Sandy Springs vs Johns Creek vs Vinings (Atlanta, Roswell: luxury, budget)

[SSPD53]

Has anyone seen Netdragon?? I have some new information.

[nrgpill]

SSPD53 is right on this - also, Sandy Springs has far more class A office space than Dunwoody. People only see the mall and they think "mall = Perimeter Center". From the mall looking out to west, most office buildings are in Sandy Springs. Also, Sandy Springs has a much larger tax base in the Perimeter job center than Dunwoody does, and the gap is likely to increase.

Originally Posted by netdragon

Please cite your data. There was no census after Sandy Springs became a city. There are only estimates and most I've seen places Roswell higher. For example, look at the 2006 data for City-data itself:
Roswell, Georgia (GA) Detailed Profile
Sandy Springs, Georgia (GA) Detailed Profile

I see the same trend on Wikipedia. On the latest estimates on gadata.org, I don't see anything on Sandy Springs Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places in Georgia, Listed Alphabetically: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2003 (SUB-

[SSPD53]

Sandy Springs has several new skyscrapers in the works.... 2 30 story buildings will be going up at 1140, and 1150 Hammond Drive. A 20 story 4 star Hotel will be going up at Abernathy and Peachtree Dunwoody and 2 18 story buildings will be going up at Peachtree Dunwoody and Glenridge Drive. We are going to see major skyline change in the City of Sandy Springs. Around all the buildings will also be retail, office space, and living space, as well as Green space a requirement by the city of Sandy Springs.

[scgraham]

Originally Posted by DaddyO

My wife and I (30 somethings) have decided to move to ATL in August 2008 and are considereing Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Vinings as our options. We are looking for a home in the 700K to $1 million dollar range. My wife stays home with our 16 month old twins, but will likely return to work (I won't hold my breath) once our children begin school (so commuting may be a variable).

The biggest concerns we have involve schooling and safety. For schools, while we wouldn't mind sending our children to a private school from PK-5, it's probably a waste of money. From research, I've learned that Johns Creek has fairly decent public elementary schools (and a misplaced brick issue as well). The problems however is once our children hit the 6th grade, the private school options are not as good. How do parents get around this issue or does everyone send their children to public schools????

In Sandy Springs the homes we looked at are within the High Point Elementary footprint which has a 3/10 rating on greatschools.net and a huge ESL population. It's unfortunate, but I don't think the focus or extra help will be on my children should it be needed.

As for Vinings, I'm not sure if Vinings wants to be Smyrna or Smyrna wants to be Vinings. I may end up shooting myself if I moved to Vinings. It seems nice, the schools are pretty good (public and private), but can someone please tell me if it's as boring as it looks. We currently live in the Columbia Heights section of Washington DC ( I lived in NY, LA, NorCal and Arizona prior), I would hate to have to poke one of my eyes out from boredom.

The next issue I have is safety. I have too many business contacts in DC to give up, thus, I will travel back to DC on a weekly basis for work. I asked my wife if someone broke into our house while I was away what she would do??? Her reply was... "I'd pray". Needless to say, I'm a bit scarred from my days in NYC and will likely spend thousands on some elaborate security system. I still have to ask the question of how safe my family will be in any of these areas.

Oh and finally... we're black, so diversity is VERY important to us.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Based on what you are looking for, John's Creek seems to be the best fit; one can negotiate a good deal on new homes too. Do your homework and know the details to potentially save thousands.

Here are Alpharetta New Homes.

[spacelord75]

Johns Creek is pretty far out there...I find it funny that your impression is that Vinings would be "boring" but Johns Creek wouldn't! JC is basically a manufactured town made up of strip malls and mcmansion cookie-cutter developments. For me it would be a no-brainer to pick SS or Vinings. Problem will definitely be quality of elementary schools, as most well off folks who live in these environs send their kids exclusively to private schools. Don't forget that if you're in "true" Vinings, you are basically 5 minutes from Buckhead down W. Paces Ferry. And to answer the question, I'm pretty positive it is Smyrna piggy-backing off of Vinings, although Smyrna has come a long way over the years and is a nice place to live also.

[kwr]

Originally Posted by spacelord75

Johns Creek is pretty far out there...I find it funny that your impression is that Vinings would be "boring" but Johns Creek wouldn't! JC is basically a manufactured town made up of strip malls and mcmansion cookie-cutter developments. For me it would be a no-brainer to pick SS or Vinings. Problem will definitely be quality of elementary schools, as most well off folks who live in these environs send their kids exclusively to private schools. Don't forget that if you're in "true" Vinings, you are basically 5 minutes from Buckhead down W. Paces Ferry. And to answer the question, I'm pretty positive it is Smyrna piggy-backing off of Vinings, although Smyrna has come a long way over the years and is a nice place to live also.

Have you ever been to Johns Creek? It certainly does not seem like you have.... The Southern most part of the city is 10-15 mins. away from Dunwoody & Sandy Springs. It is not way out there as you describe (285 east to Peachtree Industrial N.). It is one of the most exclusive areas in GA. There are several multi-million dollar homes in JC. I'm talking $3M and up. Cleary with $3M you can live anywhere in GA you would like including Buckhead and the other ITP usual suspects. Sandy Springs, Vinings and JC each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

[spacelord75]

Originally Posted by kwr

Have you ever been to Johns Creek? It certainly does not seem like you have.... The Southern most part of the city is 10-15 mins. away from Dunwoody & Sandy Springs. It is not way out there as you describe (285 east to Peachtree Industrial N.). It is one of the most exclusive areas in GA. There are several multi-million dollar homes in JC. I'm talking $3M and up. Cleary with $3M you can live anywhere in GA you would like including Buckhead and the other ITP usual suspects. Sandy Springs, Vinings and JC each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Wow - must have hit a nerve. It's only 10-15 minutes from those places on, say, a Saturday or Sunday. I've been to Johns Creek several times, and even stayed there for a few weeks at a friend's, and the commute to town (not Dunwoody or Sandy Springs) takes forever. You are stuck smack dab in the middle between 400 and 85 and both take forever to get to b/c of all the over-development and lack of good infrastructure. Perhaps the owners of these amazing $3m homes work in the perimeter or Alpharetta areas, or perhaps they like living away from town. Using the existence of multi-million dollar homes as evidence of how awesome an area happens to be is folly and poor science. I'm still laughing at comparing the "closeness" of Johns Creek to Vinings or SS - it is not even remotely in the same ballpark. You can get "into" town from either in 15 minutes via all backroads! At fifteen minutes from JC you are still sitting on P'tree Ind'l, or banging your head against the wheel by Gwinnett Place.

Now, before you call me an anti-JC person, I will say that it is nice to look at, in terms of newer shopping centers and well landscaped roadways and nice looking subdivisions. The whole point of my original post, however, was to question how someone could call Vinings boring, but not say the same about JC, which is the epitome of suburb.

[kwr]

I do not commute to downtown so I won't touch that, but I commute to Sandy springs from Johns Creek every single day during rush hour and it takes 20 mins. tops (Medlock Bridge to Spalding...). It is easier to get to 85 and 400 from 285 than to drive directly to each interstate.

I think you misunderstood my point about the home prices...My point was $3M and up homes are hardly cookie cutter. Sure there are some $500k homes that are cookie cutter in JC, but you could argue the same exists in Vinings and Sandy Springs. I agree Vinings and JC are both boring. I do not want partying in my neighborhood/area of town. When I moved from S. Fl a couple of years ago, I looked at all three areas and bought in JC.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by spacelord75

...Don't forget that if you're in "true" Vinings, you are basically 5 minutes from Buckhead down W. Paces Ferry. And to answer the question, I'm pretty positive it is Smyrna piggy-backing off of Vinings, although Smyrna has come a long way over the years and is a nice place to live also.

Some parts of Smyrna (and Mableton) are trying really hard to be Vinings, and while I think The Village Green just off Atlanta Road is pretty cool, I also find it annoying that builders seem to be taking the Vinings name in vain all over the place.

That's why you see so many subdivisions in Smyrna and northern Mableton which have "Vinings" in their name even though they might be many miles from Vinings itself. The ones around my house on Cooper Lake Road (Vinings Estates, Cove at Vinings Estates, Manor at Vinings, Vinings Springs, Retreat at Old Vinings Lake, etc.) leap to mind as well as the Vinings Glen, Vinings Grove, The Gates at Vinings. Etc.

*None* of those subdivisions are in Vinings.

[kaday]

I'd suggest also taking a look at East Cobb. It is difficult from afar to figure out what East Cobb is exactly but there are many previous posts with maps.

East Cobb has a lot of what Johns Creek offers but with excellent schools all the way through. It is a little closer in. I would look at homes in the Walton, Pope or Lassiter highschool district (all el and mid schools that feed into are excellent 10 pts on Greatschools.net). In your price range I'd look at Walton first.