Moving from Kansas City, Missouri to Minneapolis (Bloomington, Edina: fit in, apartments)

[fanfares]

Next fall I'll be transferring schools to the University of Minnesota. I need some advice on where to look for apartments.

I'll be moving with my boyfriend, best friend, and two large dogs (boxers), so we are looking for a two-bedroom around the price range of $900/mo. If you've ever visited/lived in Kansas City, the types of neighborhoods we're most interested in would be something similar to Westport/Midtown (where we live now), the Crossroads, West 39th Street, and the West Bottoms. If you've never been to Kansas City, neighborhoods that are artsy, with decent restaurants, entertainment, and shopping nearby. Our ideal apartment/house would be convenient to the U of MN campus. We're not necessarily aiming to live directly near the campus, but we just don't want to have an hour-long commute. We all own cars but none of us are opposed, and would actually prefer, to use public transportation or bikes.

In my current apartment I am admittedly spoiled, with the best coffee in the city and an entertainment district literally across the street. I don't expect to be so lucky when moving to Mlps on a limited budget so I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Another question I have for employees/alumni of U of MN, are student jobs very hard to get? I currently work in the research department (Institutional Review Board) at my University and would like to find a similar job. I know research is big there and I was wondering if they hire many work-studies or regular employees.

Thanks in advance

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

You can try Linden Hills if you want to live near the "best coffee" here.....I believe the best/most expensive coffee shop is there.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

There is definitely a major bus route that goes through there that I'd assume connect to Downtown and Southdale Mall in Edina (a suburb). You can obviously connect from downtown to the U once you get downtown. It's definitely not the prototypical YUPpy locale but if you want a fun mini-urban experience there is nothing quite like it that I've ever seen. It's also pretty close to Lake Calhoun and the infamous Thomas Beach ;-)

[fanfares]

Originally Posted by joe2877

Hi,

Why r u leaving KC?? I mean it's ok here, but quite similar to KC.

I think the general consensus is that u live in NE Mpls....I don't think there are too many options here. You could head out to the Warehouse district (across the river) but not sure about prices. NE is close enough, a few stores (not huge) and bus. I don't think there is any other option. Maybe Uptown, but a little too far.

I love Kansas City, but I fell in love with Minneapolis after visiting. I pretty much knew I'd be transferring schools, but didn't have an idea of where until I started looking up information on MN, which happens to be one of the best schools in the country for my major. The more I learn about Mlps, the more likely it seems that I'll be staying after college and grad school. Also, KC incredibly spread out to the East and North, but also incredibly limited by the Western border with Kansas and lacks any legitimate form public transportation (our bus system is a joke - it's very hard to live here without a car).

Thanks for the information. We'll keep that in mind.

[fanfares]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

You can try Linden Hills if you want to live near the "best coffee" here.....I believe the best/most expensive coffee shop is there.

Thanks, I'll take a look!

It's awfully hard to find a fitting place without knowing the neighborhoods well so I appreciate your input.

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

The bus that runs through Linden Hills actually goes right to the U if you get the right one. Metro Transit is a little weird in the way some of the buses run...but the 6 is the bus that runs through Linden Hills, and basically every other bus is called a 6U, which runs to the U. It alternates whether it runs on France or Xerxes too. But yeah, as long as you're within walking distance to that, getting to the U is a snap. Although it's not super close, you're probably looking at 30 minutes plus on the bus, it's just one bus. That's to the east bank of the u of m. If you're going to the west bank, you'll either want to transfer to the 16 downtown (runs all the time) or use one of the campus shuttles.

I was also a student worker at the U for a couple years. I knew someone who got me a job in his office, so I didn't really even have an interview. There are a ton of student jobs though...literally everything. Landscaping, security, food service, library assistants, clerical workers in big offices, personal assistants...pretty much anything you can think of. I was doing pretty complicated stuff when I was a student worker, way more complicated than anything I've done since graduating the U...and my impression of the whole thing is that they give anything they can to students to avoid paying real workers real wages and put pressure on the unions. I made food service wages and had a lot of responsibility and stress. Which is bad in the big picture, but it also means that there are lots of openings if you're willing to make less money to work where you go to school and do more advanced work than you would probably otherwise be able to do as a college student, which you get to use on your resume then. You should literally check the job openings on the website everyday, that's how often new stuff is added. Just the U of M employment page, and you can narrow down the search engine to student worker positions.

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Also, keep in mind that Linden Hills is really sort of a "small town" within the city. I used to work there, like I said, so I was there several times a week. It's a pretty nice place, although my impression of it is that it's more of a family neighborhood. I don't think a ton of things are going on at night. I could be wrong - but if that's what you're looking for, it's going to meet those expectations.

Uptown is the standard recommendation, I personally didn't care for Uptown, but it's really popular and obviously the best place to live for "things to do."

I lived in Powderhorn, just off of Lake Street, in between Bloomington and Chicago and there are actually a lot of artists there - I don't really know anything about the art scene, but my impression of the situation is that since uptown has gotten trendier, Powderhorn is one of the neighborhoods that they've been exiled to. I also lived in Marcy-Holmes for a while, which borders campus, and Dinkytown can be really cool, except that it is so often overrun by obnoxious college kids. It can get old.

If you want the "alternative hipster" type neighborhoods, Cedar-Riverside and Seward, both of which are extremely close to campus, either within walking distance or a short bus ride on the Route 2. I really like Cedar-Riverside, hand down my favorite place in Minneapolis. You have Hard Times, also hands down the best coffeeshop (got me hooked on the french press, as well as having awesome vegetarian food) in Minneapolis IMO, and a bunch of ethnic restaurants and neat bars that trend towards the non-preppy college students.The only thing that kept me from living there is lack of a real grocery store. It's also where most of the Somali immigrants live, who sometimes get a bad rap from long-time residents, but don't believe the hype. Seward has its share of things to do too: coffeeshops, cafes, bars - and a co-op for groceries if you can afford that. Both of these neighborhoods are likely to come with warnings from *some* Minneapolis residents, but pretty much everyone I know who has lived in either one has loved it there.

[uptown_urbanist]

I don't think Linden Hills is what this poster is looking for. It's quiet and nice, but a long way from campus, expensive, and doesn't have that much to do. It is nice, though. I'd concentrate on Marcy-Holmes/Northeast. There are coffee shops everywhere in this city, so no need to look hard for a good one. Maybe Lyn-Lake, too; not quite as convenient to the U, but would fit in all other ways. Express buses to the U make it a fast commute. I also agree with Cedar-Riverside and Seward.

[fanfares]

Thanks again for all of your responses. We plan to make another trip up there and check out the neighborhoods that have been suggested.

I'm also curious about the West Lake Street area where Extreme Noise Records (407 W Lake St) is. It seemed kind of sketchy to me at the time, but does anyone have an opinion? We're not necessarily wanting to live there, but I have a feeling we'll be frequenting that area often for the record store.

[uptown_urbanist]

407 West Lake is in the Lyn-Lake area; parts of Lake Street to the east of there are a little sketchy, but overall other than a few blocks (like along Lake from about Pleasant to the freeway) the general area is decent.

For more information than you probably want, check out the Lyn-Lake Small Area Plan for details of all sorts on the area. Lyn-Lake Small Area Plan

I think it's exactly what you're looking for, though, minus the close proximity to the U; still, there are express buses that run up Lyndale (and then Grand for a bit) which make it a very easy, fast commute. Lyn-Lake is my favorite neighborhood in Minneapolis, especially the parts of the neighborhood that are west of Lyndale, as that puts you within very easy walking distance of both core Uptown and core Lyn-Lake, everything on west Lake street, and walking/biking distance to Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles.