Decent Apt bldgs in Uptown/St. Louis Park? (Grant: neighborhood, theater)

[Beenhere4ever]

In response to someone else's inquiry, I got one of those rental catalogs you see in racks. Frankly, I was surprised at all the "pet friendly" rentals listed. My wife and I bought a house largely because I felt we needed to move, but we could only get a place that would accept her pets. I guess we were fortunate to get a house long before the bubble.

So, anyway, landlords seem much more accepting of pets than back in the early 90's. I wonder if there's a search or a listing of just pet-friendly rentals. Maybe you can now enter whatever pet you have and come up with openings that accommodate it. I did notice a couple of times that they limited BREEDS that were allowed. Not sure how limiting that is, but I do think some types of animals are easier than others to accommodate in an apartment.

[Beenhere4ever]

Anybody know if the nonrefundable application fees still apply? Another thought is to look up the tenants union. They are going to know about things you need to know.

[Beenhere4ever]

Hey,I found forrent.com which has exactly the search engine I was thinking. Did a search and got 177 hits. http://alturl.com/nekif

[Slevin Kelevra]

There are a number in Uptown, which I would prefer over St. Louis Park. You don't get the amenities of downtown Minneapolis, but Uptown and St. Louis Park are decent suburbs to live in and they should be much cheaper than living in the city.

Good luck!

[ManBearPig1]

Idk how uptown is a suburb

It arguably has more amenities than downtown. For example, downtown won't have a single true grocery store (downtown Target doesn't count -- no produce) until the Hennepin Lunds opens up this summer. Uptown has Lunds, Rainbow, and the Wedge. And you can walk to downtown from uptown, or take a bus from uptown for less than 10 minutes to get to anything you would want downtown

[Slevin Kelevra]

Yeah, should have said "more suburban" which is reinforced by your point on there being more supermarkets in uptown. To someone from the major cities, uptown isn't exactly city living, but you'll find what you need nearby. No, it doesn't have the amenities of the city (not its fault, it couldn't), but it has some decent restaurants and bars. Of course, uptown is more of a single family housing area than apartment area. There are some decent apartment buildings in uptown, but everyone I know who lives there owns a single family home.

Also, I haven't seen many mentions of St. Paul, but it has some decent city living apartments and some nice suburban areas as well.

[ManBearPig1]

Originally Posted by Slevin Kelevra

Yeah, should have said "more suburban" which is reinforced by your point on there being more supermarkets in uptown. To someone from the major cities, uptown isn't exactly city living, but you'll find what you need nearby. No, it doesn't have the amenities of the city (not its fault, it couldn't), but it has some decent restaurants and bars. Of course, uptown is more of a single family housing area than apartment area. There are some decent apartment buildings in uptown, but everyone I know who lives there owns a single family home.

Also, I haven't seen many mentions of St. Paul, but it has some decent city living apartments and some nice suburban areas as well.

Nowhere in Minneapolis has true city living to someone from "the major cities", take it from someone who grew up on the east coast.

But arguably the biggest part of "city living" is being able to live without a car. I don't see how having grocery stores is in and of itself more suburban. It's actually kinda hard to live carless downtown because of the lack of ANY grocery options right now. But I will certainly grant you that the form/architecture of the uptown grocery stores is pretty suburban -- the Lunds parking lot is such an eyesore so close to Hennepin-Lake.

And everyone I know that lives in uptown lives in an apartment or condo building. So, yeah, shows what anecdotes are worth.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by esokev

Also, plan on owning a car if you pick St. Louis Park (unless you live on the very west side...) otherwise you will have only a few bus selections that don't run as frequently as those closer to the city. You're probably used to being able to just hail a cab in Brooklyn. Not the case (yet) in Minneapolis/St. Paul. You have to pre-arrange it (unless you are downtown on a weekend...)

Haha...you'll still need to prearrange that cab on the weekends. I have tried several times to get a cab around bar close. Even the cabs that say they're available won't stop for you. It's ridiculous. Every time I've called I've either been told that the wait is "15 minutes to 1 hour" or they give a time and then never show up. So I've ended up taking the bus or making a very long walk when I've been out in downtown Minneapolis on a Friday or Saturday night.

Originally Posted by Slevin Kelevra

Yeah, should have said "more suburban" which is reinforced by your point on there being more supermarkets in uptown. To someone from the major cities, uptown isn't exactly city living, but you'll find what you need nearby. No, it doesn't have the amenities of the city (not its fault, it couldn't), but it has some decent restaurants and bars. Of course, uptown is more of a single family housing area than apartment area. There are some decent apartment buildings in uptown, but everyone I know who lives there owns a single family home.

I suppose it depends on how you're defining urban and suburban. I think the core part of Uptown is actually quite urban. No, it's not tall or something like NYC. But it's compact with lots of apartments, the amenities you need, fairly frequent bus service, etc. Many of the homes in the Uptown area seem to be split into duplexes or triplexes or more (converted mansions and the like) and there are a lot of apartments. I believe most of the core neighborhoods of Uptown (if not all of them) are primarily renter-occupied places rather than owner-occupied.

That said, I'd love to see a bit more density in the area. The more there is to do in Uptown, the less of a necessity a car would be (at this point, I'd rank Minneapolis as "car preferred"...you can live without a car, but it's more difficult).

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by Slevin Kelevra

Yeah, should have said "more suburban" which is reinforced by your point on there being more supermarkets in uptown. To someone from the major cities, uptown isn't exactly city living, but you'll find what you need nearby. No, it doesn't have the amenities of the city (not its fault, it couldn't), but it has some decent restaurants and bars. Of course, uptown is more of a single family housing area than apartment area. There are some decent apartment buildings in uptown, but everyone I know who lives there owns a single family home.
.

This is pretty silly. Uptown IS part of the city. It IS urban -- probably the most urban area you can find in the Twin Cities, if the OP is looking for that. I think it more so than downtown (which we have also considered) because it's far easier to live a life where you can get to most of what you need (including cultural amenities like live theater, etc.) on foot. Of course it's no Greenwich Village, but I actually do think it has a fairly Brooklyn vibe to it. As far as housing goes, it's fairly dense, and most of it is not single family houses (although some blocks have a lot of them, just as do many parts of NYC, for that matter) Are you sure you're thinking about Uptown? Or are you comparing Uptown to, say, Midtown Manhattan?

To the OP, SLP is nice, but if you want a bit more urban feel I'd stick with Uptown or Loring Park. I've seen a number of dog-friendly places, so I know they're out there. My parents' neighbor just rented out a place in her building to someone with a dog, and despite being dog-friendly the listing still sat for some time before rented. I don't think you'll have a problem. (then again, I'm coming off a search in both NYC and SF, so maybe the Minneapolis market just seems SO easy by comparison!)

As far as apartment options, you're lucky that you're moving in the summer. There aren't a lot of listings out there right now, but that should to pick up dramatically during the summer months. In Minneapolis it seems that a lot of the apartments are listed between 1 and 2 months before available (as opposed to "available immediately") so start looking in advance.

[bklyntominn]

Thanks for all the advice! I wouldn't rule out St. Paul or close by suburbs either. We just thought it would be easier to live in the Uptown area in the beginning since we don't know the city that well. We are really looking forward to our move and we hope to make it happen this summer.