White Woman moving to "Sweet Auburn" (Atlanta, Decatur: sales, apartments)

[PlanItGeorgia]

Greetings fellow Atlantans. I come all the way from Omaha! I am a young, single professor who just got a job at GSU. I am also white. I really wanted to live close to campus, so I am planning on buying a condo at the "Rennisance Walk at Sweet Auburn". I have heard that this is the birthplace of the civil rights movement and black culture. I am just wodnering how the nieghborhood is and if I will be veiwed differently in the area because I am white.

Is there a lot of crime? Also, its so close to GSU I can walk. Would that be a good idea? Need feedback! thanks in advance

[George Chong]

IMO, there are not lots of basic necessities such grocery stores and dry cleaners in the area. I don't think that you would have any trouble living there.

I would check with the complex on how many units have sold. I am not sure how many units have sold - so sales might be a little sluggish.

If I may make a shameless pitch for my neighborhood, I would suggest Inman Park as you would be just 2 subway stops from Georgia State University. www.itsmarta.com

Inman Park is stop E3 and you would go west on the line to Georgia State at stop E2. Inman Park is located just 2 miles east of downtown Atlanta.

Check out these websites on the neighborhood:

www.inmanpark.org
www.inmanparkvillage.com

Good luck and welcome!

[martarider]

Yeah I would consider a marta area and just use that. Although that area has started gentrifying, you will probably not be comfortable there unless you are OK with being in the minority. For example the old fourth ward which used to be 95% black is now "only" 75% black but that still puts you heavily in the minority. So its whatever you are comfortable with.

[atlantagreg30127]

I ditto George Chong's idea about Inman Park. Nice, mixed, intown neighborhood and you'll have access to MARTA as well as one of the best intown arts festivals that they have each Springtime, too.

[onemanarmy]

I would like to provide a counterargument, if I may. Living is Sweet Auburn will be great for you, if you work at GSU and like city life. The location of Renaissance Walk is excellent. In your immediate area their are some of Atlanta's best restaurants and bars within walking distance, and their is the only Grocery Store Downtown in the Sweet Auburn market. Now, being a white woman living on Auburn Ave you will be a minority, but you will find this to be negligible during the day because of the proximity to GSU and Downtown. Now, do I suggest midnight strolls, no, but you will find the area to be filled with more "amenities" than my condo on the north end of downtown in Allen Plaza. Working at GSU and living at Renaissance Walk everything would be within walking distance.

[IntownHomes247]

Have you considered Downtown Decatur? Exceptionally charming, imminently walkable, and just a few MARTA stops beyond Inman Park.

City of Decatur, GA

Regardless of where you end up, it's really important that you spend time scoping out the neighborhood(s) in which you are interested well before you put an offer on any property. No one can tell you whether or not you'll feel comfortable in any particular neighborhood. You need to determine that for yourself and the only way to do so is to spend some significant time there (at all times of the day and evening) to see whether or not it works for you. You also need to figure out whether any given neighborhood will offer you whatever amenities might be important to you (other than distance from GSU). Do you need easy access to shops, restaurants, parks, markets, libraries, entertainment venues, dog parks, etc.?

Getting to GSU via MARTA rail is easy so being within actual walking distance is not nearly as important as it might be if your job wasn't located on a MARTA stop. That opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of neighborhoods. Don't lock yourself into any property before you scope it out thoroughly to make sure it's the place you want to be. (This is especially true of buying a condo, since the condo resale market is not good right now and if you end up some place you hate you'll probably either be stuck or you'll lose a lot of money trying to get out of it.)

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by George Chong

IMO, there are not lots of basic necessities such grocery stores and dry cleaners in the area. I don't think that you would have any trouble living there.

I would check with the complex on how many units have sold. I am not sure how many units have sold - so sales might be a little sluggish.

If I may make a shameless pitch for my neighborhood, I would suggest Inman Park as you would be just 2 subway stops from Georgia State University. www.itsmarta.com

Inman Park is stop E3 and you would go west on the line to Georgia State at stop E2. Inman Park is located just 2 miles east of downtown Atlanta.

Check out these websites on the neighborhood:

www.inmanpark.org
www.inmanparkvillage.com

Good luck and welcome!

As much as i love Inman Park.Im assuming the young lady is weighing value and convenience.Thats why she chose Sweet Auburn Renaissance.Those condo are very nice and price really well.As downtown continues to develop i think you will get your value back faster than if you were buying in Midtown or Buckhead because of the oversupply.

[PlanItGeorgia]

Well, I just fell in love with the building itself. Its architectually beautiful. I was told by another person that Atlanta is changing and to buy downtown cause its where the action is.

Arent there white people lving in Sweet Auburn? I suppose some people that are buying these will be white anyway. I am not worried though, I could care less about being the only white person as long as it is safe.

Is this area safe to walk around at night? Are there lots of GSU students milling around?

[Atlantasfinest]

There aren't many people who actually live on that part of Auburn Avenue at all. For all intensive purposes "Sweet Auburn" used to or is the commercial corridor of The Old 4th Ward neigborhood that surrounds it. The next main street over from Auburn Ave is John Wesley Dobbs which is where the Gstate Village is located so you will see alot of students jogging around that area. The Sweet Auburn District has always been a mostly commercial district with restaurants/bars/churches/businesses and it still is for the most part on Auburn Avenue. The Renaissance Lofts where your interested in buying is really the only residential component in "Sweet Auburn" which is only about 1 mile long (If that). The main residential component of the area is located in Downtown and Old 4th Ward and both of these areas surround Sweet Auburn from Sweet Auburn' West and East boundaries. Old 4th Ward and Downtown Atlanta have plenty of white people and all types of people who live in lofts (Downtown) and single family homes (Old 4th Ward)and you have the Path Trail close by which leads you directly into Inman Park/Poncey/VAHI for jogs.

I think it's a good buy and would enable you to be apart of the GSU community which is growing by leaps and bounds and being within walking distance to campus to would just add to the ambiance . But please visit first and see If you like it. Regarding safety since the GSU dorms are located in the area I believe it's safe but their are pockets that I wouldn't advise anyone to walk into at night that is east of 75/85 connector between Fort Street & Jackson Street and Auburn Avenue/Edgewood Blvd. They are cleaning that particular area out and they just knocked down Grady Homes and some other low-income apartments in the area so that definately helps. You can walk into the Path trail by taking John Wesley Dobbs which is the next street over from Auburn Avenue and also run walk to Centennial Olympic Park to the west which is nice! Good Luck!

[masonbarge]

Originally Posted by PlanItGeorgia

Greetings fellow Atlantans. I come all the way from Omaha! I am a young, single professor who just got a job at GSU. I am also white. I really wanted to live close to campus, so I am planning on buying a condo at the "Rennisance Walk at Sweet Auburn". I have heard that this is the birthplace of the civil rights movement and black culture. I am just wodnering how the nieghborhood is and if I will be veiwed differently in the area because I am white.

Is there a lot of crime? Also, its so close to GSU I can walk. Would that be a good idea? Need feedback! thanks in advance

Do not under any circumstances buy one of these. They are priced low for a reason.

This is all opinion, understand, but IMO Renaissance is one of a long stream of unsuccessful attempts by the City government, in alliance with developers, to artificially prop and gentrify the downtown, and especially traditional black areas.

Here's the positive spin, an article from the city's "black" newspaper:

Atlanta Daily World

If you have lived in Atlanta long enough, you will recognize this promotion as characteristic of a future failure.

The area is not safe, especially at night. It's just not a good place to live. The low prices and hype are a trap for out-of-towners, much like Lenox Road near Lenox Square (for very different reasons). There isn't even a supermarket.

If you are determined to try the area, do yourself a big favor and rent for a year before you buy. Rental costs vs. purchase prices are still undervalued, due to the runup in land prices over the last few decades. And worse, you may find yourself stuck with a property that is very hard to sell and impossible to get your money out of.

The Georgia State campus is not much, and you aren't going to see a heavy student presence in the in the surrounding areas (much less Sweet Auburn), especially considering the size of the student body. It's more of a commuter school.

There's a lot going on in downtown, but I wouldn't want to the hotspots from Sweet Auburn. Plus, the big downtown attractions are "big" because of the large number of conventioneers and people driving in from other parts of town. It's just not a residential neighborhood. (However, there are some rather odd "urban pioneers" who love the alienated vibe of the empty city after dark. I actually can understand the appeal. But if that's of interest to you, you can still do much better than Sweet Auburn.)

I think Inman Park/Little 5 Points would be an ideal location for a young single professional woman, working downtown, who wants a hip or even "funky" neighborhood that isn't too dangerous. Midtown is another.

Virginia Highlands is another -- it would be my personal choice -- although that would rule out public transportation to GSU. But you may find that you want a car anyway and public transportation isn't as huge a plus as you would think -- Atlanta isn't New York or Boston, and you are going to find that a car is a huge convenience, if not a virtual necessity. Va. Highlands is an easy drive to GSU. But I don't want to overstate that -- it would be nice to take MARTA to work.

I like Decatur, but it wouldn't be my first choice if I were young and single.