downtown living safe? (Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Holladay: apartments, renters, condos)

[yos]

Hey I was just wondering if downtown living in the capitol hill area is safe?

[RockyMtnr]

That is no longer exactly "downtown" living like one would think but is almost the closest "near to downtown" living.
If you are coming from almost any other major metro area with downtown living then, Yes, you will feel pretty safe, comparatively speaking.
However, the swarms of homeless and addicted will be around plenty close - the good news is, the Capitol Hill area is Uphill from downtown - which will eliminate a large portion of those "walk-arounds". The area also looks after itself fairly well.

[yos]

hmm thanks for the response. What about right downtown? I can deal with homeless people as long as they are harmless. I used to live in NYC, which had plenty of fairly harmless homeless meandering about. I was more concerned with violent crime in the SLC downtown. I am going to be working right downtown in January and was hoping to get an apt as near to work / downtown as possible in order to minimize my commute, and when possible be able to bike to work. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[RockyMtnr]

Basically, they bull-dozed all of the "right-downtown" housing a decade and more ago so, people milling about are "walk-ins".
However, just a few blocks away, housing begins. It goes through normal socio-evolutionary changes, i.e, as one minority group deserts, the next moves in - moving from black to hippie to yuppie to asian to gay to latino to pacific islander to .... just depends where you are and who was there first, know what I mean? Salt Lake, to my knowledge has never been one of those towns where everybody works downtown. It has also never really been industrial (lack of water) so, the residential areas have always been separated from the areas where people work. Salt Lake did not start out where the downtown sits and that has made a difference in the evolution of the valley as well.
The area from downtown up the hill east to the University about 14 blocks and south about 20 blocks has here-to-fore been "the city" while the area above it, to the north called "the avenues" has been a tad more quaint and ritzy, being home to many associated with the University and the "money jobs" in town (lawyers, retailers, etc). Even though it has gone through many changes, the avenues is still known as the quaint area - and that merges into capitol hill. North and west of downtown in the flats has been the lower economic ends of the area. Town itself, as I say is becoming more and more devoid of housing. Perhaps someone actually living there right now will chime in to update you in a better way. I used to live in that area and still have friends that do - but I have been away for a couple of years.
I'm thinking that your Capitol Hill area should be just fine for safety. It's not a ghetto. It can be accessed from the northwest by people who want to access it - but it's too out of the way for simple, unplanned crime.
Hope I helped. For some reason, it seems a little hard to describe the area as it stands somewhat apart.

[cottonwood2420]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnr

Basically, they bull-dozed all of the "right-downtown" housing a decade and more ago so, people milling about are "walk-ins".
However, just a few blocks away, housing begins. It goes through normal socio-evolutionary changes, i.e, as one minority group deserts, the next moves in - moving from black to hippie to yuppie to asian to gay to latino to pacific islander to .... just depends where you are and who was there first, know what I mean? Salt Lake, to my knowledge has never been one of those towns where everybody works downtown. It has also never really been industrial (lack of water) so, the residential areas have always been separated from the areas where people work. Salt Lake did not start out where the downtown sits and that has made a difference in the evolution of the valley as well.
The area from downtown up the hill east to the University about 14 blocks and south about 20 blocks has here-to-fore been "the city" while the area above it, to the north called "the avenues" has been a tad more quaint and ritzy, being home to many associated with the University and the "money jobs" in town (lawyers, retailers, etc). Even though it has gone through many changes, the avenues is still known as the quaint area - and that merges into capitol hill. North and west of downtown in the flats has been the lower economic ends of the area. Town itself, as I say is becoming more and more devoid of housing. Perhaps someone actually living there right now will chime in to update you in a better way. I used to live in that area and still have friends that do - but I have been away for a couple of years.
I'm thinking that your Capitol Hill area should be just fine for safety. It's not a ghetto. It can be accessed from the northwest by people who want to access it - but it's too out of the way for simple, unplanned crime.
Hope I helped. For some reason, it seems a little hard to describe the area as it stands somewhat apart.

What about from 100 South to 2500 South and 900 East to 2100 East? The Yale, Westminister, Foothill and Sugar House Area's? Garfield Ave?

[RockyMtnr]

Those were all included in a prior post - but thanks for mentioning them by name - I can never recall Yale's name.
Sugarhouse has always been a neat area. However, here's something you need to understand about most of the Salt Lake Valley - keyword: "WaffleIron".
Most of Salt Lake, most of Utah, most of anyplace near Utah is set up in a waffle-grid. Eight blocks to the mile. There are no "out on the country lane" neighborhoods so to speak, with only a few exceptions and those too are quickly disappearing. So, there are houses up your side of the street and across the street is the same. There will most always be an alley behind your house and across the alley will be the houses on the next street behind you. It's the same, same, same except here and there will be little side-streets - but it does not change the basic pattern, it only decreases the size of the yard, etc.
So, as far as neighborhoods being "different", that doesn't really happen anywhere near downtown except to the north - heading on 2nd & 3rd west toward Rose Park.
Sugarhouse is a nice area. Westminster is very similar. Yale is similar but a tad more ... ... affordable(?) Sugarhouse has more better shopping and as you head east toward 21st East, a slightly more "exclusive" feel to it - but that is also the case with anything east of 1300 east. Decades ago, the neighborhoods were more easily defined. Perhaps one thing it may be important to know - the entire downtown area was the original landfill for the settlers and so, a certain "Mexico City Earthquake" potential exists and of course, when homes were first built there, they were not for the upper echelon (but don't tell anybody that doesn't need to know). So, okay, the downtown area was not for the elites and so it remains. However, that area has always seemed safer (to me, anyway) than say, Glendale, Winchester, West Valley, Rose Park, etc. which are all farther removed from the downtown area.
And to try and narrow an answer down for your specific areas, Cotton - and I sense that you already know this - beyond 21st south begins what is known as "South Salt Lake" - which was a hot item a few years ago - not sure how it's doing now but it was safe. East of 13th - up to Foothill - was very much akin to eastern Sugarhouse, i.e., a tad more exclusive - perhaps a bit more likely to have a pool in the backyard. Not that the houses seem much different but the "hood" does.
As cities go, Salt Lake is about the safest thing going - and the cleanest. Just don't expect something miraculous because ... it's still "city".
Oh, and I'm trying to remember Garfield - and can't. I'm thinking it's in the 1300 south - maybe between 900 S. and 1700 S where all the other dead Presidents are, in which case, I have already "covered" it. Now I gotta go google it up.
While I'm away, Cottonwood, maybe you can recommend Cottonwood or Holladay instead of the town area?

[debjane]

Garfield is near the country club, roughly 2300 East and 2000 South. The houses are the "same," as RockyMtn described, but you're in an area that probably has a good neighborhood watch program, just for the sake of it. If you have or are thinking children, then they will be going to school with the rich kids.

[Yuk_Foo]

I relocated to Salt Lake from NJ and stayed for three years. the great thing about living in Salt Lake City is that you get all of the benefits of living in a city without any of the problems one would associate with living in the city. Crime is very, very low and the traffic is almost non-existent (they think it's horrible, it's not). You won't find a safer or cleaner city in the country to live in. Downtown is extremely safe. No need to worry about crime. Considering the size of the city, it does have it's fair share of homeless but you will find that they are of the harmless variety. I guess you can attribute this to the ease in which one can get welfare benefits and the general charitableness of the Mormons. I lived at 1st Ave. and A St. which is one block north of downtown and 1 block east of Temple Square. The only problems that I encountered were with my predominantly Mormon neighbors who always seemed to have a beef with me smoking outside the building. They also weren't to keen on the fact that I like to drink. Salt Lake is a great place to live. I miss it a lot and would recommend it to anyone.

[SaltLakeResident]

Five years ago I lived in an apartment in downtown Salt Lake City near 200 East & 200 South. People with mental problems would wander into the building and the manager would throw them out. The same type of people would bang on the managers window late at night. There was a drug fight in the basement very early in the morning, they smashed a window in a door, what a noise that made. A few weeks later a man chased the manager and his wife into their office. When the manager shut the door, the man banged the wall with a piece of pipe. One of the renters in the basement tore some of the heating pipes off the walls and sold them for scrap. A few weeks after I moved out a man murdered a lady standing on the corner of 2nd South and 2nd east. He lived in the apartment building right on that corner which later burned when a different man set a mattress on fire in one of apartments. Living downtown there are a lot of crazys and low life dirt bags, anyone living downtown will agree. After you live downtown for years you build up a resistance to the crazys and ignore them. Let's face it, this isn't upstate New York.

[MrAnderson]

Originally Posted by yos

Hey I was just wondering if downtown living in the capitol hill area is safe?

The capitol hill area is basically a neighborhood that borders with downtown. It's quite safe and a pretty cool area with a mixture of condos, apartments, and homes. I would say the downtown area is pretty safe, and there is definitely downtown living. American Towers are two high rise condos, and there's multiple other towers and mid-rise complexes throughout the downtown area. Many are brand new - Palladio, Gateway Apartments, The Metro, etc. You can see a lot of them at Salt Lake Digs - Salt Lake Condos - Full List of New Developments (this isn't an ad, it's just a great resource / blog for Salt Lake condos)

Considering the large amount of downtown living, I believe it's pretty safe. The most crime seems to involve homeless and druggies fighting with each other or just being annoying. They've recently tried to pass some pretty strict panhandling laws that would make it harder for homeless to agitate.

Capitol Hill though, as mentioned, isn't right downtown and is mostly residential. It's a great area. And yes, I know this doesn't matter seeing the original post was 3 years ago.