What's wrong with Troy, NY? (Albany, Colonie: sales, house, neighborhoods)

[Mike Crowley]

Oh yeah, every where you go in Troy, you'll be driving down one way streets.

[Pearsonskipper]

Hi--I owned a house just south of Washington Park until I moved to Boston six years ago. Now I'm coming back, but I don't want to deal with owning a house, so I'm looking for an apartment (preferably in someplace like the Quayside or Park Place, I think) or a condo. Are there any other nice apartment places or condo places? I didn't think much about it when I was there because I already had someplace to live. If there were a garage, that would be cool, as would a view of the river. I'd like to live where I could walk to shops, etc. TIA

[Mike Crowley]

Originally Posted by Pearsonskipper

Hi--I owned a house just south of Washington Park until I moved to Boston six years ago. Now I'm coming back, but I don't want to deal with owning a house, so I'm looking for an apartment (preferably in someplace like the Quayside or Park Place, I think) or a condo. Are there any other nice apartment places or condo places? I didn't think much about it when I was there because I already had someplace to live. If there were a garage, that would be cool, as would a view of the river. I'd like to live where I could walk to shops, etc. TIA

I suggest you look into Luther Forest in Malta. Great area to live....Nice duplexes.

[tconzz22]

Originally Posted by n. ancona

I grew up in Troy, and have lived many places since then including overseas. While I have not lived in the area for some time, I still have friends there and rent the home I grew up in. Troy is a small town. It has changed some since I lived there. With the modern highway, there is easy access to Albany and more people are living there as a bedroom community to Albany. Neighbors in Brunswick work for the State and for GE in Waterford. Prices in Troy are cheaper than Albany. Both Troy and Albany have their problems. The good areas of Albany are Delmar, Altamont and Loudonville. The east side of Troy, Brunswick, and Averill Park, and Greenbush are the better areas for family. Brunswick has lower taxes than the city of Troy and a more country feel. Averill Park is country with lakes. Greenbush is great for proximity to Albany.
Traditionally, Troy is republican and Albany is Democratic. However as an academic community, some might argue differently. The better schools in Troy are School 18, 16, and 14.Tamarack and Averill Parks schools are supposed to be good, too. There are two high schools in Troy, the public school and Catholic Central in Lansingburgh. Some people in Troy send their children to private schools in Albany as another option.
If I were buying in Troy, I would look carefully at neighborhood and schools. Resale value in Troy is
less than Albany but Troy can offer a good cheaper lifestyle. Both towns have history and proximity to skiing, lakes, Saratoga, Tanglewood.
I am happy to answer any questions you have.You should know that I live in Chicago so my experience may not be as up to date as you might want.Moderator cut: advertising

theres more than two schools in troy..

theres lasalle high school...troy high... lansingburgh high...catholic high...and emma willard

[Zyll]

I would not recommend Luther Forest, cheap 80's construction, any house from the 50's and 60's is ones best bet. Stay away from any house built after 1980, they are inferior and cost a lot more. Any job you get in this area would prob be south of the Mohawk anyway. Colonie would be better. The northway traffic north of the Northway is horrible.

[Isabella76]

I totally agree - Troy is where it's at. It's a very up-and-coming area for young professionals and artists. They have beautiful Victorian brick and stone architecture, great restaurants, tree-lined streets, and art galleries. Plus two excellent universities: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Sage. Yes, there is a "bad" neighborhood in North Troy, but crime is really contained to that neighborhood. The rest of the city is a beautiful place to live. Don't get your crime statistics from hearsay; get real statistics from the local police dept. The most recent year I can find online is 2005: for the entire year, the police listed 4 murders in the entire Troy area. So obviously, they are not happening every day, as stated above.

[jms2007]

any follow up on the artist movement>

[Isabella76]

Troy Night Out is a monthly arts and cultural event that takes place the last Friday of every month in downtown Troy. The event regularly draws over 1,000 people with over 30 art events, 15 music venues, and over 20 fine restaurants. If you go to their website, there is a list of art galleries in downtown Troy: troynightout.org

Also, RPI is finishing their new building: EMPAC - the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. I think it will be finished in October 2008. Their website is: empac.rpi.edu

[Zyll]

Think of the 1 way streets as 2 steets that are split, 2 go one way 2 go the other in alternating directions. Not hard. If Troy was a bad place to live, I would have moved by now. Just the whole Capital District is a big nothing area, ugh. Nothing to do, no money to be made, nothing to be, just status quo.. What many have told me,found in recent years this seems to be true.

[theterg]

the EMPAC building will in fact be up and running, open to the public starting Mid October (after RPI's family weekend). It is due to be an excellent excellent venue, albeit contained to mostly experimental artists. I can say that it has the most cutting edge top of the line lighting, sound and projection systems, and a concert hall with fantastic acoustics.

As for Troy... I would agree that Troy is not nearly as frightning as many people make it out. But... It isn't really... NICE... either... There are some excellent little parts of troy - fantastic shops and cafes, the farmers market, a few nice parks, but the rest is all just run down looking. THe residential areas are chock full of run-down broken houses. The downtown area has blocks of rather nice townhouses and blocks of boarded up buildings with flaky people hanging about. Most bus stops are full of people I just really dont want to hang around. I am mostly referring to the areas that are within walking distance of RPI, a few blocks down the hill.

If you can handle walking past a few blocks of sketchy looking characters and nasty boarded up shops and/or houses, you will be able to find the nice parts of Troy and prosper. Unfortunately the plethora of arts galleries are not enough to clean up the rest of Troy. Something else is missing, and has been missing for quite some time. Every week when I walk into troy for the farmers market (most excellent) I find myself hoping and wishing that the draw of RPI and the nicer parts of troy would extend down into downtown and clean things up. But it never does.