(St Paul) Lowertown and Sibley living & safety (Minneapolis, Roseville: low income, apartment complex)

[Orbani]

Hi


I need to move soon and found an apartment complex in Lowertown that fits my financial and space criteria, however looking at the reviews and general crime information has me worried, so I am hoping those familiar with this area can weigh in with any info they think is relevant.


To start with, I'll list what I know so far:


1. The building is the Sibley Park Apartments on East 7th St.
Reviews for this building are all over the place. Some of the negatives include mentions of nearly non-existent management, thin walls, disrespectful and loud tenants, poorly kept grounds and safety concerns as well as theft in the complex and garage. Others mention great managers in around 2011, great housing for students etc.

Mostly all of the recent reviews are negative, but also only really focus on mentioning that management doesn't contact them back to even view the units (so they're not rating it as tenants...).
Recently pictures were posted on one of the listing services of trash on the grounds as well as saying that "bums" frequently hang around the outside of the property and "management won't do anything about it."

The building apparently just changed owners - there's an article on citypages, I believe, about some Low Income housing company buying the property from Sherman Associates. I don't know if this changes anything for better or worse.



2. Lowertown seems to be mentioned as a good location in terms of having access to stores, bars and parks in distance as well as the Green Line. I do not drive, so this was good news.
However on researching the area, and St Paul in general, I'm finding many recent articles about shootings and St Pauls "rising" crime rate. These recent shootings took place apparently on Hamline Avenue and University, Midway, and somewhere a ways North East - Pleasant Park? All locations are only about 2-8 miles from the apartment and a couple minutes drive.
Trulia, an apartment listing website, has a crime map for the last year and shows that Lowerton has a high density of reported crimes. Thefts and purse snatchings seem to dot the map around the complex.


That is the extend of what I've found out about the location recently.
It all seems to be extremely negative or extremely positive, and information is often pretty brief and without detail.
Can anyone expand on either the complex, location or both and clear any of this up? What is the building and area like currently, right now? Going off of decade old information because it's almost all there is is difficult, but most of the recent information is also only about crime in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Is this building and this neighborhood good locations to move to currently?


Thank you for your help.

[Citykid3785]

First off, are you from the Twin Cities, and are looking to move to lowertown, or are you from out of state.

Secondly, what's your threshold for crime? Does petty crime make you feel uncomfortable, or just violent crime?

I can't speak to anything about the particular apartment you speak of. As far as urban areas go, I feel as though Lowertown is safe. 2-8 miles can make a huge safety difference in any urban area. In general (but not always), areas with high traffic, sporting events, large farmers markets, transit hubs, etc. are going to have higher crime rates. Simply because relative to the actual resident population, there is an overabundance of outsiders driving activity in the region (like a saints game for instance).

You will see homeless in the parks and near transit, not sure if that makes you feel uncomfortable or not. An empty nester widow from my former church moved from the burbs to lowertown a year ago and loves it.

If it were me, I'd want to take the green line, chill in Mears park, go to the farmers market, and chill on a Saint's game day to understand the neighborhood before I moved there.

[demtion35]

I lived in E Saint Paul, for a short bit. Worked out of Work Connection in warehouse and welding jobs. Drove forklift also. Lived near the bar, Payne Reliever. Not sure on spelling.

[Orbani]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

First off, are you from the Twin Cities, and are looking to move to lowertown, or are you from out of state.

Secondly, what's your threshold for crime? Does petty crime make you feel uncomfortable, or just violent crime?

Hi Citykid


Thank you for the response.
Yes, I am from the Twin Cities area. I've lived in both the Roseville area and over near Industrial off of Hennepin for several years now.
I am pretty familiar with Minneapolis and my area over here, around Dinkytown up to the Quarry, but haven't really been to St Paul itself more than a couple of times.


Petty crime like the theft I mentioned?
That's a concern, yes. Petty or not it makes you feel uncomfortable at a location. I don't like the idea of worrying about my house being robbed when I leave (some reviews mentioned some problem tenants or cars in the underground parking being stolen from, also fairly old reviews however..others mention great tenants and nothing wrong with the parking garage..), and having concerns over walking to the grocery store and back every time I need food, or want a casual walk after work.


I know cities change substantially per block, and I'm not wholly unfamiliar with walking in areas at night that have the habit of making you more attentive and a bit jumpy. But whether many of those areas had regular petty crime I don't know. I've been on foot around Industrial and Broadway, briefly in North Minneapolis, the area in and around Loring Park in Minneapolis. Maybe that can give some reference. Nowhere immediately hostile but areas I think petty crimes do occur. When I went to MCTC reports of robberies and theft on or around the campus weren't uncommon to get.


If I can provide more information let me know. Thanks for your help so far.


@demtion35
And how was your experience with the area? Do you know what it is like now? Ever hear anything about the particular apartments?

[MsBall]

Orbani,

I currently live in Lowertown and when my lease is up, I will not be re-signing...I plan on moving out to the burbs. There are many factors, but the biggest reason is safety. When I first moved here a couple years ago, I never heard shots fired. The past few months I’ve heard them four different times. One was right outside my building, with exchanging fire it sounded like a shoot-out at the OK Corral. I’ve also noticed an increase amount of loitering, beyond the usual hot spots of the Depot and Central stations. I’ve been verbally assaulted by mentally ill homeless too numerous to count and there have been some that bark at my dog. I’m not naive, I know crime happens everywhere. But this sense of decreased safety in my living environment is too stressful for me. There are many people moving out of my building, including long-timers. Of the ones who have moved out on my floor, those apartments remain empty. At the end of August, our building had eleven move-outs with only one move-in.

Regarding the light rail, after my last two rides on the green line..I will NEVER ride the light rail again, EVER. I know there will be posters in this forum that will lecture me for saying that and tell me I’m over reacting, but I don’t give a rats a$$. I know what I experienced and there is no reason to ever put myself in a situation in which my personal safety is significantly compromised.

https://www.fox9.com/news/danger-on-...-rail-stations


I would say that, overall, my experience with Lowertown has been disappointing. If you had asked this question last year, my response would’ve been much more positive.

[Orbani]

Originally Posted by MsBall

Orbani,

I currently live in Lowertown and when my lease is up, I will not be re-signing...I plan on moving out to the burbs. There are many factors, but the biggest reason is safety. When I first moved here a couple years ago, I never heard shots fired. The past few months I’ve heard them four different times. One was right outside my building, with exchanging fire it sounded like a shoot-out at the OK Corral. I’ve also noticed an increase amount of loitering, beyond the usual hot spots of the Depot and Central stations. I’ve been verbally assaulted by mentally ill homeless too numerous to count and there have been some that bark at my dog. I’m not naive, I know crime happens everywhere. But this sense of decreased safety in my living environment is too stressful for me. There are many people moving out of my building, including long-timers. Of the ones who have moved out on my floor, those apartments remain empty. At the end of August, our building had eleven move-outs with only one move-in.

Regarding the light rail, after my last two rides on the green line..I will NEVER ride the light rail again, EVER. I know there will be posters in this forum that will lecture me for saying that and tell me I’m over reacting, but I don’t give a rats a$$. I know what I experienced and there is no reason to ever put myself in a situation in which my personal safety is significantly compromised.

https://www.fox9.com/news/danger-on-...-rail-stations


I would say that, overall, my experience with Lowertown has been disappointing. If you had asked this question last year, my response would’ve been much more positive.

Wow. Thanks for your first hand account of the area, MsBall. It's always good to hear from someone local.

Apartment reviews mentioning homeless loitering outside the building more and the news stories of the recent shootings in nearby areas as well as the general rising crime rate and thefts on the crime map are why I had enough concern to start the thread, so what you mention is very relevant, and all the more concerning with the implications of your second paragraph. I'm sorry you had these experiences.

That news article being just two days old is pretty shocking, even if you sort of expect that sort of thing with public transport changing an area of a city and already being familiar with some of the issues it has here around the Minneapolis locations it mentioned.




We went to look at the apartment mentioned and the landlady was a no-show after waiting for 40 minutes and contacting the property manager (voicemail) and Sherman. We were sort of hoping to set up another viewing as our immediate impression of driving through the area wasn't very off-putting but your experience with Lowertown will be kept in mind. Also looking into some other places now but they're way out in South East and North St Cloud, more areas I'm unfamiliar with..




I'm still interested in anyone else's experiences or opinions if they'd like to share, as there are other available buildings in the neighborhood that were possibilities as well.


Thanks

[Glenfield]

A landlord who won’t show up for a showing sure isn’t going to show up if you have a problem. I’d beware and walk away from this one.