Mountain Park and Martins Landing (Atlanta, Roswell: apartments, condos, vacation home)

[movinginatl]

Does anyone have any information or insight into the areas of Mountain Park and Martins Landing around Roswell? I have never been to these communities, so I am interested to know if they are safe and have good housing options. Thank you.

[rackensack]

Mountain Park is a small incorporated town just to the northwest of downtown Roswell. It originally consisted primarily of summer/vacation homes for Atlanta nabobs, surrounding Lake Garrett, right on the Cherokee/Fulton county line. Current population is about 500, with 248 houses. The most notable events recently have been municipal elections resulting in ties -- IIRC, one election ended in a tie resulting in a runoff that also ended in a tie. Not many voters, so it's always a possibility -- the vote totals for each candidate were under 100, IIRC.

The Official Website of the City of Mountain Park: City Facts

The Official Website of the City of Mountain Park: City History

Martin's Landing is a huge planned community on the east side of Roswell, just across Riverside Drive from the Chattahoochee River. It occupies most of the area between Old Alabama Road on the west, Holcomb Bridge Road on the north, Eves Road on the east and Riverside Drive on the south (there are a few other subdivisions along the east and south sides of this area, including Woodfield, Glen Eves, River Terrace, and Northcliff). Here's a Google Map of the subdivsions in the portion of East Roswell south of Holcomb Bridge Road. It is within the city limits of Roswell (as are all the neighborhoods indicated on that map).

Martin's Landing was one of the first large-scale planned communities in North Fulton County, dating back to the late 1970s. In includes a mix of single-family homes, condos, and apartments, as well as park facilities, two swimming pools, a lake, playing fields, and its own elementary school (Esther Jackson Elementary). The Martin's Landing Foundation also maintains the Martin's Landing River Club facility across Riverside Road on the Chattahoochee River for residents/members. More information is at About Martin's Landing . There are nearly 2000 "homes" (including individual apartment units) in Martin's Landing -- total population is probably in the neighborhood of 3500 to 4000.

The developer of Martin's Landing did not make the covenants establishing the Martin's Landing Foundation permanent, requiring them to be re-approved by residents every ten years. They're having the third neighborhood election to re-approve them in the next few weeks.

I don't live in Martin's Landing myself, but in one of the subdivisions east of it. If you have any questions about the general area, though, fire away.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Unless you're politically active, and/or have a large wallet- I'd probably stay away from M.P. M.P. is actually an incorporated city, in as much- there's a mayor and council- no police/fire(fulton co/roswell), or water/sewer(fulton co[Ithink]). There's been some upheaval on the board about some infrastructure upkeep and where the money is coming from. I'm sure you can figure that one out.

Martin's Landing is a "better choice". Its a large scale subdivision; within the city limits of Roswell, that was started in the late '70's. So, the homes (there are also townhomes, condos, and apartments within the develop.) are starting to show their age. There is an elementary school within the development. Not far from GA400.

If you get a good deal on a home, and want to do some remodeling/ updating- Home Depot is right across the street. LOL

[movinginatl]

I appreciate the information you both provided. Thank you. Do either of you recommend a subdivision or community in the Roswell area that has nice, safe & "newer" homes? Thank you again!

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by movinginatl

I appreciate the information you both provided. Thank you. Do either of you recommend a subdivision or community in the Roswell area that has nice, safe & "newer" homes? Thank you again!

Plenty of nice, safe, newer homes all over Roswell. Did you have a price range, square footage, style, in mind? Any particular attractions or locations you'd prefer to be close to? Kids/no kids? Urban/suburban/rural environment?

[movinginatl]

Price range is about $250-275k. We would like a free-standing home that does not need renovations (i.e. newer build or recently renovated). Would like to be close to restaurants and shopping, but also be in an area with trees, etc. We have no children, so schools aren't an issue (until resell, but who knows what district we would be in by then anyways). Thanks for the help! BTW, are there any environmentally friendly builds in the NE Atlanta area?

[rackensack]

There are a few builders/developments that are emphasizing environmentally responsible building and development practices, but mostly in areas outside your price range .

Trees aren't a problem -- pretty much all of Atlanta still has a reasonable amount of tree cover, at least in the suburban areas and most in-town residential neighborhoods.

Martin's Landing and most of the neighborhoods in the surrounding area are a bit older than you'll probably want -- most were developed in the late 1970s or early 1980s, so have a bit of age and wear. Most of the houses in the $200Ks in those areas are going to be on the slightly smaller side and be pre-renovation -- places that have been updated with new kitchen/bathrooms, new roofs, new HVAC systems, etc., are going to be over $300K -- not a lot over, in many cases, but over.

Certainly there's plenty of parks, greenspaces, etc., both within the Martin's Landing neighborhood itself and in the vicinity (Riverside Park along the Chattahoochee, Garrard's Landing, the Vickery Creek unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area), the Big Creek Park/Greenway, etc. There are new mixed-use developments going up in a couple of places along Holcomb Bridge Road, so there'll soon be even more shopping and restaurants in the area.

Most likely neighborhoods to look in would be Glen Eves and River Terrace, both along Eves Road between Holcomb Bridge Road and Riverside Drive.

The Crabapple area around Crossville Road and Crabapple Road just north of downtown Roswell also has some newer places in your price range -- not tons of them, but some. There's a pretty broad selection of stores, restaurants, etc. along Crossville/Woodstock Rd., with a fair amount of new development going on in the area. Most of these will be a little on the small side, probably 3/2.5 with a possible 4th BR/bonus rm/basement. This area is not far from Mountain Park, btw.

Those areas are in the Centennial and Roswell high school districts, respectively. A little farther afield from Atlanta proper, you'd probably find quite a few places that would meet most of your criteria in the Alpharetta High School district. Milton High School district, not to much -- development restrictions keep the density down, meaning bigger lots and thus higher prices.

[K'ledgeBldr]

I think "rackensack" covered most of the bases. There are some subdivisions along Old Alabama Rd and there are some up Jones Bridge Rd. (but thats Alpharetta)that might fall into that price range- but more than likely you're looking at older (for that price range)
One observation that I have noticed- There tends to be a true division with people I know in the Roswell area about what side of GA400 they like. Some are dead set on the west- other the east. The difference to me is, west has more commercial, east tends to be more residential.Go figure.

[movinginatl]

Wonderful help! Thanks again

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

One observation that I have noticed- There tends to be a true division with people I know in the Roswell area about what side of GA400 they like. Some are dead set on the west- other the east. The difference to me is, west has more commercial, east tends to be more residential.Go figure.

There's also the historic Roswell vs. suburban Roswell thing that breaks out along the same lines. Whatever historic charm Roswell has is definitely concentrated around the downtown area, west of 400. East of 400 has plenty of nice places to live, but historic or charming aren't the first things I think of about my part of town.