Moving to Midtown, commuting up I-75 (Duluth, Norcross: apartments, rental market, condos)

[alexdi2]

I'm a Duluth resident looking to rent a 1BR/1BA, 750+ sq ft. in Midtown. I've been researching places to live, but I could use more insight.

* Me - male, 28, gay, moderate interest in nightlife
* Budget - max 1750, no utilties; 1300ish preferable
* Employment - commuting to where I75 intersects I-285.
Priorities:
* Walkability; Joe's on Juniper is my benchmark location. I don't want to use my car if I can help it. I expect to use MARTA at times.
* Proximity to Piedmont Park
* Commute time of <30 minutes at 8AM
* Low noise (mostly from other tenants or neighboring businesses; if it's car noise from highways, it is what it is)
* Decent impression (this includes quality of furnishings and fixtures, entryways, and immediate surroundings)
* Not excessive security

The security thing is big. My major impetus for living in town is seeing friends and having them see me. While I don't have philosophical objections to high-rises, I find a series of barriers, elevators, and concierges annoying, and I'm sure guests would feel the same. I'm also not keen of miles of windows in bedrooms that make it hard to sleep in.

I'd like to be between 10th and 17th because I suspect traffic will getting on the connector will become a problem south of 10th. I don't know this for certain. If I thought the commute would work, I might go as low as 8th.

So far, Post on the Park looks interesting, though I see a lot of reviews with noise complaints and the interior layouts and quality of furnishings don't seem that impressive. Skyhouse looks better, but I haven't visited.

I've been told the rental market is unusually expensive right now. Is that expected to change in either direction? Thanks.

[midtown mile girl]

Have you looked at The Windsor on 14th street? It's next door to the W hotel and within walking distance to so much.

[alexdi2]

That one the Mayfair are on the 'fallback' list if I don't find anything smaller. I haven't been to the place though, not sure how it'd line up with my priorities.

[midtown mile girl]

I own, not rent, so my rental knowledge is a bit rusty. I will tell you the area you are looking at is the "hottest" area right now due to the walkability of the area. I used to live in Norcross in a house and downsized to a condo, and having things like elevators, concierges, etc, took some getting used to, but it is handy to have those things. Someone to sign for packages for you, call the maintenance person for you, etc has been very nice.

[alexdi2]

I won't rule it out, I like some of the interior layouts. I do think the towers seem a little isolating though. I'm not sure why.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

I live in the Skyhouse South and it is pretty nice and very walkable to lots of restaurants and gay stuff like Henry's, Joe's, Blakes, and Ten. Good security (Only have one elevator to access whole building, and concierge can let up guests without you coming down, you can only access lobby, your floor, and amenity rooftop with the fob), concierge, rooftop amenities. IRC 1br is 1500-1600 depending on how high up, but I heard that they recently leased the last available apartment. Also Skyhouse does have full floor windows 10' I believe, but they come with blinds, so its easy to have privacy if needed.

[Tarzanman]

I would not expect rents to go down anytime soon in midtown. The building boom is just now starting.

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

I would not expect rents to go down anytime soon in midtown. The building boom is just now starting.

Actually, I expect rents to go down short-term. Simple supply-and-demand.

There is a cycle between bloat and shortages for both apartments and condos in the inner metro area. Midtown isn't a vacuum either:

Increased building typically results in a temporary inverse effect on rent and condo costs. The midtown market and Cumberland also effect each other as well - in fact, banks consider them the same market at least for condos (despite hipsters who may cry fowl) which typically hurts Cumberland since midtown almost always has bloat. Cumberland hasn't had apartment development in about 10 years, so we are yet to see whether banks consider them the same apartment market.

Right now, Cumberland, midtown and Buckhead all have a bunch of apartment projects under way. Cumberland has about 2,000 units opening up over the next year, alone. I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg: Cumberland has an extreme shortage of apartments and condos for all the business sq footage it has.

Furthermore, what could be even worse for midtown is if Cumberland developers keep getting loans even when midtown has a bloat. That doesn't happen for condos, since we've seen in the past that condo bloat in midtown and Buckhead has killed the condo market in Cumberland. But considering there hasn't been apartment development in Cumberland for quite a while, the jury is still out on whether banks will treat apartments the same way, considering Cumberland is more convenient than midtown to three job centers. It isn't a market decision but a bank decision whether to fund apartments. If it takes a year for banks to realize that bloat in either Cumberland or midtown effect each other - not sure whether or not that will be the case - then a bunch more apartment projects would be approved in Cumberland in the meantime - even if midtown has bloat - and things could get ugly in midtown if the market decides they are the same market.

Furthermore, there's the Edgewood Ave/Auburn Ave area including Castlebury Hill that isn't far enough away from midtown to not impact it. Perhaps even more so than Cumberland, that area will affect midtown. And that area is getting hot. Midtown is going to have to deal with potential bloat there as well as development ramps up in the Southern reaches of downtown.

[toll_booth]

Re your commute...

Good news: You'll be driving against the flow of traffic. It should be a breeze once you get out of Midtown.
Bad news: Both ends, particularly Cumberland, can be hell to drive in rush hour. And no, no MARTA line extends up towards Cobb. (We've had MANY discussions about that very issue around here.)

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Good news: You'll be driving against the flow of traffic. It should be a breeze once you get out of Midtown.

I don't know why people have a misconception that midtown to Cumberland is a reverse-commute. It may have been that way in 1984 (I wouldn't know - I was a toddler) but it isn't anymore. It is not a reverse commute. I suspect anyone who says it's a reverse commute has never tried to drive from Cumberland to midtown during rush hour at around 4pm. It can take over an hour on Fridays. In fact, sometimes when it's bumper-to-bumper for people heading home to midtown from Howell Mill on, I-75 is clear heading North.

You're contending with midtowners and Buckhead residents going to jobs in Cumberland, perimeter center and Town Center. Many of them work in the Galleria area and other office locations in the North metro.

It's only slightly better than going commuting from midtown most days than to midtown, and sometimes can be worse. It's going to be only getting worse, since from a job-center perspective, Cumberland is growing very quickly right now. It's getting a lot of spillover from perimeter center and both Weather Channel and Home Depot are expanding.

However, in the grand scheme of things, whether going to or from midtown, it's still one of the best commutes in the metro area. That obviously isn't saying much.