Apartment Hunting General Discussion

[grant1simons2]

Has anyone lived in either The Knoll, Sydney Hall or Northstar on the U campus? I know there are a lot of alumni and students here so I'm just curious. I'm still searching for a place to live for the school year.

[Silophant]

A close friend lived in Sydney for a year, so I visited pretty frequently. It was nice, but pretty expensive - luckily his parents were paying for it. As another Doran building, I'd expect the Knoll to be pretty similar. I'm curious if the rent has dropped at all with the gigantic new buildings continuing to come online.

As for the Northstar, I lived next to it for a year, and it looked nicer than the roach-infested dump that I was in, but I don't know much else about it besides that. Do NOT rent a bedroom that faces the rails - nighttime demolition derbies/switching operations take place with depressing regularity.

[grant1simons2]

The Knoll was is $525 to share a room in a 2BD and Sydney is $559 for the same. Northstar is $495 for a shared room and they all do roommate matching. So I think they're actually all pretty wonderful for pricing. Add them all up and they match the price of a dorm for Fall and Spring semesters

[MNdible]

I wouldn't underestimate the value of being in a dorm for your freshman year. It's a great opportunity to make friends and build a social network outside of your major. Just a thought.

[seanrichardryan]

Dorm. I lived at home and missed A LOT.

[grant1simons2]

I'm going to MCTC to save money and transition much better, and unfortunately they don't have dorms.

[Silophant]

Ah. Yeah, a University dorm probably isn't an option then. If you don't mind me asking, why the heart of Dinkytown? It's going to be significantly more expensive there than, say, Marcy-Holmes west of 35W, and convenience to the UMN campus isn't really a selling point in your situation.

[grant1simons2]

Oh I still have about 6 apartments I'm going to look at. 2 of them are in Marcy Holmes and 1 in Loring Park. But I think it'd also be really interesting to be matched with a roommate living in a 2bd for the same price and a room in Marcy Holmes and Loring Park. There's a studio in Loring for $550 right across from Emerson on LaSalle but it's pretty small and a bit dated. The 2 in MH are the same price point but one is sharing with 5 other people and the other is with 3 others.

[Nathan]

Live with other people you don't know for sure. It sucks so good.

[Mcgizz]

Grant, I live in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood and it is superior to the other side of the 35W in every respect, except for the party scene. Marcy-Holmes has bus to MCTC, closer to NE/St. Anthony/ Central and University commercial node (or whatever we call that these days), quieter, and more respectful neighbors.

There are a lot of benefits to living near or around Dinkytown, but most of those are from going to school at the U.

You're young though, you may not give two craps what most of us "old" people think.

Good luck.

[Nick]

For your consideration

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/a ... 15024.html

[mattaudio]

I hear you can rent a nicer place in LPM for about the same cash, utilities included.

[Nick]

Comparable square footage at LPM starts $400/month more, if u dare 2 compare

http://www.villagegreen.com/minneapolis ... loorplans/

http://www.rentlpm.com/floorplans.aspx

[seanrichardryan]

BUt, sound deadening concrete! (Thanks for the intimate look into the Elfangor lair.)

[trigonalmayhem]

Yeah LPM includes all the utilities except electric in the rent (including cable TV and internet that is super fast). Also the amenities level is insane.

[nBode]

My roommates and I are looking for a new apartment away from campus. One that we were considering says they limit to 2 occupants per 2-bedroom unit due to fire code. However, I can't find any relevant code on the books. All I have found are zoning code maximum occupancy limits, being 2 persons for R1-R3, and 4 persons for R4-R6. Both our current building and the one mentioned are zoned R5. We currently have 4 people on a 2 bedroom lease.

Does anyone know if there is truly a fire code preventing this? Since they allow 2 people in a 1 bedroom, I sort of doubt it?

Thanks a bunch!

[jw138]

That sounds suspect. Whether or not its a fire code though, they have the legal right to restrict the number of occupants.

[FISHMANPET]

You're limited to 5 unrelated persons in a single unit by the zoning code I think, but I've literally had 4 people in a 2 bedroom apartment legally before, so they're talking out of their ass. In general I'm sure the landlord can set occupancy but I wouldn't be surprised where there are situations where they can't set occupancy, because that seems ripe for abuse ("Oh you want 4 black people? Sorry, only 2 people per unit")

[xandrex]

I assume this could also run afoul of rules because it seemingly restricts families. A family with two young kids could pretty comfortably fit into a two bedroom, even by today’s standards. That rule seemingly blocks that from happening.

[nBode]

^It specifies (1) family and (2) or (4) non-related persons. So families are fine, up to 5 people. Sorry, I only mentioned the unrelated persons numbers, as that was relevant to me.