Chiotter411

Also, while my fiancé and I are open to looking at apartments, we are really, really wanting to find a great loft. We would prefer that over an updated apartment. Any suggestions for lofts in particular? I would imagine the Warehouse District would be the place to look, or is that not necessarily the case? We were looking at "The Erie Building Lofts" online and are in love. Does anyone know anything about these lofts. They are located on West 4th Street. Is that a good area? I think these lofts may only be for purchase but we're thinking we can see if anyone is renting their loft out.. Thanks again for all the patience and help. The more we research, the more questions we have and sometimes the more confused we get, lol.

^^ Lol! @hts121, I gotta say from your pictures, Cedar-Fairmount looks like a beautiful area. It's seems to be an upper class area, no? Many of those homes are beautiful. I really love how proud and loyal you guys are to your city. It really tells a lot about Cleveland and the people that live there. I must say I am no longer concerned so much with it being a "dangerous" place to live and am really excited and looking forward to come back with my fiancé and check out the areas, culture/theatre, museums, shops, and Restaurants! The first time we came, we were working with a relator that was provided for us... though we're not sure if that will be necessary anymore since I'm taking control of the reigns and researching everything myself to make sure we pick the perfect place for us to live. Do you guys think a realtor is necessary for this hunt or from the looks of things, you think we'll be find on our own? I mean, we pretty much know now (thanks to you all) what areas we want to check out and even specific complexes we want to look into. Does the 20-30 minute commute include snowy winter days and traffic that my fiancé would run into when driving to the clinic or is that the time when roads are totally clear? ** So my fiancé and I are wondering how many days you all think we would need to come to Cleveland to check out the neighborhoods/cities that were mentioned? While the suggestion of just renting a place at the moment temporarily and then getting something more concrete later on is a great one, we are really hoping to kill two birds with one stone by coming to Cleveland to look at the neighborhoods and then also *hopefully* check out places and make a decision. We would love it if we could just move and get settled without having to unpack and move 6 months or a year later.. Do you guys think 3-4 days is enough time or do you think we would need more of a week's time? Or longer?

After having done some research on much of the information given, I'd say we are looking to probably check out Coventry in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Square, Lakewood (think more so to check out rather than live because it's probably going to be too far from the clinic for our liking), University Circle (is University Park basically the same thing?), Clifton/Edgewater, Downtown (is that where the Historic Warehouse District is?), Ohio City/Tremont, Detroit Shoreway, and Battery Park. So basically, everywhere! :? Sorry for all the confusion this thread is spewing, I'm just trying to learn as much as I can. I don't know how we'll make a decision. I'm hoping when we see these areas in person, it will be easier to make up our mind. We were thinking we would be able to get a feel for the areas, and find a place in one trip... but I dunno if that's gonna be possible. Now that we've narrowed down(!) areas to live, any recommendations on actual apartment or loft complexes that haven't been mentioned in any of those ^^ areas? Those new Uptown apartments and Hazel 8 look great and I think we'll def check to see if their is any availability for those come a few months from now. Anyone know anything about either place? Other places that caught our eye were Water Street Apartments, Federal Knitting Mills Building, W.T. Grant Lofts, Residences at Hanna, and Park Lane Villas. Does anyone know what the rent would be like at Park Lane Villas for a two bedroom? They look mighty $$$. If you can share any information on any of these places, that'd be a great help to us. Feel free to name places I haven't listed. We're completely open to suggestions.

Wow! Thank you all so much for all the wonderful replies! My fiancé and I def came to the right place. You all sure know Cleveland and we are getting some great, insightful suggestions. Thanks! I am making a list of all the neighborhoods/apartment complexes suggested so that my fiancé and I can research them and hopefully be able to see them in person in a few months. To the poster who pointed out that there is a difference between the eastern part of Cleveland vs. there actually being a suburb called East Cleveland, thanks. I had no idea and assumed that "east" Cleveland was literally the east side of the city, so good to know that they are two distinct places. It actually makes more sense to me now about why some areas on the east side are safe and a great place to live. This is a totally random side note... but does anyone know where we would be able to get some tasty cannoli's in Cleveland? We're pretty spoiled at the moment because there is a place in Boston called Mike's Pastry's" (if you are ever in Boston you MUST go there for the cannoli's!) who make some killer ones and we were talking about how we need to find a place in Cleveland where we can get some. Also, is it easy to ride your bike through Cleveland? Do they have bike paths along the street or do you just make your own path as you're riding? Is their a trail along Lake Erie that is popular in the summer/warm months? Thanks!

Thank you to all the replies so far! It's very nice to hear that you guys are living in the city, are happy, and feel safe. Also glad to hear that there are some areas on the east side that are nice to live in. We'll have to look into all those areas that were mentioned. And yes, I'll def remember to bring my street smarts with me. :wink:

Welcome! First if you're from Chicago, then with some common sense, you've be very safe in Cleveland. The two cities culture are very, very similar. Now who exactly are you hearing these "comments" from? Are these people who actually live within the borders of the city of Cleveland? You've come here, a place that embraces urban living and a place where people live and work in the city and are experts in their neighborhoods. I would suggest living on the Eastside, but to give you better options, what neighborhood do you live in Chicago and where in Boston does the future hubby reside? Thank you! I admit that Chicago has A LOT of violence and it has its very bad neighborhoods but in my 28 years I have never seen them because they are far from the downtown area, which is very big in Chicago. You're completely safe downtown and pretty much most of the surrounding suburbs of the city. Most of the heavy violence is in isolated areas. I'm hearing from people both in person and online sites that areas in/near downtown Cleveland and surrounding areas can be dangerous, which is what concerns me. If you live in downtown Chicago, you are no where near drugs, gang violence, gun shots, etc. (not assuming that you are in downtown Cleveland, I'm merely stating how it is in Chicago). I'm sorry, I should have been more specific that I live in the city (the Gold Coast) and my fiancé lives in Fenway, right by Fenway Park. I know people tend to exaggerate things which is why I wanted to seek out Clevelanders and get the real scoop on whether it's as "bad" as it sounds or if people are blowing things out of proportions. As I stated earlier, my fiancé and I liked Cleveland when we visited. We were expecting something different because of things we've heard, but it was a beautiful city and we are looking forward to checking out the arts, museums, and restaurants there. There seems to be a lot of culture in this city and we're excited to explore it all. We just want to make sure we pick a nice, safe area to live. Especially because our families live in Michigan and Chicago and will be visiting often. We want to show them what a great city Cleveland is. :)

Hi there, My fiancé and I will be moving to Cleveland this August. He will be starting a job at Cleveland Clinic and we are beginning to focus on getting to know the Cleveland area and what areas would be best to live. We're in our late twenties/early thirties and would have to say our first priority in looking for a loft/apartment would be SAFETY. I'm coming from Chicago and he is coming from Boston and we both live in pretty safe and secure areas at the moment. We hear that Cleveland can be pretty dangerous and want to make sure we move into an area where we can take long walks during the summer nights, walking distance from restaurants/bars/etc. We'd like private parking that is secured. Price is not the biggest concern. Our max that we would like to spend on renting per month is $3,000 and feel that would be plenty for Cleveland. It also doesn't necessarily mean we'd like to reach that max but if the place is right, we'd be open to it. We'd prefer to find a luxury loft but are open to nice apartments too, as long as the area is safe. Any suggestions would be great. I keep hearing and reading a lot about cars getting broken into, people getting mugged, etc. but I do believe that it can't be THAT bad everywhere. :wtf: We visited Cleveland a few months ago and we both actually liked the city and we do look forward to exploring it more. I've read some old threads dealing with the same topic but some are over 5 years old so I wanted to get the most updated areas that Clevelanders would recommend for us to look at. I know we're supposed to stay out of the east side, but I was wondering how far is the west side from there? Is it walking distance between the two? Are there areas in the east side that are safe (since that's closer to the clinic) or would it be better to just stay on the west side. I would love any advice or tips that anyone would like to share. I will say that we enjoyed the Warehouse District a lot, but wonder if it will be too noisy all the time? I'm also reading that Lakewood seems to be a nice area? Is it a neighborhood type where we can go for strolls and walking distant to restaurants and shops? Any comments/advice you would like to share would be greatly appreciated as we both know nothing about Cleveland. Thanks for reading, - L