Moving to South Tampa in May....need advice on where to rent! (Plant City: apartment complexes, condos) - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

kk8965 · 03-07-2011, 06:51 AM

Hi everyone,

I am 24 and am moving to Tampa in May with my boyfriend, where we will both be working as pharmacists. We have narrowed our search down to the South Tampa area, because we really want a city feel and hope to be able to walk to a few restaurants and bars from our apartment. We want to rent something for a year so we can decide if Tampa is for us in the long term.

Our budget is $1400/month, give or take depending on what is included in the rent. We want it to have a pool, at least 2 bed and 1.5 baths, and have some other young people living in the building. So far one of our favorites is Seaport Channelside. Can anyone recommend some more apartment complexes to take a look at that would suit our needs?

Thanks in advance!

xbillyx · 03-07-2011, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk8965

Hi everyone,

I am 24 and am moving to Tampa in May with my boyfriend, where we will both be working as pharmacists. We have narrowed our search down to the South Tampa area, because we really want a city feel and hope to be able to walk to a few restaurants and bars from our apartment. We want to rent something for a year so we can decide if Tampa is for us in the long term.

Our budget is $1400/month, give or take depending on what is included in the rent. We want it to have a pool, at least 2 bed and 1.5 baths, and have some other young people living in the building. So far one of our favorites is Seaport Channelside. Can anyone recommend some more apartment complexes to take a look at that would suit our needs?

Thanks in advance!

I'm sure craigm1841 will chime in. He lives in South Tampa and loves it. I can't help with bars except to say that I saw a number of them on South Howard.

If you want a city feel, you may want to consider downtown St Pete and the immediate neighborhoods to the north (Old Northeast, Historic Uptown, etc.). IMO, downtown St Pete has much more of a city feel than South Tampa.

TampaKaren · 03-07-2011, 09:02 AM

You can look also at Parkcrest and Island Place on Harbour Island, Place at Channelside, and 345 Bayshore. I'd prefer the Bayshore area (south of Platt St.) over downtown living. Good luck and please let us know what you decided!

Innertuber · 03-07-2011, 09:05 AM

Seaport is nice. There are a LOT of places in Channelside and Harbour Island. Should be able to get a place for less than your budget. Harbour Island is a little "nicer" I suppose.

craigm1841 · 03-07-2011, 01:33 PM

South Tampa, specifically Hyde Park/SoHo is a different culture than anything else in Flordia, with the exception of places in south florida.

You will either love it or hate it. It depends on what your social scene is. IMO, a lot of people in their 20s move to south tampa for the social scene, but it can seem pretentious if you arent prepared for it. I am from Long Island originally, so I can deal with it. I have friends from the midwest that are overwhlemed with peoples self-centered attitudes. That said, I know a lot of people in SoHo that are down to earth, but there is a level of shallowness that you will not find anywhere else for hundreds of miles.

SoHo does offer the best night life, the best bars, the best resturants, one of the best grocery stores in the area (Publix Greenwise, one of three in the country). SoHo is an active area. One of the best gyms in town are in Hyde Park, everyone is fit, everyone looks good, everyone is generally happy (or appears to be). I would say the night life is 20s and 30s. There are older people in hyde park, but they usually dont partake in the SoHo festivites which take place Tues-Sun. There is always somewhere to go, something to do.

Othe decent areas include the Westshore business district, where I live, which is about 4 miles from SoHo. It is a little more upscale, only because it is newer. Lot of glass office buildings, the best shopping from the gulf to orlando, great resturants. It is basically a newer, less walkable, more mature, south tampa. Nightlife is not as good, but still pretty great. Super awesome happy hour spot. 8 premium steakhouses in 1 sq mile.

Here is where I become brutally honest and come across like a total a-hole. To be honest, I dont post on this site anymore, but I came by to check my PMs and saw an interesting thread in which I was specifically referenced. Since I dont really hang around here anymore, I'll just tell it like it is with little regard for peoples feelings:

St Pete blows unless you are 40. Everytime I go there, I feel like it is full of people who cant hack it in south tampa. They dont care about their bodies, they dont give a crap about their image, some appear to not even care about showering (this goes for the 20s crowd). While there is more culture, there is less of a "Florida vibe" IMO. Just a lot of fat chain smoking rednecks, which Florida is full of, but South Tampa masks it and provides the Florida you have heard about. St Pete is like Ybor City on steriods.

Channelside blows. The condos and apartments are amazing, yes. It just isnt built up enough yet. People that live in Tampa dont hang out in Channelside. It is full of tourists and people from Plant City and Methner that saved up for a month to go out on date night. I call these people "pool hall people". I have a heiarchy to which they fit, somewhere between nascar race people and wal mart people. Channelside district, where the condos are, is a ten minute walk from channelside anyway.

Harbor Island- is very nice, and overpriced because contrary to popular belife, the location sucks, unless you like channelside. Again, close to channelside which is kinda yuck. The people who live on harbour island and channelside district hang out in SoHo and complain about their location. If I was going to live in downtown proper, it would be Element/Skypoint in the north end of downtown, and just suck it up and hang out in SoHo. Harbour Island second, channelside third.

Everywhere else in tampa besides SoHo/Hyde Park or the Westshore business district is "eh" IMO. The surrounding suburbs suck for people in their 20s.

Listen- I dont mean to offend. You and your BF are looking to spend about $1400 on a place, you are both pharmicists. I may be way off, and you could be overweight non showering chain smokers, and love St Pete or Bradon, or Riverview, or some other crappy place. I dont know. But if you are young, active, healthy, social people, SoHo is the place for you. I would like to think the people filling my prescriptions are pretty straight forward, educated professionals.

I dont check this site to often anymore because of the nonsense people spew on a constant basis is nausiating, but I would be more than happy to answer direct messages if you would like more help. That is if South Tampa/SoHo/Hyde Park or WBD sounds like it is for you. If not, I cannot help you, not because I dont want to, but I kinda dont know enough about those areas... maybe a little bit because I dont want to.

I am actually a pretty nice guy, albeit brutally honest. I'm just not thrilled about posting on CD forums. Shoot me a DM if you think I could be more of a help. I promise they will be nicer, and maybe even funny.

JSnFla · 03-07-2011, 03:44 PM

some solid honesty there but i think you overhype SoHo/hyde park dramatically in its relevance as a happening place. sure for the tampa bay area its about all there is but compared to south florida and many other spots around the country its purely amateur in every sense. for central florida its ok but it doesnt even rank in comparison to other party districts nationwide, minor leagues

craigm1841 · 03-07-2011, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSnFla

some solid honesty there but i think you overhype SoHo/hyde park dramatically in its relevance as a happening place. sure for the tampa bay area its about all there is but compared to south florida and many other spots around the country its purely amateur in every sense. for central florida its ok but it doesnt even rank in comparison to other party districts nationwide, minor leagues

Oh you are right. I will not disagree with that! But it really is all that Tampa has. It will never compare to s fl, ny, chi, la, lv.

I wasn't over hyping it for central FL, that's it.

kk8965 · 03-08-2011, 05:59 AM

Thanks everyone!

I think I'm going to focus my search on the Hyde Park/SoHo area, at least initially.

Does anyone have any specific apartment communities in that neighborhood that they would recommend I check out? I have looked at a bunch online but I would love to hear peoples opinions on them!

craigm1841 · 03-08-2011, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kk8965

Thanks everyone!

I think I'm going to focus my search on the Hyde Park/SoHo area, at least initially.

Does anyone have any specific apartment communities in that neighborhood that they would recommend I check out? I have looked at a bunch online but I would love to hear peoples opinions on them!

got your DM. I will provide you with a list of apartments/communities in the area. I have toured most of the properties, lived in, or have friends that live in most of the communities in SoHo and WBD area

Keeper · 03-08-2011, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigm1841

got your DM. I will provide you with a list of apartments/communities in the area. I have toured most of the properties, lived in, or have friends that live in most of the communities in SoHo and WBD area

It would help if you could post some of your recommendations here for future reference.