach. I have never felt unsafe in Cleveland Heights. Their officers do a great job. They really like to write parking tickets too.

Originally Posted by TexasTransplantToCleve

I've been quite impressed by the friendliness that we typically attribute to our southern region which I've experienced from the Clevelanders I've interacted with during my trips up that way and through this forum. Thanks again for the suggestions!

Welcome to Cleveland!

[UKUKUK]

Coventry in Cleveland Heights doesn't even feel like metro Cleveland, more like Wicker Park in Chicago (but less rough) or some areas of Seattle.