Moving to Saint Louis - Maryland Heights area..Help!!! (St. Louis: condo, houses)

[Jason94vr4]

Originally Posted by DespicableMe

Yeah and Wash U danforth campus is like no more than 2.5 miles from the North Hanley stop anyways. The only significant savings might be from paying for university parking.

I have heard a couple of people tell me they got their cars broken into at that parking spot as well.

The North Hanley Metrolink station to one of the two Wash U stations is further than 2.5 miles. It's probably close to 8-10 miles with transferring trains at Forest Park. To me taking the Metrolink from Maryland Heights seems pointless. The drive from Maryland Heights to the North Hanley station is already 15-20 minutes. Then you'd spend another 5 minutes waiting for your train and another 15-20 minutes riding the train to campus. The drive from Maryland Heights to Wash U is only 20-25 minutes and traffic is never horrible at rush hour, which he might be able to avoid depending on class schedule. Only plus with the Metrolink is free passes for Wash U students and not having to pay for parking. I use to get away with free parking when taking evening classes there by parking back in a neighborhood just south of Delmar and taking a pedestrian bridge across Forest Park Pkwy.

I grew up in Maryland Heights it's safe with good school districts (Parkway North/Pattonville). Creve Coeur Park (and Lake) is also nice if you're into running/cycling. It's probably comparable to Forest Park, but without things like the Zoo/Art Museum/History Museum, etc. Traffic on 270 does get bad, especially 270 south during the evening rush hour. I think if you were to take the 270/40 route to O'Fallon it won't be as bad as it seems since you will be going the opposite way of most of the commuters, but if the part of O'Fallon you're going to is up by 70 and not 40 then it could be worse. Like Moorlander said, Clayton area is also nice with good school districts and fun for young professionals in their 20/30s. I would stay away from U-City, Central West End, DeBaliviere (STL city) not because they're bad areas, but not great school districts if you're having a kid and going with public school. Those three areas also tend to be on the "fringe" of where it starts to turn into a bad area.

[aragx6]

^Even if they had a kid tomorrow it'd be a minimum of three years before they'd need to be concerned about school. As they're not buying a place, that's not much of a reason to stay away from St. Louis city.

[flynavyj]

I'm with Aragx6 on that...If they're planning on renting, schools really shouldn't be a major priority initially, access to good day care should be but you can find that about anywhere...

The biggest detractor from city-living would honestly be the commute to O'Fallon...My wife was once working in St. Peters (Mid Rivers Mall area) and even though she had a reverse commute, she still complained about the distance she had to travel everyday for work.

The beautiful thing is that Jobs change...So i don't typically recommend moving to a location to be close to one specific job/career...As careers change, companies change, and locations move. I'd be more concerned with being relatively centrally located for both activities and work...That way even if you never have a 30 second bike ride to work, you may also avoid a potential one hour nightmare commute at the same time.

[DespicableMe]

Originally Posted by Jason94vr4

The North Hanley Metrolink station to one of the two Wash U stations is further than 2.5 miles. It's probably close to 8-10 miles with transferring trains at Forest Park.

My bad, I thought of the metrolink at galleria when it was mentioned about North Hanley.

[wustu87]

That reminded me of a "Hanley Station" related Metrolink error I gave someone one day waiting on a train. He had asked if the westbound blue line train we were waiting for (at Skinker) went to "Hanley Station". I know some people who live at the Hanley Station Condominiums right by the Brentwood Metrolink station and that's what I thought of when I heard him ask for "Hanley Station". So I said "oh yeah, that's just 5 stations away". He thanked me and got on the train and found a seat somewhere and I found a seat somewhere else. When I got off at Brentwood station I noticed he was not one of the group leaving the train, and I realized my error. He wanted the North Hanley train station, not the Hanley Station Condos in Brentwood. I really felt awful for telling him the wrong information!

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^Even if they had a kid tomorrow it'd be a minimum of three years before they'd need to be concerned about school. As they're not buying a place, that's not much of a reason to stay away from St. Louis city.

No, other than the OP stated they are interested in a Maryland Heights, I thought.

[mystic97z]

if your working in ofallon, move to offallon. it's a very nice area. someone said university city, clayton, central west end. those are "ok" places if you like city type living. i'm an electrician and personally i dread working in places like that. the living is so old and dingy. everything has old brick, lights, floors, just old. ofallon however, is nice , new, and spread out. just depends on what kind of person you are.

[aragx6]

God, you're right. Historic building are grody!

Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

[BoomBoxing]

^^And I find newer construction that is typical of O'Fallon to be tacky and lacking any character whatsoever. So like you said...personal preference

[stlma]

There is a bus depot at Ballas where he can board a bus that will get him to the Metrolink station in Clayton and then take metrolink to campus. Since Wash U gives all students free metro/bus passes -- it is a very easy option. The bus station is at Ballas and Highway 40-- if he doesn't have a car it is also an inside station so he can wait for the bus in there (it is right by St John Mercy Hospital)