I'm moving to Cincinnati very soon, and will be working at the Delta call center downtown at 7th/Plum. Because I will not have a car, and expect to work a lot of late (after bus hours) shifts, I'll need a cheap apartment in safe walking distance. The places I'm looking at right now include Lytle Tower (4th/Broadway) and a few places in Over-the-Rhine, within the Main-Walnut, 13th-14th area. In terms of stuff to do (bars, restaurants, shopping), safety (for walking late at night), and general vibe, which area would be my best bet? Thanks!

It dependshow much you want to spend on rent and how big of a space you need. I hear the Emery Apartments on Central and Walnut/Main are very affordable, especially for a smaller one bedroom/efficiency unit. I thin the area is safe, and I have walked from the Main street area bars to the center of town before at night, but some people may disagree with me on this too. The Kinsey lofts on 4th are not bad either. They are an easy safe walk to the call center and there are few bars in the area and a few more planning on opening soon. The Gramercy/Grennich are always nice, and they have nice pool parties there in the summers (It is only a block from the call center). I think Sycamore place is a little expensive for the area and same with the Rennesaince.

 

If you are looking for the best accessibility in the area, I would stay in the CBD area. (north of 3rd, South of Central, West of Broadway) It is only a short walk from the bars, Delta, Fountain Square, many restuarants and stores, that is if you do not have a car.

Here is a link to DCI's site with a ton of rental info....

 

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/cgi-bin/viewcat.cgi?Category=Downtown+Living

I live in a large studio apartment on court street (btw vine and walnet).  The location is great...easy and safe walk to anywhere downtown.  Also, rent is cheap.  The apartment is pretty nice, but it's kind of a no-frills type place (no pool parties, no elevators, no dishwasher, etc.).  Nevertheless, I looked pretty hard at many apartments in the CBD and chose this one because I thought it was the best value for your money.

You mentioned Lytle Tower at 4th and broadway.  I have a place about a block from there.  It's a very quiet corner of downtown, with a fair amount of residents in the neighborhood. It is mostly an office building / residential combination. Depending on what you're looking for, you might find it to be too quiet. There's not much in the immediate vicinity in terms of reastauraunts or bars open at night.  As you probably know, that location is about a 10 block walk to the Delta call center.

 

If you are interested in Lytle Tower location, you may also want to take a look at the Phelps.  It's just down the street, and it appears that it may be in the same price range as Lylte Tower.  The site doesn't show them, but they also have studios.

 

http://www.thephelpsapartments.com/

 

I'm not familiar with the properties, but options closer to the Delta call center are Garfield Tower and The Gramercy.  There are also several places on the west end of Fourth street by Middle Earth Development. There's a link to their site on the link The_Cincinnati_Kid posted.

 

Just curious, where are you relocating from? 

 

P.S.

 

The best part about renting, is that if it turns out you find someplace better after you've moved in, you can always switch once the lease is up. Just be sure to make friends with someone who owns a pickup truck.

 

Just curious, where are you relocating from? 

 

P.S.

 

The best part about renting, is that if it turns out you find someplace better after you've moved in, you can always switch once the lease is up. Just be sure to make friends with someone who owns a pickup truck.

 

 

I'm relocating from Champaign, Illinois, ExPat. You're so right about the pick-up truck! I'll be coming to Cincinnati with a rented van and my dad to help, because I'm tired of wasting money on furnished apartments.

 

Thank you all for your suggestions. My price range is pretty much rock bottom, unfortunately, but it's good to hear that there are some options downtown. I roamed around the CBD mainly, and a bit of downtown Covington and Newport, when I was in town a few weeks ago (I liked all these areas), and I heard some dire negativity about downtown from random people I chatted up -- suburbanites, of course. I don't know why I bother to listen to them!

I say if the budget is really tight, but you want a good location, check out 4th & Plum apts. You can't beat the prices.

Urban Sites Property (website is www.urbansitesproperty.com I think) has I think affordable spaces in OTR.  I do not know anything about what they are like to rent from but there places seem nicer than crap holes.

Why don't you check out Towne Properties?

If you like old buildings huge windows go with Groton or Shilito.

If you want new construction go with Gramercy or Greenwich.

They have a pool and monthly resident parties, you meet tons of people that way.

All the properties border 7th and Elm except for the Groton which is at 7th and Race a block away. I know two people living in these buildings and working at that location.

http://www.loftsatshillito.com/

 

Hey let us know where you wound up also.

I hear you about suburbanites, everytime I bring up downtown at work the first remark I hear is "you'll get SHOT!"

Yep lived there over two years and it happens every day  ;-D

 

Be sure to keep an eye on the rental listings on Craigslist, too.

I say if the budget is really tight, but you want a good location, check out 4th & Plum apts. You can't beat the prices.

 

This is what I was going to suggest...pretty close to the call center you'll be working at and its in an area thats seeing new residential growth and entertainment options are starting to go towards that locale.  Not to mention only a hop skip and a jump away from Fountain Square area and the Backstage district!!!

 

Should the streetcar come on line as desired, then almost anything within the inner city will be a short jaunt away!

I'm at the Phelps -- thanks for the tipoff, Alabama. It is a very good deal (and I almost crossed it off my list because the website omitted the efficiencies). I have Lytle Park, the P & G gardens, a private garden, and (when warmer weather comes) a rooftop patio all at my doorstep, and several snooty private clubs and the Taft Museum as next-door neighbors; it feels like an awfully genteel place for what I'm paying. But then everything else in downtown is still very accessible by foot, which keeps me in good shape! Gov't Square is a few blocks, too, although these buses seem incredibly slow for getting to neighborhoods beyond downtown. An hour to Norwood!

 

Fortunately, I can confirm that downtown and OTR (at least from Vine-Main) are hardly the warzone that various suburbanites and out-of-town visitors have described to me. In fact, just a couple hours ago (about 11 PM) I went on a leisure walk up Walnut to Liberty and back down Main. I've already crossed basically every street block in the CBD at all times of day and night and I haven't encountered anyone more menacing than your typical panhandlers who want a "bus fare to get back to Beechmont," etc. I can understand family-oriented people being overprotective of their wives and children, but any dude who can't go downtown after dusk is seriously wussy.

Delta has a call center downtown? Are they hiring part time? I need a weekend job!!

 

Suburbanites are intimidated by the panhandlers because they don't deal with the situation often so they make it out to be bigger than what it is. It takes a while for them to adapt.

I'm at the Phelps -- thanks for the tipoff, Alabama. It is a very good deal (and I almost crossed it off my list because the website omitted the efficiencies).

 

Welcome to the neighborhood!  Part of the time, I'm down the street in the building next to the Taft. We really like that end of downtown.

 

How many people work at the call center?  My sister-in-law works there.

Gov't Square is a few blocks, too, although these buses seem incredibly slow for getting to neighborhoods beyond downtown. An hour to Norwood!

 

I can't imagine it taking an hour unless something went wrong...looking at the schedule for the #4, it's 25 minutes during off hours and 35 during peak times, downtown to Surrey Square.  If you're talking about Rookwood, it's 20 minutes on the #11, #12x or 69.  Maybe if you were going to Clifton first and connecting on a cross-town bus, but that's the only way I can imagine it taking that long...

 

BTW, welcome to the city!

 

Okay, technically that might have been Kennedy Heights. The 4 Ridge Road goes up pretty far, then comes back down to Highland and Ridge. I took that line to a Motel 6 labeled "Norwood" though it's actually in Cincinnati, and I took the line again to the Time Warner office at Highland Plaza -- good scenery along the way (OTR, Walnut Hills), but very slow, strange, U-shaped route.

Yeah, getting to Highland at Ridge (which is actually Columbia Township) is an odd one, but that's not really a good measure of SORTA's performance.  I guess if it doesn't get you to where you want to be in a timely way, then that's poor performance...but it's certainly not universally slow.  From downtown, you can get to UC in 12 minutes, Rookwood in 25 minutes, Glenway Crossing in a half hour, Western Hills Plaza in 35 minutes, Mt. Lookout Square in 40 minutes, and even all the way out to Tri-County Mall in an hour...generally, it's twice the time it would take to drive - with exceptions like Highland at Ridge, or Kenwood Mall, which for some reason takes at least an hour from downtown...

 

But the point is, you can definitely get around to a ton of great neighborhoods in a reasonable amount of time using SORTA...I'd love it if it were better, but bang for your buck, it's really a great deal, with pretty darn good service.

 

^ You can also catch the 2X (Madeira Express) to get to Highland and Ridge in about 15-20 minutes.  However, these routes are limited to only a few a day.

Buses don't magically appear as soon as you get to a bus stop and its best to be there 10 minutes early anyway so it's not very time efficient compared to a car IMO but as a student its very economical...Im not paying for all of the expenses accrued by a car, plus parking. Plus, our tax money pays for most of it so you might as well get some use out of it when its convenient to. I can see how it would be hard for someone who has to be extremely mobile on a really tight schedule though.