English Avenue, the Bluff, whatever you want to call it (Atlanta: 2013, condos)

[atlHawks]

Originally Posted by Space_League

It's weird how the only thing separating this area from Georgia Tech gentry / Westside Provisions yuppies is just some train tracks

https://goo.gl/maps/KmDLsdqDy3R2

Thats where the Brock mixed used development is planned to go up. Won't be surprised if they try to link it with a pedestrian bridge later on.

[Forhall]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I know you were joking, but this is actually reason why that neighborhood is taking so long to rebound. Most of parcels are owned by speculators (and slum lords) waiting to cash in on the inevitable gentrification. They are not trying to break even.

Very insightful and something I never realized.

It's a Tragedy of the commons. All of the properties in the area have been snatched up by investors. They hope to hold onto them until the area gentrified, then sell. Problem is, gentrification means someone has to go first and take the risk. If everyone holds out for others to take the risk, then no one takes the risk, and the area never changes.

[thirdiii94]

Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy

You can't compare the Bluff to Howell Station though, so I wouldn't use that as an example for future real estate trends. Those 2 are totally different neighborhoods, only similarities that they share are being in close proximity to one another. First off Howell Station was never the "hood" or the "ghetto", it was always a lower middle income area, but not poverty stricken and free of the drugs and robbery of some of the other Westside neighborhoods. Just like Riverside/Bolton, just like Howell Mill (Which wasn't even considered the West until 10-15 years ago), and to a lesser extent the West End. All of those areas were never that bad, which is funny because those are the areas on the West that have gentrified first. Don't think that all the areas on the Westside are equal in terms of roughness, because there is for sure a pecking order on that totem pole. Howell Station would be at the top, the Bluff right next door would be at the bottom. Totally different ends of the spectrum. You're trying to compare a sleepy in the cut neighborhood like Howell Station whose worst problem for years was just residents complaining about Halfway Houses on their block to an area that is pretty much a free for all drug zone along the lines of a real life Hampsterdam from Season 3 of the Wire, and has been that way since Frank Mathews came down from NYC and flooded it with dope over 40 years ago.

Me personally I'm skeptical about the Bluff, I still see tons of J's (drug addicts) over there, I still see more than a few rural and exurban GA county and Tenn/Alabama plates making turns off Hollowell (Bankhead) or Boone (Simpson) to go into the Bluff, and last I checked the Bluff was by itself still the source of most of the Heroin and Fentanyl in the south. Pretty much everywhere that's not on a port like New Orleans or Miami, gets their heroin from the Bluff. I grew up down the street from it, I couldn't tell you how many times some out of towner with the bags under their eyes and the shakes stopped and asked me or some of my friends for directions on how to get to JPB. And looking at how much of a problem opiates are in rural areas now, I'd say the Bluff is pumping dope harder than ever before. And to use your term, don't sleep, we are talking about a product that people addicted to it spend over 50K a year on to support their habit. And just one pound of it costs more than most people make in a year. I don't think its a stretch to say that people who sell it have the cash flow to buy a house or 2 over there along with paying off some police as well. Cleaning up the Bluff will be a lot harder than some of you think. I personally think it'll take at least a decade to turn the corner, probably more. We'll have 2 more recessions in the time it takes to clean that area up.

I think you missed the point. I'm not comparing the Bluff to Howell Station. I'm just giving an example of a Westside neighborhood that is completely different than how it used to be. I never said that the Bluff was going to go through that same transformation. Howell Station has definitely improved a lot compared to 10 years ago and I don't think anyone can deny that. That's why I put "considered" in quotations as in "considered" ghetto by people who weren't familiar with the area. Everyone knows it was never the hood but it was surrounded by it though. It's similar to how people who aren't familiar with the West End would (some still do) refer to it as the hood as well. Most locals would disagree.
I never told people to go buy or rent houses in English Avenue either. LMAO you're making it seem like I'm telling people to come raise their families in the Bluff. All I'm saying is that all of these Westside neighborhoods from the Bluff to Grove Park to Howell Station to Washington Park etc. are improving, albeit at different rates. I'm very familiar with the Westside so I'm aware of the various danger levels in neighborhoods.
Comparing Hampsterdam to the current version of the Bluff is laughable too. Hampsterdam was mad active with lines of J's around the corner and people shooting up on the streets. The Bluff used to be like that but that isn't the case anymore. Suburbanites and rural travelers getting served from their cars and then leaving isn't the same thing. Most of the drugs sold in the Bluff nowadays are out of sight and most J's prefer to get high in bandos or trap houses, not standing on the sidewalk in plain sight. Sure, they'll walk around and chill in the hood after they shoot up. The Bluff is a ghost town now. There are more empty lots and abandoned houses than occupied units. My homie literally painted a whole throwie on a James P. Brawley bando in the DAYTIME on a Saturday without anyone walking by. Yes all sorts of drugs are still getting sold in huge quantities but dealers are also moving smarter. I don't doubt that APD is getting paid to look the other way. They'll get a few arrests a month because they have to for quota purposes but they're not on that Red Dog unit flow.
I agree, the Bluff will take well over a decade to turn around but for people to say English Avenue and Vine City aren't improving is nonsense. It's the little things that make a difference.

[ATLTJL]

I would feel more comfortable being in the bluff now, than O4W 30 years ago.

I'm not sure if I agree with that just because O4W was always home to certain things that drew visitors.

Even if you didn't know anybody who lived there, you had probably seen a show at the Masquerade. Or visited the Clermont Lounge. Maybe gotten some donuts at that Krispy Kreme. You know what I mean? It might have been crummy and dangerous, but people still went there for various reasons.

Compare that to the Bluff. I best most Atlantans have never, ever been there. The only reason I've been is because I have an odd curiosity, I have no real reason to ever be there.

[kgpremed13]

Originally Posted by Forhall

Very insightful and something I never realized.

It's a Tragedy of the commons. All of the properties in the area have been snatched up by investors. They hope to hold onto them until the area gentrified, then sell. Problem is, gentrification means someone has to go first and take the risk. If everyone holds out for others to take the risk, then no one takes the risk, and the area never changes.

I remember a comedian I can't remember his name, said the first gentrifiers to move into a really bad neighborhood are usually, hipsters, "gays", and Jews. I have a few jewish friends and some of them like to move to the blackest neighborhoods they can find.

[cqholt]

Westside Future Fund purchases commercial building in English Ave

The Fund bought the property from Larry Cantrell for $600,000. His parents – Charles and Louise Cantrell – operated the Cantrell Sodas and Sundaes, a soda shop and ice cream parlor – going back 60 years. It served as a central gathering spot for residents during the heyday of English Avenue.

The property, however, has become a sore spot for the community in recent years where there was suspected criminal activity. There is only one tenant now in the building, and that operator will be out of the building within two weeks.

At one time, the building at 500 Kennedy St. NW (the former name of James P. Brawley Drive) was bustling with activity. It had four apartments upstairs, the soda shop, a record store and a shoe store downstairs.

https://saportareport.com/westside-f...IwZWNbh4T5ZHkE

[fortunatus]

I once circled the perimeter of The Bluff. Saw some lurking cruisers on my way there, one right there on Joseph E Lowery. Who were they waiting for?

[arjay57]

It will soon be another Millionaire's Row.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by fortunatus

I once circled the perimeter of The Bluff. Saw some lurking cruisers on my way there, one right there on Joseph E Lowery. Who were they waiting for?

That area is pretty much the crime capital of Atlanta. So it makes sense to keep some cruisers in the area.

[pit2atl]

i remember those houses were 5k. back when kasim reed was sending out major fines for investors just "buying houses and sitting on them"