I am moving to Renton, WA (Seattle, Maple Valley: apartments, lease, crime)

[badgergirlmoving2wa]

My husband is relocating for job. We are moving into an apt Archstone apts. Can you tell me how the area is. Also the schools are
Tiffany Park Elementary School Nelson Junior High School Lindberg High School. I have heard horror stories and now I am very concerned. We are only renting for a year but would like to stay in same area for kids. Please be honest. Thank you!

[southking500]

I'm not familiar with those apartments but it's in a nice area of Renton. What horror stories have you heard? Renton has a lot of different areas and most of them are ok.

[Ira500]

The Archstone in Renton is in a nice enough area, just down the hill from Fairwood and up the hill from the Maple Valley Hwy. The problem is that some of the buildings in the complex are right on 140th, which is a busy and noisy street...I've heard good things about Tiffany Park Elementary and Lindbergh High, and don't know anything about Nelsen middle school.

[AlohaHuey]

Originally Posted by badgergirlmoving2wa

My husband is relocating for job. We are moving into an apt Archstone apts. Can you tell me how the area is. Also the schools are
Tiffany Park Elementary School Nelson Junior High School Lindberg High School. I have heard horror stories and now I am very concerned. We are only renting for a year but would like to stay in same area for kids. Please be honest. Thank you!

At the risk of sounding like a smart aleck, what research did you do prior to signing the lease?

[funyoncity]

That's a pretty decent area. It's far enough away from the 'lowlands' that crime shouldn't be a problem (the farther away from Rainier Ave, the better). There's a golf course at the bottom of the hill with a nice restaurant and there are nice looking woods around that area as well. At the top of the hill you reach Petrovitsky Road, which has a ton of shops/stores/grocers. As with most complexes in the Seattle Metro area, parking in the complex will probably be awful if you have more than one car. For some reason, even if there would be room, many complexes find it necessary to make parking a nightmare.

[MaikeerinWA]

I lived at the Cedar River apartments (it wasn't an Archstone at the time) a few years ago when I first relocated to WA. They were pretty decent overall, and I liked the location for the most part, right on the river and convenient to Fairwood and other business areas. My particular apartment was quiet and close to a really nice protected wetland, where I could often see deer feeding in the morning. But I'm sure that the ones facing SR-169 are noisier.

FWIW, these apartments are technically not in Renton, but rather unincorporated King County. Parking wasn't an issue, but a friend of mine who lived there more recently told me that it is now.

If I had to do the renting thing over again in Renton, I might opt for the complexes along Lake Washington Blvd. or maybe downtown. But the Archstone was not bad.