Indy named best for recent grads

May 6, 2009
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KudosSome good news from an Apartments.com and CBCampus.com survey: Indianapolis has been named the top city for recent college graduates. The study looked for cities with the highest concentration of young adults, most jobs requiring less than one year of experience and the average cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment. Following Indianapolis were Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Cleveland. The full list is here.
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  • The UrbanophileMay 6, 2009 2:10 PM
    Sweet!
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  • AblerockMay 6, 2009 3:21 PM
    That's great.

    Now let's get all of these recent graduates to move downtown. :-)
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  • Indy HoosierMay 6, 2009 4:25 PM
    I agree with the study. I am recent grad (working in Indy for a year) and can't wait to move downtown to a 1 BR/BA apartment. I agree with Ablerock, we need to get more young professionals living downtown. It seems downtown is really lacking in this aspect, correct me if I am wrong.
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  • thundermuttMay 6, 2009 4:33 PM
    Run through the Downtown Marsh at Lockerbie any night from 5-8pm.

    Plenty of young people there, though there are some older folks like me, too.
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  • JGMay 6, 2009 5:30 PM
    There is a problem with too few rentals and too many condominiums downtown. The city needs to aggressively recruit and encourage developers to get more apartments in the range of 600-800 sqft, 1-2 Br, $500-$1000 per month rentals near the CBD, canal/IUPUI, and east end/Mass Ave districts. The number of blight-generating parking lots, one-story cell phone shacks, and vacant lots leaves developers with multiple locations to get started on.

    The condo boom, a national trend, was helpful for downtown viability but a rather top down approach. The next five years needs to match that with a bottom up and middle approach to bring young talent to the city and keep them downtown.
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  • MikeWMay 7, 2009 10:00 AM
    The city won't get young professionals downtown unless they offer condos in the price range of young professionals. Apartments are great, and serve a temporary purpose. Most grads coming out of school are more financially saavy then their parents - some even have more money coming out of school than their parents because of their entrprenuerial spirit. I so wanted to live downtown after I got my Masters (age 23) and I couldn't because I didn't want to throw my money away on rent, when I knew I wanted to stay in Indy. So I went to the condos near Tarkington Park on Meridian and got a 970 SQft Condo for around 100K. This mortgage ends up being about $150 less a month (even with HOA Fees) then it costs to rent a condo downtown. And more square footage, a pool, gym, underground parking, and park across the street.

    Developers would have a lot of units sold if they would focuse on the $100-160K price range downtown.
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  • thundermuttMay 7, 2009 12:41 PM
    JG, Cosmopolitan on the Canal was to open this fall offering 200+ new units, though they would be at the high end of that price range. Waverly also opened in the last year, but apparently demand outstrips supply.

    Almost anything new or nice would be in more like $750-1125 for what you described. But that's still cheaper than a similarly sized house in Broad Ripple, which is the competition for young people looking downtown.
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  • JGMay 7, 2009 1:19 PM
    TM: I agree my numbers were on the low end for new construction, though affordability is very important to attracting new grads to the city. Possibly better options for 400-500 sqft studio units would be in order, and probably would appeal to young singles.
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  • LaneyMay 8, 2009 9:47 AM
    I agree about the need to have more affordable housing for recent grads Downtown. I have looked at both apartments and condos Downtown, but always come to the same conclusion: I can find a better value somewhere else in town (I live on the Northside currently). But, I would LOVE to be able to live Downtown (and close to work!)
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  • Former N.E.side Res.May 9, 2009 8:23 AM
    Indy is affordable, but it's also relatively boring. Downtown is doubly so.

    Until a couple months ago, I lived on the upper east side. My girlfriend is from Hamilton County and we really liked where we lived; Broadripple was right down the road, Castleton was a few minutes away, and we had great access to 465 and the surrounding areas.

    When I looked for jobs, it seemed like a fair amount of them were concentrated outside of the downtown area, so location wouldn't have been a benefit. It was also safe. There was a good 1.5 miles between us and 38th.

    Why go downtown, pay more, have less of a nightlife, and be ringed by crime?

    Indy is a great place to live (and, in my opinion, an even better place to raise a family), but an urban city it's not, and I don't think it will ever be. The density isn't there, and despite all the new urbanist fantasies of people riding public transit and living in shoeboxes stacked high, it won't come to pass. People like their space and their cars. The cities that are dense now are old, mega cities (San Francisco, Boston, New York, Chicago, etc.); Modern ones like L.A., Las Vegas, and Houston are not.

    Indianapolis has an awful public transit system (few bus shelters in a city that gets high winds, subzero temperatures, and a fair amount of snow!?) that money alone won't fix. Downtown feels more like an abandoned amusement park than something that's vibrant (numerous empty store fronts less than a block and a half from the circle). Not to mention the stink when the sewers overflow.

    My point to all this is that Indy should focus on its strengths (family friendly, affordability, opportunity) instead of being obsessed with its 'perceived' weaknesses (tourist industry, downtown). A rising boat raises all tides. If the economy recovers and Indy continues to hold up, it could be an economic beacon for the midwest (in ways that urban, but high-tax Chicago can't). The development will come.
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  • Cleveland Apartments Downtown
    Sara lovelaceJune 9, 2011 12:56 PM
    I just moved to the area and really enjoy living here. I used Cleveland Apartments Downtown to find a place to live.
    The site was well set up with a lot of information about the properties.
    So it made it very easy to browse through and pick something out.
    I'm quite pleased with my decision and love my new place.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

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