Moving to Miami

You should be OK living in the Kendall area. If you know Spanish you're all set. If you don't, learn some phrases. Kendall traffic is always crappy day and night especially right on 88th Street (Kendall Drive) itself. Welcome, and good luck!

Hello all,

I will be moving to Miami in 3 weeks to work at Kendall Medical Center. For those that live, or have lived in Miami, any advice on where I should live? I'm strongly considering living in the Kendall area due to the horrendous traffic that I keep hearing about. I will be renting an apartment. Any suggestions on apartments? Which places would you recommend? Which places would you avoid? I really wanted to live at the beach, but I am not a fan of sitting in traffic for an hr during rush hour. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi RN1913 and congrats on the KMC job. I have a long association with the hospital, it was my starting point from surgical tech to RN many moons ago. My home is less than 5 miles away and i'm glad to help with my opinion : South Beach and the Brickel area are near the water but expensive, far and filled with the "Look at ME" crowd. Coconut Grove is located by the bay and has parks and great bicycle riding but renters are younger and can be loud at night. KMC is on SW 40 ST and 117 avenue. Best apartments will be from Kendall Drive (SW 88 ST) to SW 104 ST and from NO FURTHER west than 137 Avenue (because of traffic) and East to US1. East you will have the Dadeland area with tons of condos that are renting (google Dadeland Apartments) and around 104 Street is Miami-Dade Community College, also lots of apartments that are reasonable. If you go north from the hospital it will be almost 100% spanish, but in Miami you are going to have lots of Spanish neighbors everywhere. I grew up here and my spanish is very limited but the diversity is one of the reasons I love Miami. You can find rude people and crappy traffic everywhere, we have plenty of both. The majority of people here are very nice and the Cuban food is the best! I wish you all the best, and if your job is in the OR please post again with your impressions.

Driving from west to Kendall during rush hour won't be a problem since traffic goes in the opposite direction.

Don't live in Kendall. It's horrible. Suburban, boring and far from everything. However, I wouldn't recommend living on the beach, since you'll spend a fortune in gas. I'd recommend Coconut Grove or Coral Gables. Good neighborhoods with places to go besides strip malls and they're 20 minutes to work and 20 minutes to the beach.