Hi, all. For work-related reasons, I plan on moving to Silver Spring, Maryland in the next month or so. Can anyone recommend a good apartment building there?
Well, I used to live at 8811 Colesville Road, which is still there. The thing I liked about it was 1) it was right next door to the public library, which was convenient for a great reader of books such as myself, 2) it was close to the bus station (at the time, anyway) which I needed to get to grad school in Baltimore, 3) it was walking distance (about 10 minutes, straight down Colesville) from the Metro and 4) it was also close to the Beltway. But depending on your needs and priorities, any of the buildings along Georgia avenue and thereabouts are even closer to Metro station (and further from other stuff).
Keep in mind that Silver Spring spans a fairly large geographic area…it’s a “Census Designated Place”, so it can easily take you 20-30 minutes to drive from one part of Silver Spring to another. Where is your office located?
The immediate downtown area is full of places to eat and has a slightly younger, hip vibe. The Blairs is a new, nice apartment complex there…I don’t know what your income/expectations are though.
Some of the places on Georgia Ave. are nice and some are not-so-nice; depends on the location.
SS has undergone major renewal and improvement in the last ten years or so, so if you talk to somebody who asks “Why would you want to live in that hole?” Ask them when they lived there. If their info is more than ten years old, it may have been overcome by events.
SS has a little bit of everything, but beware traffic. Rush hour can get ugly; 16th Street, Rt 29 and Georgia Ave are all major routes in & out of D.C.
I lived in the Lenox Park Apartments in Silver Spring in 2002 – the building is on the corner of Rt. 29/Colesville Rd. and Rt 410/East-West Hwy, directly across from the Silver Spring Metro station. It was a really nice building with an indoor garage, gym, pool, big apartments, and fantastic location. I shared a 2bd/2bt apartment, and I think our rent was $1200 a month. (I think? Maybe more?) Of course, this was over seven years ago, so who knows what it is now. But I loved living there…it was the nicest apartment I’ve ever had.
The year later, I lived alone just a block up the street on the corner of Rt. 410 and 16th st. at the Summit Hills Apartments. The rent was like $900+ for a studio in 2003, and they were kind of run-down, at least compared to the last place. Still, great location.
A friend of mine lives in The Blairs. He seems to like it so far.