Peoria Med Student looking for housing advice (Peoria Heights, Knoxville: apartment complexes, lofts)

[hidibiditidi]

Hi,
I'll be moving to Peoria in the fall for the remaining 2-2.5 years of medical school I have left. I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to where the best places are to live. I'm in my 20s, have a car, and like to study late in med school. I'm used to major metropolitan cities (which, I know, Peoria is not), but having that loft urban feel would be nice. If I can't get that, I would prefer a larger apartment (perhaps further away from DT Peoria)

I'm considering the twin towers, or alternatively somewhere north near junction city? I honestly do not know too much about Peoria, but once I find a place I really don't want to move til I graduate so ideally something closer to OSF (surgery rotations start at 4 AM!)

Also close to a grocery store would be really nice as well!

Edit: I should note most of the places I've looked at have some poor reviews such as Civic Plaza and Waterfront lofts. 401 Water looks nice, but apparently that is only condominiums?

[linicx]

I think you will be very surprised at what Peoria can offer you in your down time. The Twin Towers is a great location and convenient. It also offers secure parking. Junction City is a very nice area. OSF just bought Proctor Hospital. If you do residency at Proctor, Junction City is the place to be as it is one stoplight from the hospital. Otherwise it is probably 4-6 miles from the school. The Towers, I think is 6-8 blocks from the school.

A word of caution. Live at the Twin Towers or north of War Memorial Drive (US 150). Junction City is in Peoria Heights. It is a very nice area. There are lofts on the river downtown, but I do not know the parking arrangement.

School starts in August. What this means is apartments dry up after August 1. June 1 - Aug 1 is when you will have the best and most options open to you.

[Doglover5]

linicx -- Aren't there also some apartment complexes (maybe they're condos) on Knoxville just south of Proctor--and maybe some almost across from Lou's on the east side of the street? Being off of Knoxville (as Junction City is) would make it fairly easy to zip downtown, I agree.

[linicx]

Yes, there are some really nice places on Knoxville. The biggest issue is traffic. JC is a stoplight on the corner of Prospect and Knoxville. I can think of dozen places that are [a] inconvenient to the school, or [b] hard to access due to heavy traffic.

Prospect Avenue is perfectly positioned as it connects directly to Glen Oak and OSF campus on one end, and on the other end it is one stoplight from Proctor Hospital on Knoxville. Not too far before OSF on Glen Oak is Spring Street which would give quick access to Jefferson street and the med school. Considering the traffic, Prospect would be an ideal location - as the most traffic OP would encounter would be on Jefferson. Compared to Knoxville there is little traffic except 4 blocks around the courthouse between Hamilton and State.

Twin Towers is close to the school, but getting to OSF is a rather strange journey from downtown, and Proctor is probably 10 miles from the towers. If he doesn't like Spring street he can cut down Abington Hill by the park. The access points are not that far apart. In the winter Spring is better as it is not nearly as steep as Abington. One cannot escape cliffs and hills when living in the Illinois River Valley.