Well not to get to much into it, but I need to find an apartment pretty quick.  I would like to stay on the westside of the city. 

 

My needs are:

Garage or parking for a motorcycle

pet friendly (he is a small dog)

1 bedroom, but 2 would be a lot better

 

My wants are:

washer/dryer in unit

fireplace (I know)

 

Neighborhoods I would want to live in: Asiatown, Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit Shoreway.  I spent the last 4 years in Old Brooklyn before my temporary move to the exurbs.  I would like to stay out of OB, just so I can try something different, but if there is something neat there I would gladly go back. 

 

Truly I would like to find something kind of cool and unique.  Maybe a floor of an old warehouse or something.  I saw on here once that someone had a friend that rented one for $600 a month.  That would be awesome to find.  I am extremely handy and don't mind something that I could customize or something that is quirky.  My target to spend is 750 with utilities, more if I don't have to pay for gas.  Even more if I don't have to pay for anything.

 

Let's see what you have UO!

I don't know much about places to live in Tremont, but I have friends there who love it. You might be really interested in the Tremont lofts. They have gas fireplaces and the apartments look really nice! I hope that helps your search :)

 

http://www.tremontplacelofts.com/apartments.htm

I have looked there, not sure if it will work though.

 

Anyone have any opinions on this place:

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/1749207451.html

 

Or this one:

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/1796019608.html

That first one is on a very rough stretch of Detroit, at least a few years back it had a reputation as probably the worst open air drug market on the westside.

I think Detroit at West 80th is a little better than what it was. There is an assisted living facility right there, too. So the immediate area may be so-so, but you venture a few blocks in any direction and it's a lot worse. The only direction where things are on the upswing is to the north-east, thanks to spin-off from Battery Park.

Thanks guys, i like the scranton rd loft.  I am semi familiar with the hood, minus being by metro health.  Does anyone know if that Is that a fairly safe area?

 

Any ideas of places like that in a little safer hood?

 

I can not find anywhere asiatown lofts, can someone point me in a good direction or good website?  I am going to call the CDC tomorrow?

Here's some for-sale and rental lofts in/near Asiatown...

 

http://www.highrises.com/cleveland/payne-lofts/

 

http://www.loftworkscleveland.com/

 

http://www.towerpress.com/

 

Here's a few more at these sites:

http://loft-directory.com/Cleveland.aspx

http://myclevelandcondo.com/default.aspx

Thanks KJP,

 

I am looking at metro lofts, painters lofts, tremont place, and tower press tomorrow. 

 

Any safety issues anyone know about these places?

Tower Press shares a block with an old Cleveland District Police Station that has been converted into a police sub-station and an EMS office. Because of that, there's always lots of police cars/official vehicles around there. It has a keycarded, fenced parking area. Tower Press is between the Plain Dealer and the Cleveland State University athletic fields. Eventually dorms will strech in its direction from CSU

 

Two blocks west begins a stretch of social service offices that attract a lot of people with time on their hands that tend to panhandle.

Painters Lofts is between drug neighborhoods. If you can imagine Franklin Boulevard as a finger of relatively calm and safety extending westward into the wild west, Painters Lofts is at the tip of that finger. Franklin Boulevard is a nice street, but it's surrounded by some tough neighborhoods.

So metro and tremont place are looking better and better.

 

Thanks for the help people...

 

Scranton Road, especially toward Metro, is not one of the city's safer areas.  Neither is the area around Tower Press, for the reasons noted above.  Tremont Place is better situated but very pricey.  It seems like a lot of these artist loft type units are located in rough spots.  Neighborhoods with a lot of old warehouses and factories in them were built as low income areas to begin with, and now those nearby jobs are gone, so the neighborhoods have shifted to mostly underclass.

Well I went to see a couple of places yesterday.

 

Metro lofts: location isn't as bad and the area feels very safe.  The building itself has a ton of potential, unfortunately it misses on a ton.  There was carpet in most of the units, which makes it feel cheap.  The kitchen felt cheap and from the mid 90's.  Good price, lot of space, but left there uninspired to live there. 

 

Painters building on w26:  another could have building.  They had the original office safe as a closet in the master.  Oooo, what could have been with this building.  Again, poorly maintained and poorly done.

 

Tremont lofts:  awesome building, awesome spaces, but a little way to pricey for me.  Cheapest 1 bedroom was 1100.  If teachers made more, I would live there.

 

Tower press:  didn't get to get in, miscommunication with the office, but the building looked great and the felt extremely safe.  I am probably going to go try to view it again.

 

Stonebridge:  I like the building a lot, but the sheer amount of negative reviews about the building scare me, anyone have any insight on the place?

 

So I am back to square 1, I fear I may end up at metro, just cause to isn't bad and it's cheap. 

 

Any more suggestions would be great.  Thanks.

I have a friend that lives in Tower Press. Very Nice IMO. No idea on price. Secure parking lot and the coffee shop too.

I've been inside Tower Press, at least the common areas, and it's super cool.

I've been in Stonebridge twice.  It felt like a dorm, and was loud (doors slamming, noise traveling upwards through the open center of the building) and smelly.  There was dog poop in the hallway.  The first visit, I didn't observe any of those things except it had that vague "dorm" smell.

Yeah, it does have a dorm feel and that makes me nervous. Most, if not all, the reviews say the same, which is a shame because the apartments are pretty nice and the view is simply amazing.

 

Does anyone have any experience with Chelsea on w14? 

I didn't observe any of those things except it had that vague "dorm" smell.

 

Would that be a boys dorm or a girls dorm? On the west green at OU they had a number of huge "H" shaped dorms with two long hallways connected in the middle with a shorter hallway. The floors that were co-ed were split right in the middle of the "H" and in 20 ft it would go from smelling like Dirty laundry, BO and a hint of cologne (boys) to full on Bath and Body Works/Yankee candle(girls).

 

I doubt that you were using the dorm reference in a good way so it must of smelled like musty old laundry.....

I guess kind of beer and dirty laundry, so I'd lean towards boys' dorm.

jar3232, are you dead set against multi fam houses and small buildings?  They don't provide the raw or cool space you describe as your target in you first post, but they may be a way to live in more prime parts of Tremont or OC if that's of interest.

I am not against a multi-family home.  Though I did spend the last 4 years in a single family home in O.B.  I kinda wanna change it up a bit, but I would happily move into the right multi.  I am more than open to suggestions. 

 

My Armageddon plan is metro lofts.  They weren't bad enough for me to flat out hate them, but I certainly didn't love them either.

 

 

I am not against a multi-family home.  Though I did spend the last 4 years in a single family home in O.B.  I kinda wanna change it up a bit, but I would happily move into the right multi.  I am more than open to suggestions. 

 

My Armageddon plan is metro lofts.  They weren't bad enough for me to flat out hate them, but I certainly didn't love them either.

 

 

 

Well you could always move to the Eastside.  ;) ;) ;)

There is a place in Battery Park that I believe is listed for $900 a month.  It is on Battery Park Blvd. in the complex.  You would need to drive by and get the number but I believe it is listed under Howard Hanna? (the green signs).  Good area & you can walk to public transportation if that is a need.  In case you don't know Battery Park is north of the Gordon Square Arts District in Detroit Shoreway.

Well you could always move to the Eastside.

 

I could and thought about it, but I do work in the southwest suburbs of the county.

Well you could always move to the Eastside.

 

I could and thought about it, but I do work in the southwest suburbs of the county.

 

I was just joking.  That would be a hellacious commute.

Ok, round two of questions.  Thanks again people for all the help so far.

 

I am going to look at Chelsea in Tremont, West Virginia in OC, Tower Press in chinatown, a couple of houses in Tremont and this place:

 

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/1818280673.html

It's on E60 and St. Clair.  (not sure about that hood)

 

Any recommendations or reviews on any of those places? 

I am not always one who suggests flat out buying a place, but sometimes there are advantages to it that may override the disadvantages. For one thing, some of the rents right now are rivaling a mortgage payment!

 

For many of the above reasons is why I am waiting to make a purchase and pay for a place flat out with cash again as I did several years ago...fix it up how I want it and not have to worry about discovering later that people around me in the same house/building do not know how to behave in a communal setting.

 

I am actually staking out a few areas to get a feel of the location and people around it before I will buy.

 

Prices are great now...you can even find a great foreclosure bargain and get a fixer upper on a decent street. So, if there is still time for waiting, you may even want to consider purchasing a nice place all to yourself.

 

Personally, I am through with landlords who don't have a clue how to operate a place, keep it clean, etc... and want to charge big security deposits for filthy places. Owned for 7 years and just picky... Don't know, just a suggestion based on my experiences.

I am not always one who suggests flat out buying a place, but sometimes there are advantages to it that may override the disadvantages. For one thing, some of the rents right now are rivaling a mortgage payment!

 

I appreciate what you are saying, but my situation is a little different.  I actually own a house, but it is being rented right now.  This is a quick move and if I wasn't out of town on business for the last 8 days I would have signed a lease 2 weeks ago.  This let me "shop" around a little.  Also, I am not sure I want to buy another house.  It was a lot of work and I don't know if I have time for that in the short term.  That is why I would like to take a year and think it through instead of rushing. 

I think it will be hard to be the location of the west virginia building.  I know some people who have lived there and really like it.

Well I just wanted to give everyone an update.  I ended up at metro lofts.  After a month I wanted to give a quick review of the place.

 

The Good:

Fellow tenants are pretty quiet.  No one is up partying late and it seems to be a very professional crowd at the building.  The space is a great price for what you get.  I have a huge 1 bedroom for 700 a month.  Pretty decent in my book, plus I have my own washer dryer!  The county hospital is literally right next door, but you don't get much noise from it.  During the day you get an ambulance or three, but at night I rarely hear anything.  It is a dog friend building and a lot of the people do have dogs.  You occasionally get a minute of dog barking at night, but it is pretty quiet.  ML overall is in a great location, no so much walking wise, but driving.  You are within a 2 minute drive to every single major rd in NE Ohio.  I do a lot of traveling, so that is reallllly nice.  It totally isn't Tremont, but they are trying to market that area as it is, be aware. 

 

The Bad:

The place isn't necessarily poorly taken care of, but they don't exactly stay on top of it.  My place needed a good cleaning when I moved in (which the management company should have done that in my opinion), but with a couple of hours and some kaboom, the place cleaned up great.  The neighborhood directly around the lofts isn't bad.  Just your typical Cleveland neighborhood.  A couple of streets in each direction after that and it gets a little more lively, but I haven't felt weird or bothered walking around at any time of the day or night.

 

Overall a decent place if you are looking for industrial style living and don't want to spend a fortune. 

 

I attached some pictures of the place.

 

If anyone is thinking of these places in the future and would like a more detailed review, please feel free to PM me and ask as many questions as you would like.

 

Thanks again UO community... 

jar3232, thanks for the update and congrats on finding a good place to live. I always love to hear "satisfied customer" stories.

I wanted to update my previous Review:

The Bad:

The place isn't necessarily poorly taken care of, but they don't exactly stay on top of it.  My place needed a good cleaning when I moved in (which the management company should have done that in my opinion), but with a couple of hours and some kaboom, the place cleaned up great.  The neighborhood directly around the lofts isn't bad.  Just your typical Cleveland neighborhood.  A couple of streets in each direction after that and it gets a little more lively, but I haven't felt weird or bothered walking around at any time of the day or night.

 

After a year I can say the other residents are very nice, respectful, and very quiet.  The building and area around it is completely safe and individual units are nice for the price.  The location is awesome and really cannot be beat, but I cannot over emphasize how poorly this building is managed.  The building has had several "last notices" regarding water being turned off and trash not being picked up.  As of today, it has been over a month since the last garbage collection.  Getting anything fixed/replaced in the individual apartments is next to impossible (my stove caught on fire 3 MONTHS ago and still hasn't been replaced).  This a common theme with most other tenets.  Though probably the most annoying part is the fire suppression system.  It is hardwired in (not battery powered) and is always in "reset" mode.  This means every two minutes it beeps.  I am unsure how this is happening because I have tripped their breakers AND taken any back up batteries out, yet it keeps beeping. 

 

I hate to give the place a negative review, but it should be out there for people who are looking at the Metro Lofts.  Be cautious of the lofts due to management of this building!