Cherry Creek - safety and general impressions? (Moving to Denver)

[MN_Ski]

Just make sure you see the apartment in person first.

I know too many people that had horror stories renting in Glendale. Because it's one of the cheapest neighborhoods in the area, it attracts certain types of people. Lots of MJ refugees and poor students living 3-4 in a unit. At a friends complex they had a water main break (no water for 3 days), heat out, a stabbing, a resident jumping off the roof and killing himself, a drug bust, and a pitbull attack all in the same week. And this was a very high rated apartment complex in a decent area.

A co worker of mine lived in a brand new "luxury" complex there last summer. She said that cops were at the complex almost every night, and because of the students, she would be woken up all throughout the night by drunks running and screaming down the halls, or playing loud music. There was also a bed bug outbreak later in the year in one portion of the complex.

[randomparent]

Also, your commute is going to suck. I-25 is a mess and will be for the foreseeable future due to construction. Colorado is one long string of traffic lights and wall-to-wall traffic at all hours.

[Careerist]

Originally Posted by Ambercat

Work is in Centennial, so I wanted something that's in between downtown and Centennial, which is what led me to Glendale. I'm looking for rent around $950, which I know is low, but I'm only doing a 6-month lease, I want to be on the safe side with living expenses until I see how much general cost of living is, then (hopefully) move into a nicer apartment after 6 months.

Centennial sort of stretches across the southern metro. Do you happen to know the cross streets of where you're working? You may be able to alleviate some of the traffic issues (particularly with Colorado Blvd) depending on the direction you're going to and coming from. Another couple of options you might look into is the Hampden and Southmoor Park neighborhoods. Southmoor Park has a light rail station nearby and plenty of local amenities. There are some newer, nicer apartments that they built in the last five years or so that are close to the highway and light rail station.

Hampden is an older neighborhood with some more affordable apartment options. However, because they are more affordable will typically entail living within close proximity to lower income families. Both would offer a much better commute compared to the area that you originally mentioned. Just my two cents. Your thoughts?

Southmoor Park

Hampden

Hampden South

[randomparent]

Originally Posted by Careerist

Centennial sort of stretches across the southern metro. Do you happen to know the cross streets of where you're working? You may be able to alleviate some of the traffic issues (particularly with Colorado Blvd) depending on the direction you're going to and coming from. Another couple of options you might look into is the Hampden and Southmoor neighborhoods. Southmoor has a light rail station nearby and plenty of local amenities. Hampden is an older neighborhood with some more affordable apartment options. Both would offer a much better commute compared to the area that you originally mentioned. Just my two cents. Your thoughts?

Excellent advice.

[emm74]

Not sure where you are coming from, but particularly if you are from an area where you aren't really used to snow, it's definitely better to try to live closer to work. Glendale isn't a bad area for a rental, but it doesn't sound like it's the greatest location for work. And even if you are going downtown for recreation, it's still likely to be less often than you need to get to work. As careerist said, if you give a bit better idea of work location, people may be able to make some more specific suggestions.

One odd thing about the Denver metro is that often, something that sounds like a city/town name really isn't, and what's called "Centennial" also covers areas that just use that name for postal purposes, so knowing a more accurate location can help a lot in terms of how good the advice you get may be.