I’m moving to Cary, NC very soon…anyone have any info on good, inexpensive apartments or areas to live? thanks alot
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I lived in an apartment near the corner of Harrison and Maynard (look it up on a map . Maynard is a loop, Harrison intersects it at the North part of the loop.) It was fairly cheap, and had easy access to I40. I was working in RTP at the time, and was happy with the fairly quick commute. That area also has easy access to a nice network of greenways and mountainbike trails. I enjoyed being able to mountainbike directly out my front door.
Cary has grown very, very rapidly over the past decade. There are a few traffic issues in certain areas, so a lot of where you’ll want to live will depend on where you will need to go for work/school/whatever.
Don’t know too much about Cary, but there are a number of other places to live in the Research Triangle area (which includes Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Cary, and a few other places). We live on the west side of Raleigh, which is really close to Cary and the Research Triangle Park (RTP). There are lots of fairly inexpensive apartments throughout the area right now, mainly due to the low interest rates over the last few years that encouraged bunches of people to buy. One of the coolest places for exercising around here is Umstead Park, which is just west of Raleigh and just north of Cary. Miles and miles of singletrack trails and fire roads, perfect for long runs. There are a bunch of places to ride to the south and west of Cary, as well as outside of Chapel Hill. Pools are somewhat limited around here. I can give you some specifics if you need them.
My advice would be to get a map of the area and figure out the general areas you’re interested in and then drive around and see where there are apartments. I’d be happy to help with anything in Raleigh. Good luck!
defenitely looking to stay in cary to be close to work
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Cary: Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. Unless you’re a pod person with Stepford tendancies, live in Durham.
Dustin, most organized tri rides originate out of the Preston area of Cary. That is where Inside Out’s main store is located. Unfortunately, Preston is rather expensive and soullses especially compared to Asheville, Raleigh and Durham.
Be prepared for a culture shock. Asheville and Cary are different worlds. Personally I’ve been considering the opposite of what you are doing: get out of Cary and into Asheville.
You are moving from Ashville to Cary? Man, I’m sorry. I hope the job is worth it. I agree that Cary is soulless, but Raleigh isn’t much better. Durham is the best you’ll get. Chapel Hill/Carrboro isn’t bad either, although it isn’t as great as the UNC students think it is (they really should get out more). I think Ashville is one of the best small towns in the US.
My wife and I lived in Cary from 1997-2000. It was changing lots while we were there, and I bet it’s changed much more since. There are lots of apartments going up everywhere. That doesn’t mean rent is cheap there though. If you want a brand-new high-speed cookie-cutter apartment with no character, I suggest looking in one of the newer development areas (there are lots of those around). We didn’t want that, so we found a 2 bedroom townhouse that was a few blocks from “downtown” Cary (look at the neighborhood surrounded by S. Academy St., E. Chatham St., Walnut St., and SE Maynard Rd.) We were both in grad school and needed a cheaper place (I realize that’s relative). I think we paid 700 a month, but newer apartments were in the 1200 range (that was 5-6 years ago).
I agree with the person who suggested living in Durham. I commuted there and liked it much more than Cary or Raleigh. It has character, Cary and most of Raleigh don’t (the 5 points area in Raleigh is one of the few exceptions). There are some old tobacco warehouses that were converted into apartments that look like cool places to live in Durham (no idea how much though). Plus, you have the Durham Bulls playing in your backyard! The only bad part is the commute. There are lots of people moving to the area, but the infrastructure stinks. They put lots of money into building apartments and homes, but didn’t spend on roads, schools, etc. I guess the theory is to create a bigger tax base to pay for everything later (when they do start working on the roads, that’s when the commuting fun will really begin). There are two basic routes from Durham to Cary: I-40 and highway 54. When we lived there, 54 (a 2-lane highway) was the best way to go since no one really knew about it. When we left, a developer built the largest apartment complex in the area on 54. I wouldn’t want to drive it now, and I-40 was always bad.
There are lots of restaurants around. If you like NC-style barbeque, go to Cooper’s (http://hkentcraig.com/BBQ19.html) in Raleigh. Lilly’s in Raleigh (http://www.lillyspizza.com) was our favorite pizza joint. For organic or vegetarian, try the Rathskeller (if it still exists) on Hillsborough St. across the street from NC State, or the Irregardless Cafe (http://www.irregardless.com). In Cary, we liked Vespa (http://cary.vespasta.com). There are also lots of places in Durham too, like George’s Garage (http://www.georgesgarage.com). Oh, if you are a wine-drinker, check out the Carolina Wine Company (http://carolinawine.biz) in Cary.
Bottom line: if you don’t mind stripmalls, chainstores, lots of new developments, and fake blondes driving shiny SUVs, Cary is the place to live. Durham has lots more character, but if you choose to live in Cary because your job is there and you don’t want a frustrating commute, at least you’ll be closer to Inside Out Sports (http://www.insideoutsports.com).
The Raleigh Rathskellar closed a few years ago. It was the favorite restaurant of my wife and I and it is sorely missed. Durham has the best restaurants in my opinion, though Chapel Hill/Carboro has lots of good small taqueria (sp?) style joints. The Blue Nile in Durham is not to be missed. Durham Bulls baseball is also a great way to spend an evening.
Durham really does have the best cultural activities, but also many run-down areas and relatively high crime rates. Most neighborhoods would be called transitional at best. Just something to be aware of. In stark contrast, Cary has little or no crime but few good restaurants (Udipi Cafe being the exception). Raleigh falls somewhere in between, with inside-the-beltline being more like Durham and outside the beltline being more like Cary.
But I still think Asheville beats any other place in NC.
The Rathskellar was always busy when we went. Too bad it shut down.
If we were to do it all over again, we would have lived in Durham instead of Cary. Although, I don’t think we would have moved from Asheville to the triangle.
Funny you should mention high crime rates. There are lots of similarities between Durham and my current home, Baltimore “The Wire” Maryland: brick buildings everywhere, good food, high crime rates, and good baseball (finally).
I lived in raleigh in the early 70’s, when it still had a small town feel, and was a wonderful place to be. places like the angus barn and the airport were soooo far out of town nobody went out there.
left in '73 and moved back in '86. what a shock…the place had tripled in size and there seemed to be more yankees than southeners. a good point, though, was that a couple of guys I worked with had a 3rd base box at the bulls park in durham we had some fun there - it was just after bull durham came out. moved away again in '89, and can only imagine what it would be like now. cary stopped issuing building permits for a while in the 90’s because of infrastructure problems - not enough water, for one. and the place used to be extremely anti-bicycle from accounts I read in the paper and on a local bicycle club’s website - they even have a road rage hotline - http://www.ncbikeclub.org/newsletter/complaint_line.htm.
no thanks. I like east tennesee much better. good luck.