Apartment Suggestions for Young Professional (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartment complexes, for rent, loft)

[Boilermaker_Fan]

I am going to be moving to Minneapolis in January to take a job with a company located in Rosemount.

Any apartment/location advice that is relatively close to Rosemount that offers a good atmosphere for a young professional unfamiliar with Minneapolis (and hoping to meet friends with similar interests).

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I would guess you'd want to be closer to Minneapolis, St. Paul...possibility in the southern parts of one of those cities or an in-between suburb. It kind of depends how much you want to spend on a place and on some of your other preferences. Eagan probably wouldn't be a bad place to start. It borders Rosemount from the north so it's closer to the cities, airport, etc. I'd also try Mendota Heights, West/South St. Paul as they are all pretty close to Rosemount and closer to Minneapolis/St. Paul. Also you'd be going against traffic.

[golfgal]

I am going to take a stab in the dark and assume you are going to be working for Flint Hills. That is on Hwy 52 so anything along that route is a simple, easy commute. Rosemount doesn't have much for apartment complexes and it is more of a family oriented community but there are plenty of single people as well.

What are your interests and what is your budget? Do you want a loft downtown or do you want more of a rural setting where you can hike in the woods or something in between?

If you want more urban, I would look into St. Paul either downtown or on the east side. That will give you the easiest access to 52 and depending on where exactly you live, a 15-20 minute commute to Flint Hills.

I you aren't at Flint Hills and are working more IN Rosemount (Flint Hills is about 5 miles east of town), living in Minneapolis somewhere with easy access to Cedar Ave will give you a 20 minute commute, against traffic so that is nice too.

If you want more rural/suburban, look right in Rosemount. There are homes for rent and a lot of townhomes to rent as well. I can think of only 2 apartment complexes and they aren't all that great.

[Boilermaker_Fan]

Wow, I'm amazed you managed to guess exactly where I am going to work...


I guess another factor is my dog. I have a Westie and I like to walk him most every day after work. I'm lucky where I live now because there is a dog park and another nice park with wooded hiking trails within a couple miles of my house.

Does Rosemount, Eagan or any of the other places suggested have any dog parks?

I guess I want it all -- a nice area near Flint Hills, full of young people and things to do on the weekend that also has great, close parks for dog walking. But I think I'd settle with a nice area with a nearby dog park.

Anyway, thanks for the advice!

[golfgal]

Dakota County has an off leash dog park not far from Flint Hills. It has about 2 football fields of open space and then trails through the woods that are very well maintained. We take our dog there quite a bit. It is on County Road 46 a couple miles south of Flint Hills. All of the cities mentioned have great parks for walking, although dogs have to be on leashes. I am pretty sure that Minneapolis and St. Paul probably have some off leash dog parks as well, I just don't know where they are.

Roesmount has a bike trail or sidewalk on pretty much every street in town. You would find a lot of place to walk here. It would be very convenient to work but I don't know that there is an overly large population of singles here. Apple Valley has a lot of townhome complexes as well and the people I know that live there are all 30 and under singles so that might be an option too if you want to stay closer to work (Apple Valley borders Rosemount to the west).

There is one area of Eagan that you might want to start looking. It is on Yankee Doodle Road and Lexington Ave. There are several nice townhome and apartment complexes there. It is very convenient to all sorts of shopping, etc. It is an easy hop into St. Paul or Minneapolis but is it is also pretty easy to Flint Hills (a quick 65 MPH drive down hwy 55 and 52). There are a couple nice wooded parks near there and some walking trails that run along the complexes. I know a few people that have lived in that area over the years and there tends to be a lot of younger singles/couples that live there.

[AVguy]

Burnsville has one of the best dog parks in the country (Alimagnet Dog Park), which has an enclosed circular walking path and a pond for dogs to swim in. However, if your Westie is like our Westie, he probably doesn't like water, which makes the pond useless for recreational purposes. In that case, and if you live close to the dog park in rural Dakota County (County Road 46 and Blaine), that large dog park has nice enclosed walking paths. Another thing to consider is that many neighborhoods have walking trails built into the common areas of the neighborhood, so consider that in your housing search. One of our favorite things about our neighborhood is that we can take our dog for a walk without jumping in the car or crossing busy streets (or any streets for that matter!). The south metro suburbs (and other areas too, of course) also have wide sidewalks running parallel to busy streets where many people walk their dogs. You may not find wide sidewalks or neighborhood walking trails in the older parts of the metro, but you may not need them either.

[Bagira]

Originally Posted by Boilermaker_Fan

Wow, I'm amazed you managed to guess exactly where I am going to work...


I guess another factor is my dog. I have a Westie and I like to walk him most every day after work. I'm lucky where I live now because there is a dog park and another nice park with wooded hiking trails within a couple miles of my house.

Does Rosemount, Eagan or any of the other places suggested have any dog parks?

I guess I want it all -- a nice area near Flint Hills, full of young people and things to do on the weekend that also has great, close parks for dog walking. But I think I'd settle with a nice area with a nearby dog park.

Anyway, thanks for the advice!

Ok

I worked at Flint Hills and lived in MPLS loring neighborhood since you'd be commuting reverse traffic patterns its SWEET!!!! I was or am a Union Steamfitter. It took me exactly 25-30 min. in the AM and 40-50 min in PM. Great dog parks in MPLS. Getting to MPLS after work from Rosemount or anywhere SOUTH will be unbearable.

Steer clear of the SOUTH SIDE you'll fade away and die.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Boilermakerfan, as a fellow young professional working in the southern suburbs (I'm 26 and work in Eagan) I'm going to be brutally honest with you. I find the southern suburbs very boring. When I took this job I moved in with a college friend who just so happened to own a house 4 miles south of where I would be working. Living close to my workplace has been convenient but it wasn't what I'd hoped for.

First off, I thought I'd take advantage of the distance by riding a bike to work. This was great at first until I realized that suburbanites have no respect for bikers and I was crossing too many busy roads (although there are sidewalks all the way up Pilot Knob which is nice). Anyways, a lady talking on a cell phone nearly hit me one day and I totaled a bike so I decided to scratch that idea.

Secondly, the same things plague these suburbs that plague most others. There aren't very many cool places to hang out and meet people. None have historic downtowns, buildings tend to all look alike which results in boring architecture, businesses are all chain, etc. To sum things up, the area has no soul.

That being said, I am extremely eager to move back into south Minneapolis. There are more things to do there, more diversity, there are dog parks around, very bike friendly, etc. One gripe about city life is that crime is higher. Well, speaking from personal experience I lived in the heart of Uptown Minneapolis (near the intersection of 28th and Fremont) for 4 months last year without any issues with crime. In my first month living in Eagan my car was vandalized. The front and back windshields were smashed in with a baseball bat and the back two windows were shot in with a bb gun. I'm not saying you should expect similar but that crime does happen in the suburbs too.

Anyways, it all comes down to personal preferences. I'm just saying that I think the suburbs are great place to raise a family but for young professionals the city is the place to be.