Lantern Ridge Townhomes (Atlanta, Decatur, North Decatur: HOA, townhouses, neighborhoods)

[phoban]

My partner and I will be moving to Atlanta next summer for her to attend Georgia Tech. We plan on coming out in early January to look around at neighborhoods and some job searching for me. I will most likley be working in Midtown as I am in the legal field.

Does anyone have any info on the Lantern Ridge subdivision off North Decatur Road, Zip code 30079. I specifically looking for demographics. (white/black, kids, singles, dogs) It looks very kept up from their website but you never know.

We are two white professional women in our late 30's with two dogs. We would like a bit of diversity but it's not necessary. We would love to be in Decatur but with her in school our budget wont permit it it for now. Any other suggestions? Thanks

[atlantamoi]

Hey, I actually live in this subdivision. I like it here a lot, but there is a reason things are a little less expensive. Awful school district and scary looking areas nearby. However, five years here and we are glad we chose this subdivision factoring in price. Three miles from downtown Decatur, five miles from Emory, 2 miles from Dekalb Farmers Market, 10 miles from downtown, 5 miles from Northlake Mall.

I would call this place diverse. Not sure how diverse you want, but it's a mix of many races, singles, married, gay, etc. I'm guessing there are a lot more singles in the townhomes. There are kids here, but I've never seen any running around w/out their parents (in fact, it seems most kids are babies being strolled around). HOA is fairly strict so you aren't going to see much tolerance for messy homes.

Driving to Midtown and Georgia Tech would probably take around 30-40 minutes during rush hour. Depends on the streets. It only takes me 25 minutes to drive downtown, but I take Dekalb Ave., which is the greatest "secret" in Atlanta (shhhh!).

I wouldn't move here if you really want to walk outside the subdivision. There are some new shops going up and the cafe is nice, but I wouldn't let my wife jog outside the perimeter (I do, but don't always feel totally safe).
This area is what the word gentrification was made for. All this talk about safety even though I know of nothing more than some car burglaries that happened here. That can happen anywhere.

Feel free to PM for more specifics if you want. I'd be happy to share. You might find something better, but this is a decent place.

[atlantamoi]

Oh, phoban, one important thing I left off! Some townhouses back up to I-285. You need to hear this in person to judge how annoying that might be. On a cold winter night it's a bit loud. I'm guessing people get used to it, but I can hear the traffic clearly 200 yards away.

[jelica33]

I'm an Atlanta native who has been living out of state for 10 years. When I was there this area was pretty bad but I hear Scottdale has changed a lot in the last few years. Anyone have current updates about this subdivision?