<p>DS is graduating in the Spring and will start a well paying (for right out of college) engineering job in St. Paul this summer. I am helping him look for a 2 bedroom apartment in a youngish, urban professional neighborhood. </p>
<p>Some information I have is that Minneapolis is the place to be at this age, and that St. Paul is where you move when you’re ready to settle down. If you are familiar with Chicago, I am thinking about the equivalent of a Lincoln Park-type of area, if that helps. </p>
<p>St Paul would be better for his commute, however, he is an introvert, so planting him somewhere in the thick of the 20-something urban professional world would give him a better chance of connecting with people. He’s also a musician and enjoys composing electronic music on his keyboard, and is a huge classical music fan (apparently there are two professional symphony orchestras in the Minn/St P region, impressive for a city this size… this thrills him ;)). </p>
<p>Yalemom15, congrats on your son securing a well-paying job before his graduation this May. I’m sure you must be quite proud of him.</p>
<p>I’ve never been to Minneapolis, but I did a quick bit of research on the Internet. You’ve probably already done that. Here’s what I found.</p>
<p>Calhoun-Isles contains the uptown district. Most of the nightlife, upscale shops, and restaurants are located here. The neighborhoods include:</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr
CARAG
Cedar-Isles-Dean
East Calhoun/ECCO
East Isles
Kenwood
Lowry Hill
Lowry Hill East
West Calhoun</p>
<p>Northeast is an older area that is now attracting younger residents, as well as Scandinavian immigrants. The neighborhoods include:</p>
<p>Audubon Park
Beltrami
Bottineau
Columbia Park
Holland
Logan Park
Marshall Terrace
Northeast Park
Sheridan
St. Anthony East
St. Anthony West
Waite Park
Windom Par</p>
<p>I live in twin cities. When I was younger and did not have kids, I lived in downtown Minneapolis. I really liked it. Most of the nightlife, upscale shops, are located in downtown Minneapolis, not uptown. Although many young people live in uptown. Anything around Calhoon lake is going to be a bit higher price, but I think it is still affordable.</p>
<p>Kenwood (I consider it part of uptown, but I don’t think it is) is really nice, but really pricey. </p>
<p>When I was younger, downtown St. Paul was not a very happening place, so I am not that familiar with it. My husband works there and he still thinks it is not a very happening place.</p>
<p>OP - try posting in the UofMN thread. You will get better information there (young people who actually live in MN and/or seniors considering where to rent for their first year after graduating).</p>
<p>I think he needs to decide if he wants to have an easy commute or be near downtown for fun. The area around St. Thomas and Macalester ,Grand Avenue and Summit Avenue have beautiful houses and rentals and is a nice compromise and has lots of rentals. Getting to the area around the U of MN is 10 minutes from there and about the same for downtown St. Paul. There are tons of places to have fun around the Lakes in MPLS, too.( Lake of the Isles, Calhoun, Harriet, Nokomis and along MInnehaha Parkway) Seems to be a rite of passage to live in Uptown for many local college grads. My D2 commutes from the Grand Ave. area into downtown MPLS for work at a large architectural/engineering firm. The commute that way is not bad if you pay attention to what time you are leaving. A St. Paul commute is very easy from there. Have him contact the HR department and ask for some tips on housing. I bet they would be happy to help.</p>
<p>I think it’s great if kids can have the opportunity to live in a city near all the action. When they get older, they can always move out to the suburbs. We live in the suburbs and it has to be awfully boring for 20 somethings. We live close enough to the city that they can go there, but it’s just different actually living that lifestyle. I often wonder where our D will end up after she graduates. Not sure if she will come back to this area or end up on the other coast or somewhere in between.</p>
<p>Yalemom, did your S specifically want to work in Minneapolis or is that where he got his best job offer?</p>
<p>Usually it is when your kids reach kindergarten age. Minneapolis schools are horrible and not a safe place for both kids and teachers. I can tell you stories about 2nd graders with knives.</p>
<p>Thank you all, the Grand Avenue area keeps popping up, on this thread as well as the one I posted on U of MN. Very helpful.</p>
<p>He actually lived in employee housing at I-280 and University for this company last summer (he interned there, which led to the job offer, which he had in hand last August- thank you Mr. STEM major ;)). It was not a great area, although part of the problem was all the light rail construction messing up the roads. AQS, he accepted almost on the spot, it was a great offer and he wanted to specifically work with this group.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input NM, I was hoping you’d pop in on this thread. :)</p>
<p>Yeah…that light rail construction is terrible. My D2 loves to run/rollerblade along the river bluffs on Mississippi River Blvd near Grand during the week and also around the chain of Lakes on the weekends. H and I sometimes meet her when the weather is nice. Calhoun and Harriet can be crowded in the summer but a cool place to hang out. You always see someone you know. She likes to meet friends at Stella’s Fish Cafe…nice roof top patio… or at The Cafeteria across the street on warm evenings or summer afternoons. She also has friends who live around St. Anthony Main but I think that commute in to St. Paul could be tricky. In St. Paul there are some fun places to eat and have a beverage for young professionals. The Cheeky Monkey is a little wine bistro very popular with young adults as is The Happy Gnome across the street that became known as where Nicholas David of The Voice fame was from. Another place to try is the Blue Door on Selby, a tiny burger place shown on the food channel. It is famous for its cheese stuffed burgers known around here as Juicy Lucys and is hard to get in to. Those places are more on the hill outside of downtown St. Paul by the Cathedral. Another fun place in the summer in St. Paul is the outdoor patio at The Liffey. Every time we go we see lots of local “celebrities”. It is across from the Excel Center. D2 works right across from Target Field in MPLS so she is in the city for work/HH/dinner if she wants and then it is a short drive home.</p>
<p>“When they get older they can always move out to the suburbs”</p>
<p>Or, if they can afford it, they can stay in the city. We are <em>old</em> and just moved to Minneapolis, and the area around the lakes seems to be a very nice area for families. I’m not really a suburban type, though. Don’t like to commute, for one. </p>
<p>Schools don’t seem horrible so far (post #10), but we are new in town and only have experience with one high school in Minneapolis. It seems pretty okay so far. Lots of super nice kids there. Some excellent teachers, too. I imagine the schools vary in different parts of the city, though.</p>
<p>My daughter (a young 20-something professional) lived and worked in the Twin Cities until very recently, and she recommends either Uptown or Dinkytown.</p>
<p>If the job is in the 280/University area, the area around Macalaster or Grand Ave suggestions would be very easy commutes–likely be able to take a bus too. Uptown is the hipster area but it’s expensive, not NYC expensive but $1500-2000/month for a 2 bedroom type expensive. Problem with the Mac/Groveland area is that it will be a lot of college kid young adults. Many of the mansions on Summit Ave have apartments in the attics or basements, very nice area and easy commute. Have him ask around at the job too, someone may have a rental or know of a place too. Padmapper is a great place to find rentals!</p>
<p>yalemom - daughter did a summer in the area as part of Bulldogs Across America and absolutely loved living there. Several times she said she thought we should move there in retirement.</p>
<p>^^It’s true that the Twin Cities area has many things to recommend it, however, one key thing to note is that your daughter spent the summer there. I don’t think anyone should decide to the retire to Minnesota until they have first spent at least one winter there.</p>
<p>I agree that one should not decide to retire to Minnesota until they have spent a winter there. Sometimes it seems like half the population of retired Minnesotans are in Florida during the winter. It’s the annual snow bird migration.</p>
<p>I have heard about those MN winters! Son is going to buy a car and we are highly encouraging him to get one with 4-wheel drive ;)! Hang in there NorthMinnesota, hope they are wrong in their predictions!</p>