Wintering in the Metropolis (Minneapolis, St. Paul: real estate, subletting, rental)

[601halfdozen0theother]

Well, our Season is over . . . a young couple wants to rent my own little northwoods house . . . and I'm thinking of doing Winter in Mpls/St.Paul.

So, where in the Twin Cities should I find a winter home?

I'm an ordinary middle aged lady and would be uncomfortable in a "hip" or overly wealthy neighborhood. I don't want to be surrounded by a lot of late night drinking and noise. However, I'm going down to take advantage of the metropolitian lifestyle and am happy with a busy neighbood with lots of people on the streets. I have no problem with diversity in all its forms. I want to easily go to museums, galleries, plays, lectures and concerts via public transportation - I want to drive as little as possible. I want to be able to stroll with my dog around parks that aren't overused. A nearby dog park would be great! I don't want to worry at all about crime.

What's a good neighborhood for me?

Thanks!

[Glenfield]

I'd suggest renting a place downtown near the river.

[uptown_urbanist]

Agree -- downtown by the river (or right across from downtown by the river, too) would be perfect. You've got easy access to lots of theaters, some museums, galleries, other cultural venues like the Loft, public transportation, and -- even despite the cold -- it's still nice to walk around by the river (and my favorite, across the Stone Arch Bridge). You'd also be convenient to the university, which also has its share of events and museums. Not sure what's available for either short-term furnished rental or subletting, but there are a ton of condos in the area. No personal experience with downtown dog parks, but it's a fairly dog-friendly city. I also ran across this dog park offering for downtown dogs: Dog Grounds: Urban Off-Leash Dog Parks Could be worth looking into if you end up in downtown Minneapolis.

St. Paul has always felt much sleepier to me, but it's also worth considering. I'll leave the St. Paul neighborhood recommendations to others, but somewhere by downtown would give you easy access to a lot of nice cultural amenities. And I think St. Paul does winter better than Minneapolis -- not just the Winter Carnival, although there is that, but also little things like Rice Park and its outdoor skating rink, etc.

[Beenhere4ever]

Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother

Well, our Season is over . . . a young couple wants to rent my own little northwoods house . . . and I'm thinking of doing Winter in Mpls/St.Paul.

So, where in the Twin Cities should I find a winter home?

I'm an ordinary middle aged lady and would be uncomfortable in a "hip" or overly wealthy neighborhood. I don't want to be surrounded by a lot of late night drinking and noise. However, I'm going down to take advantage of the metropolitian lifestyle and am happy with a busy neighbood with lots of people on the streets. I have no problem with diversity in all its forms. I want to easily go to museums, galleries, plays, lectures and concerts via public transportation - I want to drive as little as possible. I want to be able to stroll with my dog around parks that aren't overused. A nearby dog park would be great! I don't want to worry at all about crime.

What's a good neighborhood for me?

Thanks!

Wow, talk about high maintenance. Truth is any neighborhood in Minneapolis qualifies. Seward would qualify. All the neighborhoods adjacent to the light rail would qualify. We've had a REALLY bad summer in the First Precinct with huge numbersof armed robberies in the streets. People have rationalized every which way about how it shouldn't matter, but its a fact. They flooded the downtown streets with MPD and Hennepin County deputies to deter the people hanging out down there. Downtown is about lots of overpriced condos. Which is probably why there will be promotions. Rybak is head cheerleader, to the extent he jeered at property tax payors when they called him on his favors to the Vikings. But don't be conned by these people who bought speculative real estate investments they now desperately want to unload. There are safer neighborhoods adjacent to the lakes. Rybak owns a house in one of them. Follow his model. He tells us downtown is great but never moves there.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

My first though was Kenwood or Whittier -- but they're very different from one-another. Loring Park maybe too. None of these are "loud" or overrun with college kids out on the town, and all of them are close to museums and attractions or have them within their boundaries.

[dravogadro]

I vote for Seward as well. There is a dog park and several bus lines that run into downtown or through Cedar-Riverside to the U. You will be near the Greenway so you can walk to the LRT (or take a bus there). There will be winter activity at Matthews and and Brackett Park because of the ice rinks, but I don't think it will be overrun for a nice stroll.

[601halfdozen0theother]

Thank you for your advice, everyone! So now I'm looking on padmapper and craigslist to see what is out there. I've stayed several times in a B&B in the Summit Ave. area of St. Paul when I've gone down to the State Historical Society. The neighborhoods west from there towards the St. Paul campus and the river and downtown Mpls looked fine by car. Are there names of neighborhoods in that area that would be good?