30's something, will be working in wellingon area, looking for an apartment complex and hp area to live in close by (Boca Raton: hardwood floors, real estate)

[un nuevo casa]

Hi there-

I have been offered a job in wellington, Fl, and my wife and I are considering moving there. We were wondering if there are any areas close by that are hip, younger, nice walkable, shopping, near the beach, with an easy commute to wellington and JFK hospital. We're looking to rent (condo, highrise, house, apartment), would like nice/luxury amenities, and hardwood floors.

please let us know if you have ideas.

[mayorhaggar]

"Hip," "younger" and "walkable" don't really apply much to Palm Beach County.

Downtown Lake Worth has a lot of restaurants and shops and is much more walkable than anywhere else in PBC other than downtown Palm Beach. Lake Worth's apartments though are pretty old and definitely not luxury but there might be some new condos in the area that would be within walking distance. Check it out and see if you like downtown Lake Worth, it's a bit ritzier than when I was a kid but it's still pretty down to earth. Palm Beach is a totally different story, definitely more luxury living but I'm sure the real estate prices are out of this world.

Downtown West Palm probably has some new condos. Last time I was in downtown WPB was several years ago and there were some new shops and stuff but it was still pretty quiet, but maybe there is more now. Citiplace opened up quite a while ago and is kind of a manufactured walkable commercial/residential district but you might like it. From Lake Worth or WPB it would be about a 30-45 minute drive to Wellington.

Other than that most of PBC is very suburban with either high-end houses or low-end houses depending on the area. Boca Raton, Delray Beach and some other parts of the southern part of the county have some walkable downtown areas but the commute would be a bit longer than from WPB, but you could check them out.

[skylinet]

The Gardens or Downtown West Palm would be good fits for what you are looking for depending on your budget.

[un nuevo casa]

delray beach seems nice, but i am a bit concerned about the commute. anyone else live in delray?

[TriMT7]

Downtown West Palm is your best bet. Tons of luxury condos on the market right now. Delray is nice, but the commute out of Delray to Wellington might not be the best. From downtown WPB you just gotta jump on the highway, go about two miles down and hit Southern Blvd.

Check out Once City Plaza, Two City Plaza, the Metropolitan, Cityplace South Tower, and the Strand.

[Swimmom32]

City Place is beautiful..those condos look gorgeous was there for the 1st time a few months ago for dinner..love that place...

[TheLuckoftheDraw]

I agree that the CityPlace area of downtown WPB is your best bet for what you're looking for, and the commute will be relatively easy, especially since most folks do the opposite commute (head east in the mornings, west in the evenings).

[un nuevo casa]

Thank you!

Agree that CityPlace is great. But the only thing is that it is not beachfront.

My wife and I love the idea of living off the beach, waking up to the ocean breeze, small town feel with all the amenities of nice restaurants, grocery close by, nice movie theater, where we can ride our bikes casally, ride scooters,and at the same time be close people in our own age range. Any of you know of any other areas that would provide this?

Do you all know of any realtors that would be interested in helping us with finding a place to rent?

thank you

[skylinet]

Cityplace is about a mile to the beach, you could easily ride a scooter/bike there. There's a few buildings on the intracoastal, and others that have water views. You'll pay a premium for it though. I used to live near Cityplace and would rollerblade down to the beach all the time.
You'll find that beach front, and finding 30 somethings in the same complex doesn't happen very often.
If you need help finding a rental feel free to contact me.

[TheLuckoftheDraw]

"Near the beach" is what you had said. CityPlace is near the beach. If you must live on the beach/beachfront, and you need to be within an easy commute to Wellington, you'd better be wealthy (and likely wealthy enough that I'd have a hard time imagining what you'd be doing for work in Wellington, unless you're just working as a hobby or something. There are plenty of rich folks in Wellington, but I can't imagine that very many, if any, got rich by working in Wellington).

Once you cross the Intracoastal in that area, prices skyrocket, because we're talking about Palm Beach. The southern part of Singer Island, or the eastern side of the Intracoastal from Ocean Ridge through Gulf Stream are maybe possibilities without the commute getting too ridiculous, although you'll be missing out on some of the other things you wanted, and it's still very expensive. You can get a lot more for your money by staying on the west side of the Intracoastal, you can get the cultural aspects you're interested in within walking distance even, and you will still be in a very attractive area. You can also ride your bikes up and down the water on the west side of the Intracoastal.

Keep in mind, by the way, that in Palm Beach, you're not going to be riding your bikes on some path along the beach much anyway, and neither will you be able to access the beach except for a couple spots. There are often houses on the beach, so what you'd see in that direction instead is a large concrete wall with dense foliage behind it designed to hide the house from prying eyes. In the sections where you can ride along and see the beach, in Palm Beach, most of the beach is private--it's the property of the folks with the homes either on it or right across the road from it.