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Connecticut-Middletown - 1
bedroom - 1 bath - spacious, clean & sunny unit! - Brick Building - Hardwood
Floors - Modern Kitchen - Spacious Living Room - Large Bedroom w/ Double Sliding
Door Closet - Updated Bathroom - Off Street Parking - access to commuter rail,
bus, shops & restaurants, first and last months rent
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Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the
Connecticut River, in the south-central part of the state, 16 miles (26 km)
south of Hartford. It was founded in 1650 and incorporated the town of
Mattabassett in 1651. It received its present name in 1653 and was incorporated
as a city in 1784. Originally a busy sailing port and then an industrial center,
it is now largely a residential city and college town, home to Wesleyan
University. In 1910, 11,851 people were residents of the city. In 1940, 26,495
people lived here. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of
43,167.
In recent decades, Middletown has focused on balancing the needs and comforts of
its residents with the industrial development required to help fund services.
These efforts date at least from 1931, when the city was one the first in
America to establish a planning board. Progress continued under the leadership
of four term Democratic mayor, Domenique S. Thornton. On November 8, 2005,
Republican Sebastian Giuliano won the mayor's office, replacing Thornton, whom
he criticized for raising taxes and for the awarding of a contract for the
construction of a new high school to Tomasso Brothers, Inc., a firm that has
been the target of a federal corruption probe. Middletown continues to support
manufacturing and small business.
Culturally, Middletown is in the midst of an effort to revitalize its
historically disadvantaged North End, with the building of Wharfside Commons, a
new 96-unit mixed income housing unit on Ferry Street. The Green Street Arts
Center, founded by Wesleyan and a coalition of community groups in 2000, is a
pioneering attempt to attract residents and businesses to the neighborhood by
promoting arts education and outreach. For decades, the famous O'Rourke's Diner
has done much to bring some stability to the North End. However, a fire on
August 31, 2006 gutted much of the historic structure. The Middletown community
has held many fundraising events to raise money for the diner's rebuilding.
Russell Library, the public library of Middletown, continues to be a cultural,
educational and entertainment center that offers a place for the community to
meet. Currently, the library makes available to the general public books,
newspapers, magazines, informational databases of full-text newspaper and
magazine articles (offering news, business, medical, health, biographical,
literary, etc., information), classes, computer training, workshops, concerts,
and meeting spaces, including the Hubbard Room, a large meeting room that can
accommodate 100 people.
Middletown is also the only location of a well-known youth theater group,
Oddfellows Playhouse. It is located on Washington Street and pulls in children
of all ages from all over the state to learn theater skills. Oddfellows also
runs the Children's Circus of Middletown where children learn circus skills and
put on a free show for close to a thousand people.
At present, the Downtown Business District continues to revitalize the downtown
area. Pratt and Whitney, Aetna, Middlesex Hospital, Connecticut Valley Hospital
and Wesleyan University are major employers. Adjacent to the town is Powder
Ridge Ski Area, on Powder Hill.
Located on the western border of the city, in an area known as Westlake, is an
84 house community known as The Farms. This architectural award winning
community was developed in 1969 by George Achenbach, and was one of the first
communities in Connecticut designed for cluster living, with open areas
designated as common land.
There are also many parks and nature trails including the Middletown Nature
Gardens for families to enjoy.
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.