Living car-free in Mpls: Which neighborhood offers best options for cyclists/transit users? (Minneapolis: apartment complexes, rentals)

[AmoreLeo]

Hello friendly Mpls peeps,

I'm moving to Mpls without a car. I hate cars. And car culture. I like bikes. And wide streets with bike lanes. And public transit options.

Which neighborhoods would be best for me? I'll be renting, rather than buying. I'd like to be within a 20-minute ride of a food co-op, close to a community garden (if possible), and within a 15-minute walk of major transit lines. Rental cost is not too much of an issue. Safety of the neighborhood is. (I'm coming from Chicago, so I have an overabundance of street smarts, not to worry.)

Thanks very much for your help. I could search for all this info online, but I much prefer local residents' perspective.

[Yosh01]

The Uptown area of Minneapolis would favor bicycling (Greenway Trail, etc.) with decent bus service. Anywhere along the University Avenue corridor (light rail), especial Cathedral Hill (coop nearby) in St. Paul would favor mass transit with decent bicycling.

[rzzz]

As far as walk and bike ability goes, by far the best area is downtown, mill district, north loop and the part of northeast directly across from downtown. This is where all the new apartments have been going up, so if rental cost is not an issue, you will be able to get a nice place. There is a new whole foods, a new lunds, a specialty liquor store, a couple dozen restaurants and bars, a handful of specialty shops, near the bike trail system on the river, quick connections to the University, Cedar Riverside, Seward, near the Stone Arch Bridge park area, etc. Personally, I would choose one of the apartment complexes hugging the east side of the river right next to the stone arch bridge.

The downside is this is very much a midwestern-western downtown feel, big wide streets, long blocks, ugly office buildings, and not very 'neighborhood-y' at all. You know in Chicago how the downtown kind of clears out at night and on weekends? It's definitely like that. I was looking at places yesterday (saturday) and spent about 4 hours walking around the areas I mentioned. There is a lot of action on the bike paths near the river and the stone arch bridge, but on the actual city streets I think I encountered about 4 other people walking around the entire afternoon.

There are other pockets where you can live car-free. I lived in Seward without a car for years in my late teens and early 20s. Revisiting the area, the rentals are all kind of gross and I don't think I'd be able to stand the living conditions at this point unless I was planning on buying and fixing up a place.

A big question is where do you need to go on a day to day basis. There's no point in living downtown if you are working in uptown, or in st paul, or whatever. Keep in mind the transit is buses which share the same lousy surface street as cars. We have a limited light rail system but nothing like the El.

[uptown_urbanist]

Depends on where you work, but generally speaking, I'd say Uptown or Lyn-Lake areas are the easiest parts of the city to live without a car. Downtown is a lot better these days, but it still doesn't have enough of a full package of amenities to suit me -- although that has changed drastically now that there is a Whole Foods on one end and a Lunds on the other. Still, I think you can't beat a neighborhood like the Wedge (in Uptown, north of Lake, south of Franklin, and sandwiched between Lyndale and Hennepin) in terms of sheer quantity of amenities within easy walking/biking distance, bus routes, and convenient central location. It's also on the Greenway, which is kind of like a bike highway. The Wedge Co-op is there. Community gardens aren't as robust as I'd like, but the Soo Line Garden is nearby, and I think Whittier neighborhood (just to the east of the Wedge) also has some community gardens. A lot of people in the area don't have cars and are avid bikers. There are also lots of car-share locations in the area, in case sometimes you do need a car. No one in my building owns a car and we all get by just fine.

[kuan]

NE Minneapolis South of Lowry. The streets are very low traffic compared to Minneapolis and South Minneapolis. Rents are generally cheaper and the bars a bit more laid back.

[rzzz]

I like uptown, but I do not think it is the greatest place in the city to ride a bike as a primary means of transport. It's fun to ride recreationally around the lakes or take the greenway to get to another part of town, but it sort of sucks otherwise. The side roads are too narrow, and the main roads are far too busy. It's a good place to walk, though.

[AmoreLeo]

Great input, everyone, thank you!

I forgot to mention, rzzz, that I work from home, so the only places I "have" to go daily are things like the co-op, the gym, cafes, and any other places I feel the need to visit to be social. Location of my residence is key to my happiness, given I don't have an office outside of the home to go to. I need to feel a part of the neighborhood--like I can really connect with it. As it sounds like you know, Chicago has some great neighborhoods like that. I am hoping to find the same in Mpls.

Keep the insights coming, people, thanks!

[rzzz]

I guess I would still pick one of the newer buildings in the north loop or on either side of the Stone Arch Bridge. The gym I go to is right over on Franklin near the Seward Co-op. I go to the downtown library. I actually live in Roseville right now and drive into that area pretty much every day. I rent a desk in a warehouse/office sort in the area where nordeast hits marcy-holmes.

I used to spend a lot of time in uptown years ago but it gives me a douchey vibe these days. The older apartments are the same gross old apartments that were old and gross when my sister lived there in the 90s. The new apartments are specifically marketed towards d-bags. I still like a number of things about the area but I no longer feel like I'd want to live in an apartment over there. That said, I'd gladly own a house near one of the lakes.

There are a number of other neighborhoods I like but they are a bit isolated without a car. I lived for a year without a car over in Longfellow and it sucked during the winter. Recently I've thought it might be cool to live in the Northeast area.

Now that I've said all of that, I should say that I work at home, too and have been thinking a lot about leaving MN altogether. My main client is in LA, my girlfriend lives in Boulder, my brother lives in Tucson and this last polar vortex has made me think I'd rather live somewhere with better weather.

[golfgal]

Given your perimeters, you could live just about anywhere in the metro. Much will depend on how much you want to pay for rent.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Given your perimeters, you could live just about anywhere in the metro. Much will depend on how much you want to pay for rent.

I agree that rent budget will make a difference, but I think that, given those perimeters, only a minority of neighborhoods within the Twin Cities would work. Most locations simply aren't within a 15 minute walk of major transit lines. OP can definitely find a good match, but the options are, unfortunately, limited.