East Atlanta Village (Marietta, Alpharetta, Peachtree City: condo, crime, buying a house)

[cwilli8038]

Hello Everyone. Pls share your thoughts about living in East Atlanta Village area. Thanks in advance.

[Forhall]

Originally Posted by cwilli8038

Hello Everyone. Pls share your thoughts about living in East Atlanta Village area. Thanks in advance.

Cool area, but probably one of the least gentrified on the east side especially for robberies and petty crimes. Like all of Atlanta it is changing for the better.

[cwilli8038]

Is East Atl the area to choose vs Suwanee? I know the beltline is a big thing now.

[joey86]

Originally Posted by cwilli8038

Is East Atl the area to choose vs Suwanee? I know the beltline is a big thing now.

Two entirely different areas. I wouldn’t want to live in Suwanee. It’s a suburb about an hour out from the city. East Atlanta is a cool intown neighborhood with bars, restaurants, music, street art, et cetera. I’d consider buying a house in East Atlanta if I had the money. I would have bought a condo there, but there aren’t very many, and none were available when I was looking.

[Pemgin]

The contrast between the two is enormous. I can't imagine someone loving Suwanee and also loving East Atlanta, and vice versa.


Suwanee is an outer suburban town with a suburban development pattern and sensibility, as very little there is older than about 25 years. However, as far as Atlanta suburbs go, it's one of the better ones, as the schools, parks, libraries and infrastructure are very nice. They're making an effort at building a sense of place with their "downtown" but it's the kind of drive-to urbanism that feels manufactured and inorganic.


On the other hand, relatively little about East Atlanta Village (EAV) is new. But that's not to say it's in disrepair, as the neighborhood is generally well-kept. It's centered around a very active commercial node along Flat Shoals and Glenwood Avenues and is one of the city's nightlife hotspots. It has transit access via MARTA bus routes that also feed into the MARTA rail system. I've lived here for quite a while and enjoy it. Some will say that crime is high, but I've only once been a victim of petty crime (mail stolen) and feel safe in the neighborhood. Since you mentioned the Beltline it's worth stating that it doesn't go through East Atlanta. EAV is roughly a mile east of the Beltline.

[ATLTJL]

As has been stated, you've chosen two very different areas, so the living experience you desire should be your deciding factor over anything specifically right or wrong with East Atlanta.

East Atlanta is a gentrifying area, and has been for the past 20 years. It hasn't happened nearly as fast as other areas of the city, both for better and worse. EAV still has some of that old school intown grit... which some people crave as an authentic part of living in the area, and others may view as seedy. The area is definitely home to some cute boutique shops and trendy restaurants. But it's really better known for offering lounges like Argosy that still offer reasonably priced drinks and places like the Earl and Midway pub that offer great punk rock feels (Earl has one of the best live music rooms in the city and cooks a killer burger) and gay bar Mary's, which is an alternative to the "see and be seen" vibe many of midtown's gay bars offer. HOWEVER, East Atlanta is still very much a place where you need to be conscious and watch your back when walking back to your car at 2am.

Suwanee is about as opposite to that as you can get. It offers a charming ultra-family friendly vibe with a downtown area that hosts a slew of fun, but not exactly trendy, events. Safety will pretty much never be a concern in Suwanee and it enjoys fantastic schools in a town that generally feels like it was built more for kids and teens than adults. It's tough to beat if that's what you're looking for, but it's also about as far away from a cool intown vibe as there is.

It is possible to enjoy both areas. I do. You can find me with my dog at Woof Fest in downtown Suwanee or enjoying a cheesy free Everclear show or Journey cover band some weekends. Others, you'll find me chowing down a burger at the Earl or catching a Windhand show in the back room. There's definitely an ITP vs. OTP rivalry on boards like this and some people refuse to venture far from wherever they call home...but there are also lots of us who are mobile and like to enjoy a lot more the metro has to offer than what we can find in our own backyard!

BUT, you have to make a decision on which vibe works better for your daily life. If I wanted to immerse myself in the EAV vibe full time, I probably wouldn't have a problem living there (just choose your specific neighborhood wisely and you more than likely won't have any real problems). If I had kids and wanted them to enjoy a more or less sheltered existence where they had plenty of sports to play, get high exposure to other kids from a diverse array of international cultures and could go grab an ice cream by themselves at a local shop, Suwanee is an excellent choice. The areas are opposite ends of the spectrum, both right for some people and wrong for others.

[ATLTJL]

Except for the above poster, nobody enjoys both Suwanee and East Atlanta.

People who don't limit themselves to their tiny part of the city do. It's called exploring. You should try it sometime. Plenty of people enjoy visiting multiple parts of the metro. Sorry if you're not one of them. You're missing out.

Otherwise, good post with a lot of useful info.

[ATLTJL]

I don't want to derail this topic. But it really doesn't matter what YOU consider to be the metro. Suwanee is.

There isn't much in Suwanee regarding restaurants or nightlife that would make it worth the commute. What you'd make the commute for is some of its festivals, trails, parks, etc.

But even if you don't care about any of that...some of us just like to be familiar with the area where we live. For example, I'll never shop at Greenbriar Mall. But I felt dumb that it was there and I had never been, so I visited it. It's exploring and being familiar with all your city has to offer. If you choose to limit yourself, be my guest. But don't proclaim everybody is like you and nobody enjoys multiple areas of the metro, which is much larger than you obviously believe it to be.

[Otakumaster]

Going to have agree with ATLTJ.

Plenty of people leave the 4-5 mile radius around their home to other things in the metro and it isn't just people outside the perimeter.


Yeah, you got some people intown who are like that and only stay close but I am definitely not and plenty of people on both ends explore especially if they live ATP.

The poster saying this is rare or weird and believe that "Suwanee, Alpharetta, Peachtree City, Marietta, etc" aren't apart of the metro has like 19 posts so they are probably a troll.