Moving to Belltown (Seattle, Bellevue: apartments, condo, crime)

[dankr]

Just received my corporate housing assignment for the next 6 months, and i'll be at the Centennial Tower apartments at 3rd and Wall. Naturally, I looked up the area, and came upon a bunch of threads with incidents of random beatings, shootings, drug deals, constant police sirens, etc...

Is the area still that bad? Some of those threads are a few years old, so i'm wondering if anything's changed. I'm a 22 year old male, and i'm coming over from living in Boston (Mission Hill), which was also deemed kind of unsafe. I do tend to walk around late at night, and it was always fine in Boston. Is this something is should be more careful with in Belltown?

In general, what can I expect?

[Flightoficarus87]

I don't even think of Belltown as being that bad to begin with. I wouldn't call it crime free, but you won't have to worry about shootings or muggings all the time either. 3rd and Pike seems to have a reputation of being a bit sketchy at night, but there isn't anything there you'd be going to at late hours anyway. Just use common sense and street smarts, and you'll be fine.

[Hemlock140]

I agree, I walk through there twice a day as I work on the waterfront and take the bus to Westlake at 3rd and Pine. I have seen police action maybe twice in 2 years, not counting the "occupy" movement, but that's at 7am and 4pm. The crime in that area is mostly after 11pm especially at closing time when people leave the bars. The worst problem is car prowls, park on the street with anything visible inside and you may find a broken window in the morning.

Especially avoid parking in that lot under highway 99 between Lenora and Blanchard, every night there are homeless people there and almost every afternoon there is broken glass from a break-in.

[Tall Traveler]

Belltown is an awesome area but it is downtown so you need to use normal precautions you would in an urban area. If i were you, I would be more excited than worried.

[phoenixmike11]

just be careful and you should be okay- avoid walking the streets after 2 AM when the bars close. since you are from boston there is a patriots and red sox bar in belltown-the spitfire grill on 4th avenue.

[BellevueNative]

I guess I'll be the dissenting opinion. I would not want to live in Belltown now. Decades ago it was a rundown druggie's paradise, then developers decided to purchase the cheap properties and erect their condo towers, and restaurants, clubs and bars moved in, and it was a happenin' place for about 10 years. Now it's reverting back to its roots and there HAVE been, in fact, several shootings, stabbings and beatings there over the last 2-3 years. I have a friend who lives in a luxury condo in Belltown who is trying to sell it because there is apparently some type of public housing or rehab facility that has moved in across the street from his place which causes all kinds of disturbance in the evenings. Between the homeless, drugged out tweakers and troublemaker element I can spot from a couple blocks away, I no longer feel safe walking around in that neighborhood. And since the parking is so limited in the area, if you go to a restaurant or bar there, you pretty much always have to walk. I would ask to be placed in a different part of town if I was you.

[puma1991]

Here's my take. I lived in Belltown for about 1 year (approx 5 yrs ago) and had friends who lived in Centennial Tower. There were many aspects of living there that rocked. Those are obvious--no need to go into it on this thread. The two aspects that bothered me about that neighborhood: the criminal/sketchy element and, it seemed colder/windier than some other seattle neighborhoods (as a result of its close proximity to elliott bay, I presume). So I kind of have to agree with BellevueNative. But since you are a 22 yr old male, maybe the crime/sketchiness won't bother and/or affect you. What concerns me is if you have a sister or a girlfriend who comes to visit you and is walking back to your place after dark. I would not dismiss the crime stats--the Seattle PD should have the most recent info on the area. My friends had no problems and the crime did not seem to bother/affect them. Seattle is a relatively low-crime city--this neighborhood is not (at least from my experience). I guess it was not that bad, I must have survived somehow since I am alive to write this. Congrats on your job and best of luck to you, whatever you decide.

[marionberry]

I pulled up that intersection on crimereports.com, it defaults to the last two weeks. Usually when I check crime reports for an area..the past 2 weeks doesn't pull up much. This time it pulled up quite a bit considering the time frame. You can have it search the past 30 days or as long as 6 months. I'd suggest checking around 3 months at least to get a clearer view of the crime in the area.

[UrbanAdventurer]

If you're from the Northeast there probably won't be anything that sketches you out about Belltown.