Park Avenue Area

The Park Avenue area is perhaps the most popular area in the city for strolling and shopping in an 'urban' environment. Centered on the street Park Avenue, it has a good selection of shops, cafe's, and pubs, most of which are independently owned.

Park Avenue itself has been called the Greenwich Village of Rochester. This is fitting since, like Greenwich Village, it has gentrified. Over the last few years become more expensive to visit, live, or shop there driving out several of the businesses that help revive the area.

North West of the Park Ave Area is the Neighborhood of the Arts, another city neighborhood that is walkable, with places to go and interesting shops. A few blocks south is Monroe Avenue, a major street, and another active area of the city for shops.

More info can be found on the Park Avenue Merchants Association site.

Among the drawbacks to living in this area are higher rents and a petty crime factor that is alleged to come from it's proximity to the Lower Monroe Avenue neighborhood. The neighborhood has some diversity, but not as much as the surrounding neighborhoods. The Park Avenue area is within walking distance to many of downtown Rochester's hot spots, but unlike Monroe Avenue it's heavily slanted towards the interests of urban 'yuppie' living, and college or young professionals tastes. It's a very nice neighborhood.

The area is also well serviced by the Rochester city bus system. The color-coded bus lines are shown in the area map above. Pay particular attention to the red line (Bus 72) that runs along Alexander Street; this bus runs between the Eastman School of Music downtown and the UR River Campus (and is free to UR students).

The Park Avenue area has many studio and 1 bedroom apartments to offer. Studio apartments range from $350-$710 most with all utilities included, with the average price around $400(with heat and water included). 1 bedroom apartments range from $400 to $750 most with heat and hot water included. It is harder to find 1 bedroom apartments with all utilities included, but there are some out there and they are worth the search! You will typically find 1 bedroom apartments for around $575 with heat and hot water included. This area also has 2 bedroom apartments, houses and single rooms for rent, but they are not as predominate in the Park Avenue area as studios and 1 bedrooms. Rooms for rent start at $325 with some utilities included. 2 bedroom apartments range between $600 and $1250 depending on amenities, but typically a 2 bedroom with heat and hot water included would be priced around $775 a month. There are some houses to rent in the Park Avenue area, but they are mostly large 4 or 5+ bedroom houses starting at $1400 per month with no utilities included.

It is not within walking distance to the UR campus. In a car it takes approximately 15 to 25 minutes from the Park Avenue area to the UR campus. While shopping for a place to live in the Park Avenue area, keep in mind the free shuttle bus that runs along Alexander Street; if you don't have a car, staying within walking distance of Alexander Street is a real plus.

The Park Avenue neighborhood was voted "Best Neighborhood" in City Newspaper's 'Best Of' Awards in 2008, and "Best Neighborhood/Town" in 2009.¹²