Detroit vs. Charlotte? (Royal Oak: townhomes, subdivision, suburbs)

[frenchtulip]

My husband and I live in Royal Oak currently but are considering a move to Charlotte.

Does anyone have experience with that city? How are the suburbs?

The city of Detroit may not be as thriving as other major cities, but the suburbs of Detroit are thriving with so much character, and we love how Royal Oak has it's own "downtown" with lots of great restaurants, shopping, etc. We've been very happy here with the exception of being cooped up inside for too many cold months out of the year. We're getting fat!!

Charlotte's downtown looks nice, but we would be living in the suburbs and wondering what those areas are like? We want to be somewhere with some character and not just surrounded by strip malls and chain restaurants.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[trmaoy]

Originally Posted by frenchtulip

My husband and I live in Royal Oak currently but are considering a move to Charlotte.

Does anyone have experience with that city? How are the suburbs?

The city of Detroit may not be as thriving as other major cities, but the suburbs of Detroit are thriving with so much character, and we love how Royal Oak has it's own "downtown" with lots of great restaurants, shopping, etc. We've been very happy here with the exception of being cooped up inside for too many cold months out of the year. We're getting fat!!

Charlotte's downtown looks nice, but we would be living in the suburbs and wondering what those areas are like? We want to be somewhere with some character and not just surrounded by strip malls and chain restaurants.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Have you visited Charlotte? If not, I recommend you go there for a visit and stay at least three full days. Research some neighborhoods on all sides of the city and drive around.

I visited last August. My impression is that it is a clean city with some nice neighborhoods. Some areas are trendy but most are traditional. Some areas have more of a country setting. The downtown has restaurants and shops but seemed a little quiet. I could not feel a real city vibe there. You will mostly find subdivisions. They don't have the kind or number of self-contained suburbs like metro Detroit with their own downtowns, festivals etc. Keep in mind their metro area is about 1.5 mil compared to 5 mil for metro Detroit. That gives it somewhat of a small town feel as compared to here. But Charlotte has also been growing rapidly.

It would not be a bad place to move, we were considering it. Just understand that you won't feel the same vibe as a larger metro area gives you.

[Timm]

I agree with the advice to visit Charlotte. I suspect most people who do will like it. I've been down here since November, and spent a couple weeks here in August, and think I have a pretty good feel for the city (I stay within walking distance of "downtown" which oddly enough they all call "uptown"). Uptown Charlotte is anything but quiet. I think it's quite vibrant and certainly has a city vibe. I've been here for the basketball tournaments and the St Patrick's Day celebrations and Bobcats games and just regular ol' days. I find uptown Charlotte to be interesting and alive and just plain fun. While there are some nice self-contained suburbs, some of the neighborhoods on the edge of Charlotte feel like self-contained suburbs even though technically they're still a part of Charlotte (Ballantyne comes to mind).

If you like Royal Oak, I think you would love the Plaza-Midwood neighborhood of Charlotte, and probably South End and Dilworth as well.
While the outskirts of town do indeed have the strip malls and chain restaurants, they often do them a little differently here. It's almost like they try to recreate a little downtown feel in some spots, where instead of just putting up a strip of stores they'll actually build little mini-roads and put in townhomes and maybe a little park right in the middle of the stores. A development in Harrisburg is a pretty good example of this. I think if you spend some time here, and do a little online research like you seem to be doing, you shouldn't have much trouble finding an area of Charlotte with a personality to match yours. Good luck.