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Old 12-19-2006, 04:00 PM
 
43 posts, read 207,967 times
Reputation: 25

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I am going to be working in downtown St Pete. Can folks suggest places to live and give me an estimated commuting time during regular commute hours? I have small kids and I'm looking to buy in an area that is nice to raise kids (good schools, low crime, etc...). Some folks say go to NE St Pete/Clearwater...others say that commute is brutal, go south of the skyway to Bradenton, or even East Bradenton (Lakewood Ranch area) and you have have a little space, and 1 person even said Tampa is an option...which I would think is a really bad commute option.

Can people who actually make these drives and live in these areas weigh in?

Thanks!!
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Old 12-19-2006, 04:53 PM
 
242 posts, read 1,015,438 times
Reputation: 95
Default Nice living close to downtown St. Pete

There are plenty of residential areas in St. Pete, very close to downtown that will give you a commute of literally minutes and also are good for children. Depends on your price range as to which area would be best. I am getting ready to sell a house that is about 2 miles from downtown with a lake/park/playground right around the corner. PM if you are interested in details and/or let me know your price range and perhaps I can suggest other areas if those are a better fit. Good luck.
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Old 12-19-2006, 07:05 PM
 
185 posts, read 685,254 times
Reputation: 70
Quote:
Originally Posted by FLBoy View Post
I am going to be working in downtown St Pete. Can folks suggest places to live and give me an estimated commuting time during regular commute hours? I have small kids and I'm looking to buy in an area that is nice to raise kids (good schools, low crime, etc...). Some folks say go to NE St Pete/Clearwater...others say that commute is brutal, go south of the skyway to Bradenton, or even East Bradenton (Lakewood Ranch area) and you have have a little space, and 1 person even said Tampa is an option...which I would think is a really bad commute option.

Can people who actually make these drives and live in these areas weigh in?

Thanks!!
Gulfport. 10 minutes.
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Old 12-19-2006, 07:10 PM
 
185 posts, read 685,254 times
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There's a bad section south and west, so watch for that. Plenty of nice neighborhoods that are close and my old neighborhood of gulfport is one.

These people that tell you to commute from Bradenton and Tampa are smoking some wacky tabacky.
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Old 12-20-2006, 11:44 AM
 
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
381 posts, read 1,680,350 times
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I agree with the other posters. There are plenty of nice areas within 10 minutes of downtown St. Pete. Between Gulfport (certain areas), NE St. Pete, and a lot of in-between, you should be able to find a really nice place and not have to drive more than 30 minutes a day.

And of course, if you take the interstate, you could live a little farther and the commute would still be reasonable.

PS: Clearwater is NE Pinellas County, not NE St. Petersburg. It is actually NW of St. Petersburg. NE St. Pete and Clearwater are on complete opposite ends of Pinellas county. Just thought I'd clear that up.
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Old 12-20-2006, 02:06 PM
 
43 posts, read 207,967 times
Reputation: 25
I'm reading...keep the insight coming. Thanks!
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Old 12-21-2006, 12:34 AM
 
185 posts, read 685,254 times
Reputation: 70
Quote:
Originally Posted by FLBoy View Post
I'm reading...keep the insight coming. Thanks!
South St. Pete is between Gulfport and Downtown and it's a rough neighborhood. Near the water Harbor or Beach is nice, though and you highway right over the tough parts of St. Pete.

Pinellas Park is Ok. Safe, working class, none beach. Of course there are beaches all to the west, but you have some tough crosstown traffic. Nothing compared to some other large cities across the bay, but I'm sure it won't get better.

I liked Gulfport enough to buy a house there so I'm prejudiced. 10-15 minutes to Ft. DeSoto beach and that's via I 19, not the tourist clogged St. Pete Beach route., (big difference in March-May).

Lots of luxury condos available in Downtown St. Pete. It's a city, but it's a tiny city to me, (compared to Boston).

I found Pinellas County very comfortable. It's evenly populated, so your not in the woods, but It's a lot less hectic than Tampa, IMO.
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Old 12-28-2006, 01:51 PM
 
27 posts, read 112,263 times
Reputation: 23
seminole and largo aint bad for st pete commute, do not commute from tampa or bradenton you got to be nuts cross them bridges accidents all the time.
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Old 01-01-2007, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Florida
7 posts, read 34,031 times
Reputation: 8
Depends on what you want to spend but there are many nice areas with great schools around St. Pete. If you let me know your price range I can help more.
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Old 01-02-2007, 09:26 AM
 
Location: St Pete -- formally LI, NY
628 posts, read 1,827,622 times
Reputation: 236
Best suggestion is NE St Pete neighborhoods or in downtown itself. If you are working downtown it’s a 10 minute drive from almost anywhere in NE. I live about 40 blocks north of Central Ave and travel down town all the time at different hours and traffic is almost nonexistent.

If you can’t find what you want in NE than I would say Tampa Red has done a good job of describing other good areas. Pretty much anything in Pinellas south of Ulmerton Rd would be an acceptable commute to Down Town.

Crossing any of the bridges IMO is not a good idea with one exception – If south Tampa really interests you the commute over the Gandy to 4th street to down town is a breeze. The Gandy bridge is totally under utilized and rarely has traffic on it. I travel 2-3 times a week from down town St. Pete to down town Tampa (Kennedy and Ashley) and back via the cross town expressway onto Gandy blvd over the Gandy bridge onto 4th and to downtown consistently in 35 minutes
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