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I am from Northeast NJ so basically comparing to that.
Any newer blds to live in?
It seems rents not as high as Saratoga Springs area
Overall downtown is very safe. And the East End which is generally considered part of downtown is very vibrant. There are some really nice new builds downtown.
There's a bunch more renovations of older builds also in the pipeline. And the East End is going to over the next couple of years have a bunch more brand new builds on the Inner Loop fill in project.
I am from Northeast NJ so basically comparing to that.
Any newer blds to live in?
It seems rents not as high as Saratoga Springs area
I assume by comparing to Northeast NJ you are talking about the cities of Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, etc. I'd compare the two as this:
Rochester is FAR less crowded during the day. Depending on your perception of crime, this can be bad or good. Some people feel safer in crowds and might find a city like Jersey City to be so active that no one has the time to pay attention to you. On the other hand, I am in these cities a lot, and you do see a lot of thuggish looking people in NJ cities.
While Rochester has 5,800 people per square mile, Newark has 11,000 and JC has over 16,000. So, I think this is the biggest difference that I felt when I was there. Personally, I prefer this, as its just easier to get around and less hectic.
Rochester is quite a bit different vibe from Saratoga Springs as well.
From my research, you are right- Roc is quite a bit cheaper. Rochester is more of a city than SS. SS is a small city that is pretty densely populated, but is more in the orbit of Albany and is in the Albany metro. It is a resort town. Rochester is its own stand alone city and metro area, although Buffalo is not too far away.
As JWRocks says, downtown Rochester residential population is growing very fast. There's tower280 which was just completed, and there are a bunch of new projects in the works right now. The Metropolitan, The Sibley Building, 88 ELM St are all within a block of each other and will be coming online in the next few months to a year. Soon to be announced is a brand new build right next to Tower 280 as well. The going belief is that it's going to be a 14 story condo building.
Like VintageSunlight says too, Rochester is a lot bigger than Saratoga Springs. Rochester is really a good sized city. It's big enough to give you all the amenities of a city even bigger than what it is, but it's also not big enough to give you all the headaches of a big city such as traffic congestion and pollution problems.
Also depending on whether you want super urban (which the downtown apartments will give you), but another option in a more "artsty" neighborhood in the city (Neighborhood of the Arts), also has a brand new apartment building being built right now: 933 the U - Brand New Rochester, NY Apartments for rent
So that may be another options. It's in a very vibrant location within walking distance of many bars and restaurants, coffee houses and other neat gathering places.
I would look east of the river, St. Paul Quarter (or whatever it's called now) is not safe at night, in fact RPD have that whole area tightly controlled when the clubs let out.
Another thing to comsider are newer renovations on the periphery of downtown, say Alexander and over towards Monroe.
None of those problem bars are even open on St. Paul any more, it's fine over there.
The East End is the most active district downtown right now but the area around Midtown is quickly gaining a mass influx of people and should be a great place to live in a year or two as well. Other parts of downtown are fine, just a little quieter with less going on in the immediate area.
Also on the topic of Saratoga, I went to the races there last summer and am not totally familiar with the area, but here's how I would compare it to Rochester. Saratoga seemed like one really nice street with a bunch of new stuff popping up but I'm not sure how much else was around the area? It seemed like a fun place to be, but not sure how long that would last if I lived there. In contrast, "things to do" in Rochester are more spread out but there are so many more things available. There are pockets of bars/restaurants around the city, but not as high of a concentration in one spot like Saratoga. Personally, Saratoga seemed like a nice place to visit but I couldn't see myself living there.
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