Would you move to Smyrna with the coming of the new Braves stadium? (Atlanta: real estate, 2014)

[starfish27]

Until recently my husband and I were set on moving to Smyrna to start our family. We were actively looking at homes in the area, and even had a contract on a wonderful place several months ago, when my husband was laid off from his job. Obviously we pulled out of the contract (fortunately it was during the inspection period) and we didn't lose any money. Our priorities shifted and my husband was lucky to find another job quickly. We're still not ready to start looking at homes again. We want to wait until he's been at his new job for a while longer.

But now that the Braves stadium is moving up to Cobb in a few years, we're starting to rethink our plans to move to Smyrna in the future. I foresee traffic becoming a nightmare on games days and potentially leading to more crime. Neither my husband nor I are sports fans, so there's really no perk for us in having the Braves close. There's a lot of wise people on this forum that have seen many changes to the city and hopefully some of you can chime in on the potential changes that might come to the Smyrna area as a result of the stadium. Even though it is a little ways away, should we reconsider moving there?

[gerrythesnake]

It depends. Where will you all be working at? What time do you all have to be at work?

If you live and work in Smyrna maybe. If you live west of Atlanta Rd maybe. If you are a homebody maybe. If not heck no

[ElleKaye]

I like the Smyrna and Vinings area, but I would not move there now specifically because of the stadium. I cannot say I don't wish I had already purchased there because of potential resale value, but I don't want to live there after the stadium. The traffic is already bad so I don't foresee being able to take it getting any worse.

[Humanista]

I'm excited to be living in Smyrna (off Atlanta Rd inside 285). I look forward to the continued retail and restaurant development. I really don't see a correlation between baseball fans who most likely will be driving to a stadium and an increase in crime. In all honesty, if criminals wanted to target a certain area in Smyrna, they would stadium or no stadium.

As for traffic, it may be bad, but everyday is not a game day and maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I feel the locals will know the roads to get around the worse of it. I will be working at 150 Interstate Pkwy and living off Atlanta Rd so I expect to be in the middle of it.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by starfish27

Until recently my husband and I were set on moving to Smyrna to start our family. We were actively looking at homes in the area, and even had a contract on a wonderful place several months ago, when my husband was laid off from his job. Obviously we pulled out of the contract (fortunately it was during the inspection period) and we didn't lose any money. Our priorities shifted and my husband was lucky to find another job quickly. We're still not ready to start looking at homes again. We want to wait until he's been at his new job for a while longer.

But now that the Braves stadium is moving up to Cobb in a few years, we're starting to rethink our plans to move to Smyrna in the future. I foresee traffic becoming a nightmare on games days and potentially leading to more crime. Neither my husband nor I are sports fans, so there's really no perk for us in having the Braves close. There's a lot of wise people on this forum that have seen many changes to the city and hopefully some of you can chime in on the potential changes that might come to the Smyrna area as a result of the stadium. Even though it is a little ways away, should we reconsider moving there?

You should not necessarily let the Braves' stadium deter you from moving to Smyrna unless you were planning on moving to the area immediately nearby the site of the new stadium at I-75 and I-285, which would not necessarily be likely presently because there currently is not much, if any, high-quality residential development in the area of where the stadium is planned to go.

The new Braves' stadium is basically a very high-profile real estate development project that is meant to urbanize the Cumberland/Galleria area and make it much more competitive with other Atlanta upscale commercial districts like Perimeter, Buckhead and Midtown.

Smyrna was and is already in the process of becoming more urbanized. The new stadium will likely only work to further speed-up an urbanization process that was already occurring in the Smyrna area.

With the new Braves' stadium making it much more apparent that Smyrna and Southeastern Cobb County is transitioning into a something that will resemble much more of a densely-developed and densely-populated OTP urban district in coming years and decades than the more-sparsely developed and populated outlying suburban area of decades past.

If you want to live and start a family in a quickly-urbanizing post-suburban area that is on the rise and increasingly-popular with young professionals, then Smyrna is for you.

If living in a quickly-urbanizing post-suburban area does not sound appealing, then Smyrna likely is not for you.

[DawgPark]

Originally Posted by Humanista

I'm excited to be living in Smyrna (off Atlanta Rd inside 285). I look forward to the continued retail and restaurant development. I really don't see a correlation between baseball fans who most likely will be driving to a stadium and an increase in crime. In all honesty, if criminals wanted to target a certain area in Smyrna, they would stadium or no stadium.

As for traffic, it may be bad, but everyday is not a game day and maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I feel the locals will know the roads to get around the worse of it. I will be working at 150 Interstate Pkwy and living off Atlanta Rd so I expect to be in the middle of it.

Agreed. My business is VERY close to the proposed stadium and my house is 1 mile from there. While I acknowledge that traffic is my #1 concern, it is not enough to make me pack up and leave Smyrna.

We love living and working in Smyrna and have for 20 years now. The Braves deal only adds a layer of excitement for our family, and another level of urgency in the Smyrna re-development process.

If traffic gets completely out of control when the Braves open in 2017, I'll re-evaluate. Until then, I really don't see it as a problem and current Smyrna traffic is still much lighter than Perimeter, downtown, Buckhead, etc.

[neil0311]

Here is something to consider that I posted in another thread...it puts in context (in my mind at least) the potential traffic impacts. Bear in mind that the proposed stadium is right off the Interstate and in the unincorporated Cumberland area. Smyrna is nearby but depending on where your home is located, it may not have any impact. Keep the following in mind:

The Braves play 162 games in total from the beginning of April through the end of September (assuming no postseason play). They play 81 home games. Of those home games, they play 26 weekend games in 2014. That leaves 55 games, of which some are weekday games played on holidays, or during the day.

So...that leaves approximately 45 games a year where the game is on a work day with a start time of 7:30pm, and where traffic impacts could be a factor. That means that 320 days a year there is effectively ZERO impact from the Braves as far as traffic goes.

[atler8]

If any of you do live nearby the proposed new stadium, as one writer noted they did at 1 mile distant, you need to get with your local officials to do their & your darnedest to ensure that the Braves don't get away with installing a sytem of fireworks or at least enacting a plan to shoot them off at the park following every Braves victory.
Trust, me as having lived about a mile east of Turner Field as the crow flies for 10 years, it was bad enough dealing with the post game traffic & rude behavior of fan in my residential area but the fireworks thing is extremely annoying at night & one of the reasons I grew to hate the location of Turner Field.
It is inexcusable for any fireworks to be shot off late at night but especially after an extra innings game or after a rain delayed game. Do not put up with such a deal foisted on that area by the Braves organization other wise you may not only hear nightly fireworks at 10:30 but suffer hearing them as late as at 1 or 2 in the morning!

[gerrythesnake]

I live about 3 miles from the new stadium. I plan on moving back to the city anyway so they can do whatever

[emcee squared]

I live a few miles away and will have to be careful of what time I go to Best Buy. That's my only concern. I still think the Braves belong in the city, though.