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Renting an Apartment in Eden Prarie
What You Should Know
Eden Prairie is a second ring suburb located southwest of Minneapolis in
Hennepin County, Minnesota, USA. It is home to more than 2,200 businesses,
including Supervalu, ADC Telecommunications, and the Minnesota Vikings. In 2006,
Eden Prairie was selected as the 10th best place to live in the United States by
Money Magazine. The city has more than 170 miles of multi-use trails, 2,250
acres of parks, and 1,300 acres of open space.
History
For most of its existence, Eden Prairie has been dormant, pastoral village on
the far southwestern fringes of the Twin Cities area. Between 1880 and 1960,
Eden Prairie’s population barely changed. During those 80 years, the population
increase was only 1,300 people, from 739 in 1880 to 2,000 in 1960.
Native Americans were the first to live in the area. In 1851, a treaty opened
land west of the Mississippi River to settlement allowing pioneers to settle in
what is now Eden Prairie. The town board of Eden Prairie held its first meeting
in a log school house on May 11, 1858, the same day Minnesota became a state.
However, Eden Prairie's farming community grew slowly over the years. Flying
Cloud Airport was the first sign of big development in 1946. The 1960s and 1970s
were decades of growth for the City's parks and recreation system. In the
mid-70's, the community earned a higher profile with the addition of Interstate
494 and the Eden Prairie Shopping Center. Eden Prairie became a Village in 1962
and a Statutory City in 1974.
Naming Eden Prairie
The City owes its name to Elizabeth Fries Ellet, an East Coast writer who
visited the area in 1852. In her travelogue book, Summer Rambles in the West. By
Mrs. Ellet. she described the Minnesota River valley, which adjoins the current
day City of Eden Prairie, as the garden spot of the territory[2].
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
The celebrated valley of the Minnesota River—called St. Pierre by the French,
and until recently, St. Peter's—extends in a general direction from west to
east, and, with the country along its tributaries, forms the garden spot of the
territory. (Ellet, 1853, p. 112)
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Geography
Eden Prairie is located approximately 11 miles southwest of Minneapolis along
the northern side of the Minnesota River. It is located at 44�49′N 93�27′W at an
elevation of 906 feet (276 m).
The land in Eden Prairie consists of rolling hills and bluffs overlooking the
Minnesota River with zones of prairie and mixed (primarily deciduous) forests.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.2
square miles (91.2 km�)—32.4 square miles (83.9 km�) of it is land and 2.8
square miles (7.3 km�) of it (8.04%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census� of 2000, there were 54,901 people (though it is now estimated
that there are more than 60,000 people), 20,457 households, and 14,585 families
residing in the city. The population density was 1,695.1 people per square mile
(654.4/km�). There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per
square mile (250.6/km�). The racial makeup of the city was 90.66% White, 2.28%
African American, 0.21% Native American, 4.82% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander,
0.50% from other races, and 1.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of
any race were 1.57% of the population.
There were 20,457 households out of which 42.6% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 61.3% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 22.0% of all
households were made up of individuals and 3.4% had someone living alone who was
65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average
family size was 3.20.
In the city the population was spread out with 30.5% under the age of 18, 6.2%
from 18 to 24, 35.6% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 4.9% who were 65
years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there
were 96.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $78,328, and the median income
for a family was $93,258. Males had a median income of $62,303 versus $39,196
for females. The per capita income for the city was $38,854. About 2.8% of
families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9%
of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Today, Eden Prairie is home to more than 2,200 businesses, including many that
specialize in communications and information technology.
Businesses in Eden Prairie
Education
Public schools
The first school in Eden Prairie was Anderson School, a schoolhouse located near
a farm. At the time of its construction, it was in the center of the city and
thus an ideal spot. The old Eden Prairie Consolidated School, built in 1924, is
now the school district Administration Building, and is located next to Central
Kindergarten Center and Central Middle School.
Today the Eden Prairie Independent School District 272 currently operates nine
schools. Unconventional to other school districts in the state, Eden Prairie has
an intermediate school for grades five and six (normally integrated into
elementary or junior high school). Eden Prairie High School has a student
population of approximately 3,400 students, making it the largest high school in
the state, and is located on the grounds of Round Lake Park.
Public Schools in Eden Prairie
Kindergarten and Elementary School (Grades 1-4) Intermediate School (Grades 5-6)
Junior High School (Grades 7-8) High School (Grades 9-12)
Central Kindergarten Center (CKC) Oak Point Central Middle School Eden Prairie
High School
Cedar Ridge
Forest Hills
Prairie View
Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion
1. ↑ currently only Grades K and 1 in 2006-2007 school year
Private Schools
Eden Prairie has one private school, The International School of Minnesota,
which offers a private education for students in grades preschool through 12.
Colleges
There are four technical colleges in Eden Prairie:
* Hennepin Technical College has an enrollment of roughly 7,000 full and part
time students.
* ITT Technical Institute[1] specializes in courses on information technology,
electronics, and drafting and design. ITT Technical Institute has an enrollment
of approximately 170 students.
* NTI School of Technology specializes in engineering and architectural drafting
and design. NTI has an enrollment of approximately 80 students.
* Rasmussen College specializes in business management, health, and technology.
This campus opened on July 3, 2006 and replaced its former location in
Minnetonka.
Notable natives
* L�cia Moniz, Portuguese actress and singer (attended Eden Prairie High School)
* Yanni, Greek keyboardist and composer (now resides in Tacoma, Washington)
Trivia
* The cult television comedy series, Mystery Science Theater 3000, was
originated here by Joel Hodgson, and Eden Prairie is home to the show's
production company Best Brains, Inc.
* The cult movie comedy Mallrats was filmed at the Eden Prairie Center mall
(before remodeling).
* Scenes of the mockumentary comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous were filmed in the Eden
Prairie Center mall parking lot, which is claimed to be the parking lot of the
nearby Mall of America in the movie. The water tower with the clock is visible
in the background.
* In the movie Fargo, the character Mike Yanagita lives in Eden Prairie and
comments on the city's school district while dining with Marge at the Radisson.
* The Prince film, Graffiti Bridge, got its title from an actual railroad bridge
in northern Eden Prairie that crossed over Valley View Road. It was legal to
spray graffiti on the bridge, and when the movie came out, a large mural of
Prince was featured on the bridge. The bridge was torn down in the early 1990's
when Valley View Road needed to be widened (the road narrowed to one lane under
the bridge, with each direction of traffic taking turns to pass under). When the
bridge was torn down, pieces of the bridge were sold as mementos along with a
miniature newspaper article about the bridge.
* The Heaven's Gate Cult hosted their website, www.heavensgatetoo.com (mirror of
the original web site), with an Eden Prairie-based Internet service provider,
Spacestar Communications, for the year prior to the cult's mass suicide in 1997.
The web site detailed the organization's religious beliefs and included a
72-chapter book. It is believed that Spacestar Communications was chosen as an
ISP due to its name meshing with the cult's religious beliefs. No other
connection to Minnesota is known.
* On March 4, 2002, President George W. Bush visited Eden Prairie High School,
announcing his Quality Teacher Initiative.
* The Planes of Fame East air museum was located at Flying Cloud Airport until
December 1997, at which time all of the museum's vintage airplanes were moved to
Chino, California.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for an Apartment...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to
think through what are the most important things to you in an apartment
and plan your search based on those priorities. Here are some things to
consider when planning your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in
the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in
unit laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air
conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth
countries) is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a
building. Apartments may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by
tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which
the residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or
development; or in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments
and share ownership of the public spaces. Most apartments are in
buildings designed for the purpose, but large older houses are sometimes
divided into apartments. The word apartment connotes a residential unit
or section in a building. Apartment building owners, lessors, or
managers often use the more general word units to refer to apartments.
Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment,
the lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each
vacancy represents a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the
time the apartment is vacant (i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are
often to minimize the vacancy rate for their units. The owner of the
apartment typically transfers possession to the occupant by giving
him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any other keys need
to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other common
areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. Studio, efficiency,
bed-sit, or bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with
the cheapest rents in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually
consist mainly of a large room which is the living, dining, and bedroom
combined. There are usually kitchen facilities as part of this central
room, but the bathroom is its own smaller separate room. Moving up from
the efficiencies are one-bedroom apartments where one bedroom is a
separate room from the rest of the apartment. Then there are
two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments often have
only one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two entrances/exits,
perhaps a door in the front and another in the back. Depending on the
building design, the entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside
or to a common area inside, such as a hallway. Depending on location,
apartments may be available for rent furnished with furniture or
unfurnished into which a tenant usually moves in with his/her own
furniture. Permanent carpeting is often included in an apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all
the tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built
and the design of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and
electric may be common for all the apartments in the building or
separate for each apartment and billed separately to each tenant
(however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal to split a water
bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the premises).
Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always
billed separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar
amenities are extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra
storage space may or may not be included with an apartment. Rental
leases often limit the maximum number of people who can reside in each
apartment. On or around the ground floor of the apartment building, a
series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location accessible to the
public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit typically gets
its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large apartment
buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a
doorbell) for each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such
as two- or three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of
in trash containers similar to those used at houses. In larger
buildings, garbage is often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster.
For cleanliness or minimizing noise, many lessors will place
restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to
refer to a new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a
building, whereas the word flat means a converted self-contained unit in
an older building. An industrial, warehouse, or commercial space
converted to an apartment is commonly called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's
family member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny
flat, though these (sometimes illegally) created units are often
occupied by ordinary renters rather than family members. In Canada these
suites are commonly located in the basements of houses and are therefore
normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly
becoming popular with travelers.