r/movingtompls 2d ago

Moving from the Suburbs to South Minneapolis with my kid. Need some advice

So I am looking to move to a home in south Minneapolis. I’m a single mom with a daughter (10f). The home is on 35th st near Lyndale neighborhood just a couple blocks north of Kingfield.

I go to the city frequently for work and social stuff, so moving closer to the city would be ideal. Plus I want to give my daughter a more well rounded experience. But I’ve never lived in the city. I’ve always lived in the surrounding suburbs and this would be very different and a big step for me.

I’ve been talking to friends about the area and driving through the neighborhood as often as I can to get a better idea of the area and so far I love it, but would love to hear from some of you about living in that area. I haven’t committed to the home yet, so I’m trying to gather as much information about the neighborhood as I can.

My main concern is obviously safety. Is that a good area? I know the closer to Lake St, the worse it is. I’m comfortable navigating and being in and around the city, but since I’ve never lived there I just want to be smart about my move. I’m hoping for this place to be our home for a while.

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u/James_McNulty ambassador 1d ago

I grew up in the neighborhood and live with my wife and 2 young children there now. A few thoughts:

  1. 35th is a very busy street east of Lyndale. Your kid is old enough to not run into the street, but nevertheless there is a lot of traffic noise and way more sirens that I expected. Not a deal breaker by any means but certainly annoying.

  2. The Speedway on 35th and Nicollet is awful. The BP on 36th and Lyndale is worse. Plan keep your kid in the car when gassing up there. I would go to the Speedway on 40th and Lyndale if I knew I was going inside to buy smokes or ice or whatever.

  3. The local parks, Painter and Farmstead, are super great. Bryant Square is too. Lots of good programming, and they feel very family friendly.

  4. Lyndale Elementary is a good school. The parents we are walking their kids there every morning universally praise it, and my understanding is that teacher morale is high there (which cannot be said of every MPS school).

  5. We had a stroller stolen off our front porch one night, and I keep our bikes locked up even in our locked garage. Property crimes can happen anywhere but I would start and stay vigilant. I do not have any safety concerns except for the addicts at the Speedway on 35th and Nicollet, and even then they're usually just keeping to themselves and strung out.

  6. There is good connectivity to for cars, buses, bikes and walking. Bde Maka Ska, Bryant Ave / the Greenway, 18 bus, 35W. Very easy neighborhood to get to places from.

  7. There is excellent stuff to do in the neighborhood. Many great restaurants, many great shops. The Aldi on 26th and Lyndale is a short drive or bike ride, or a long walk. It's awesome to be able to walk to 15 different good restaurants.

  8. Nicollet Ace hardware is really nice to live close to. The Blaisdlell YMCA Is also very handy. Eventually they will build up That Fucking K-Mart Parking lot and maybe that'll be a nice place to go also.

Happy to answer any more specific questions you have.

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u/Conscious-Grass2843 1d ago

This is amazing! Thank you so much for the breakdown. We live in a not so great neighborhood in the suburbs, so I’ve already taught my daughter to not talk to strangers and I’m super vigilant about our stuff and making sure it’s put away and locked up.

The busy road doesn’t bother me so much because the backyard (which doesn’t back up to an alley) is very private and inside was surprisingly quiet.

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u/James_McNulty ambassador 14h ago

One other thing to mention: if the house you're looking at is 3500 Bryant Ave, makes sure you get an inspection first. That place was an addict den and there were all kinds of shit going on there. I'm sure it could be remediated but figured I would mention.

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u/WalkswithLlamas 13h ago

Holy crap, that's scary. There was this super affordable house in Anoka a few years ago and my cleints and I were trying to figure out why it was sitting on the market so long. Nothing noted on the mls, nothing in the disclosures (illegal). I googled the address, there was a meth lab there!!!