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Renting an Apartment in Wayzata
What You Should Know
Wayzata is a northwest suburb of Minneapolis located in Hennepin County,
Minnesota, United States. Wayzata came into existence in the center of Chief
Shakopee’s Indian village.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.2
square miles (8.4 km�)— 3.2 square miles (8.2 km�) of it is land and 0.1 square
miles (0.1 km�) of it (1.55%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 4,113 people, 1,929 households, and 1,041
families residing in the city. The population density was 1,292.6 persons per
square mile (499.4/km�). There were 2,047 housing units at an average density of
643.3 per square mile (248.5/km�). The racial makeup of the city was 96.11%
White, 0.41% African American, 0.32% Native American, 1.34% Asian, 0.19% Pacific
Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 0.88% from two or more races. 1.41% of the
population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 1,929 households out of which 20.9% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 46.6% were married couples living together, 5.3% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 46.0% were non-families. 39.5% of all
households were made up of individuals and 17.0% had someone living alone who
was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the
average family size was 2.77.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.3% under the age of 18, 6.0%
from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 28.1% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65
years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there
were 88.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $65,833, and the median income
for a family was $96,859. Males had a median income of $51,000 versus $39,257
for females. The per capita income for the city was $63,859. None of the
families and 2.3% of the population were living below the poverty line,
including no under eighteens and 5.0% of those over 64.
History
Early settlement
The first people to settle on the land around Lake Minnetonka were the
Mdewakanton Dakotah, a major division of the Sioux nation. They treasured the
"Big Water" as an endowed hunting and fishing ground and protected this land
from the rival Chippewa tribe, who were known as Ojibway.[1] While these natives
had been living off the land for many years prior, in 1803 the land was claimed
by France, who sold it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
The nearest Euro-American settlement then was Fort Snelling, and it wasn't until
the Traverse Des Sioux Treaty was signed in 1851 that the lands west of the
Mississippi River were opened for land claims to be filed. Although today the
Sioux are no longer living on the land, their legacy lives on in the name of the
city. The name Wayzata is derived from the American Indian word Waziyata, which
had almost a mystical connotation to the Sioux tribes who originally inhabited
the area. Waziya was their god of the North, a giant who blew the cold winds
from his mouth. With the suffix ta added, the name meant "North Shore."[2]
In 1852, two pioneer families settled on the present site of Wayzata, one of
them being the family of Oscar E. Garrison. He built a cabin at what is now Lake
Street and Broadway Avenue in downtown Wayzata. In 1854 he drew a survey of the
area and filed his claim for most of what is now Wayzata proper. In 1855,
Wayzata had an influx of settlers who built a sawmill, a hotel and a blacksmith
shop. Most of these early settlers made their living off the land by clear
cutting the trees to grow corn and wheat. But, in 1857, this growing economy was
nearly terminated by a grasshopper plague. At the time, ginseng roots were in
great demand as an aphrodisiac in the Orient and the eastern forests had been
exhausted of their supply. When ginseng was discovered in the remaining hard
wood forest which had been left standing, these trees being too great a distance
from the lake to float down stream to the sawmill, Wayzata became a collection
center for the roots discovered around the lake.
Resort town era
With commercial traffic by steamboats becoming common on Lake Minnetonka,
Wayzata's position to St. Paul assured growth for the city. After the Civil War,
vacationers from the south began enjoying cool breezy summers at the lake and
the era of the resort arrived. In 1867, the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
(today's Burlington Northern-Sante Fe) extended its tracks to Wayzata, making
Wayzata the transportation hub of the area. James J. Hill, who would later have
a major role in Wayzata's history, was at the time a St. Paul freight agent for
the railroad. With numerous trains scheduled for activities in the area, hotels
quickly popped up around the lake, one being built where Garrison's cabin had
been, called the Maurer House-West Hotel. Boating, fishing, and picnicking would
bring twenty thousand vacationers west, who would stay at seventeen hotels that
were scattered around the 99 miles of the lakeshore. Transporting the
vacationers from the railroad landing in Wayzata to the hotels were large
paddlewheel boats, some able to accommodate as many as 3,300 passengers. This
era, the beginning of "The Gilded Age" reached its peak in 1882 when Hill, now
owning the railroad he had renamed The Great Northern, built the 800 room
Lafayette Hotel in Minnetonka Beach, a few miles further down the tracks.
Cottage era
By 1890, the height of the resort era on Lake Minnetonka had been reached. A
nationwide financial depression and the migration of tourists to newer resort
territory gradually transformed Wayzata and a new era began when the tourists
moved on. Summer cottages began appearing along the shores, even on the grounds
of the grand hotels. The cottage builders needed building materials, and then
provisions when they moved in. In 1881 Wayzata broke away from Minnetonka
Township and became a separate governmental entity, mainly as a reaction to the
roaring tourist-resorter lifestyle. Feeling their new power, the first act of
the village council was to ban the saloons, and the second would have a more
profound impact: they started a fight with James J. Hill to get the railroad
tracks moved from downtown. An 1883 town law required the tracks be relocated
300 feet from the shoreline. Hill ignored the law, then in 1889 the council
filed a lawsuit to force Hill to comply. Hill responded that he had state law on
his side, and if they continued with their suit not only would he win, but he
would make the town walk a mile for twenty years to catch a train. In 1891, the
Minnesota Supreme Court denied the legality of the law, and Hill, as promised,
moved the station to flat land beneath today's Bushaway Road railroad bridge.
Wayzata was literally taken off the map, and for the next fifteen years the town
barely grew. In 1905, the village council voted a Reconciliation Ordinance, and
Hill responded that he would have the finest railroad station on his entire line
built in Wayzata.
As the cottage era continued, downtown Wayzata became mostly residential, with
small commercial centers at each end of Lake Street. The following era was again
recreational, based on motorboats. By the 1920, motorboating was the rage, and
once again Wayzata was at the center, with two nationally famous boat makers
building speedboats located on the shore of Lake Minnetonka. Weekends brought
thousands of spectators to the lake to watch the boats race, and many of the
visitors realized they could be happy living in Wayzata.
In the 1930s, today's U.S. Route 12 had just reached Wayzata as a hard surfaced
road, and realtor Sam Batson was praising the benefits of buying a summer
cottage and modifying it for year-around living. The population nearly doubled
in that decade, and Wayzatans were fortunate when one of their own, Rufus Rand,
stepped forward to lead the town as it met the challenges of modernizing the
infrastructure of a summer village. Under Mayor Rand, water and sewer service
was provided to every building (lifting quite a burden off the lake), street
lights were installed to light the newly hard-surfaced town roads, and the city
public beach and park was opened.
As World War II approached Wayzata became a city with locally provided jobs and
retailers that provided all of a family's needs. The boat building era was
ending and home-building was starting to grow. During the war, wooden 8-man
boats built in Wayzata were used by American soldiers to cross Europe's many
rivers, and dairy farming became a large local activity. At wars end these farms
were being converted into single family housing sites. Highway 12 was widened to
four lanes, and the population swelled with commuters who worked in Minneapolis.
Downtown residences were replaced by more stores serving not only Wayzata but
the new families moving onto the former farmlands outside of Wayzata. Longtime
locals were still the only candidates for public offices and the need for more
schools was a growing concern. During the summers the lake continued to draw
people for boating and fishing activities. Wayzata became a charter city at the
same time people began considering it as part of the Minneapolis metropolitan
area.
Small city to suburb
In the 1950s Wayzata doubled in size when it annexed land from Minnetonka,
Plymouth and Orono. Shopping centers were built to meet the daily needs of the
residents, while the downtown shops focused on fashion and service businesses.
The small town feel slowly evaporated in the 1970s when the newly widened
Highway 12 made the Twin Cities more easily accessible. Wayzata's downtown shops
were replaced by condominiums, office buildings and franchise fast food shops.
Wayzata was no longer the central place in the lives of area youth and the lake
itself took on a role of being more scenery than function.
Education
Wayzata Public Schools are part of the Independent School District 284 and serve
all or portions of eight west suburban municipalities (Plymouth, Corcoran,
Hamel, Maple Grove, Medicine Lake, Medina, Minnetonka, and Orono). The district
covers 38 square miles and extends north and east from Wayzata Bay on Lake
Minnetonka and lies approximately eight miles west of Minneapolis. There are
approximately 9,510 students enrolled in seven public elementary schools (K-5),
three middle schools (6-8), and one high school (9-12). Wayzata is also home to
the Highcroft campus of The Blake School (K-5).
Popular culture
The television show Lost featured a minor character named Henry Gale who had
assumed the identity of a Henry Gale from Wayzata, who died sometime after
crashing on the mystery island in a hot air balloon.
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.