Moving from NY (Tampa, Cape Coral, Fort Myers: apartments, crime rates, hotel)

[LisaMarie1984]

Hi everyone! I've been reading through these posts the last few days and found a lot of great information, so I want to thank you

I'm 27 years old and planning on moving from Long Island to the Fort Myers/Naples area for school. I got accepted to FGCU and University of Tampa. I came down last month to visit FGCU and really liked it! I also really enjoyed the area, so I was surprised to see the crime rates as high as they are. I know Fort Myers isn't really for a younger crowd, but I don't mind. I'm not going down to go out to clubs and whatnot. I'm really going down to finish my degree. I've lived in NY my whole life, so I'm looking forward to a bit of a (warm) change. Even if only for a few years.

My boyfriend and I are going down again this Friday-Sunday to check out some apartments. We wrote down a few that we'd like to see, including Brittany Bay and Estero Woods Village. Do you guys know anything about these places? Once again, I'm not concerned about the age thing. I'm more concerned about safety and bang for my buck.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[rikoshaprl]

Hi Lisa,
I moved down from Long Island in March. I think you will like it. The shopping and restaurants are similar to Long Island. except you don't have the city at the end of the LIRR tracks. I am in Cape Coral but that is too far from the campus. There are a lot of nice areas in the south part of Fort Myers. There is some nice entertainment for young people (not me) in downtown Fort Myers.
Good luck.

[hiknapster]

The only Brittany Bay that I have heard of is in Naples. Too far. I haven't heard anything about Estero Woods, but at least it is closer and near Coconut Pointe Shopping. Most of the students live in apartments around Three Oaks Parkway and Koreshan Boulevard.

[LisaMarie1984]

Rikoshaprl- that's what I saw, too, when I was down there. It reminded me a bit of Long Island. The hotel my friend and I stayed at was in Cape Coral. I didn't mind the drive to the school from there. I live in the Babylon area now and go to school in Selden, so I'm used to driving around half an hour anyway. Do you think it would be worth it to take a look at apartments there? The only thing that would bother me is the $2 toll to get into Cape Coral. Is there anything for residents so you don't have to pay that every time? Or is it just standard?

Hiknapster- that's the one I was looking at, the one in Naples. How far is it from school? I mapquested it and it came up as 25 minutes, but that website isn't always that accurate.

[rikoshaprl]

There is a discount program:
https://www.leewayinfo.com/LWinfo_tolls.html

I love Cape Coral. But I would check out apartments closer to the school, with maybe a young crowd. One thing that surprised me about the area is the number of younger families.

[LisaMarie1984]

Thanks for your help!

[hiknapster]

It's about 40 minutes to Brittany Bay in Naples, more with traffic, however, I would not recommend those apartments. In fact I would strongly urge you to not even consider it.

Cape Coral is going to be anywhere from 45 minutes to well over a hour. It's a nice community, although there will be very few college students, if any.

I strongly suggest that you stick to looking in Estero. It's a very nice area, probably one of the best in the immediate area.

There are lots of senior citizens all over swFlorida, and Estero is no better. They leave in April and don't come back until November-January. But at least you'll have some people in your age group with common interests.

College students are a very small demographic there. If you start straying too far you could end up in questionable places such as Brittany Bay.

[LisaMarie1984]

Thanks for your insight. I did like the fact that Estero is so close to school. I'll stick with looking in that community.

[tomno00]

As a 23 year old living here, I would tell you to choose the university of tampa haha... Well I do a lot of traveling for my job so I know the area well. I guess it really depends on what you're looking for. Naples is probably the nicest in terms of scenery. The downtown area is nice and close to the beach. Also allegator alley is right there and miami is 2 hours away...

Estero is where most of the FGCU kids live. Gulf Coast Town Center and Coconut Pointe Mall have tons of stores and resturants and are not too far from the school.

I would avoid Cape Coral. Traffic is bad, got to pay tolls, too far from the beach....

Fort Myers is nice. I think Mcgregor Blvd. is a nice residential area and you're close to everything...

If you want to know anything specific, let me know! good luck!

[LisaMarie1984]

Tomno, thank you so much! UT is actually cheaper than FGCU, so I'm still trying to decide what I want to do. It seems like Estero is where I should be looking. Why would you choose Tampa over FGCU?