Where to live (two jobs, nearly opposite ends of town) (Memphis: apartments, rental)

[evecon12]

Hello all,

My wife and I recently received job offers in Memphis which we're both excited about. Hers is far downtown near the river (a block back from Riverside Drive); mine is farther east, off Ridgeway Loop and Poplar Ave (Mapquest says it's about 20-25 minutes east of wife's, but I expect it could be more like 35-40 minutes in morning/evening rush).

We have one car between us and would like to keep it that way at least until we get our student loans paid down, so we are debating where to live that is both safe (priority), cost effective, and as far as possible close to one of our workplaces (so one of us can be easily dropped off before the other makes the longer drive to work). Alternatively, we're open to one of us taking public transit if it's not too crummy/dangerous/inefficient/whatever.

We looked at some apartments in Harbor Town but are concerned about the relative lack of amenities and retail there, which we've read about, and while we could definitely afford them, we're not sure they're necessarily worth the cost (some of the complexes there have some alarmingly bad reviews).

Can anyone make any recommendations about where we might best look for a place in Memphis?

[jabogitlu]

I would not rely on public transit in Memphis, if you can help it at all. A 20-30 minute commute by car can easily turn into a 2 hour commute by bus.

Other folks might have different opinions, but I think I would prefer driving into downtown in the mornings, as opposed to into East Memphis.

A good place to get your feet wet would be the Madison Humphreys apartments - you can even commute to Ridgeway Loop without using I-240 (Humphreys to Shady Grove), then hop back onto Poplar Ave, swing onto I-240 south, and make the somewhat long but pretty easy commute into downtown.

Your wife would be driving east in the afternoons, along with a lot of other folks from downtown/Midtown/East Memphis trying to get further east into the suburbs, but your job is right in the thick of things, so both a morning and evening commute will encounter a little bit of clogged traffic around 240/Poplar.

[mattec]

You could live downtown/ s. main and your wife could walk to work

[evecon12]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

I would not rely on public transit in Memphis, if you can help it at all. A 20-30 minute commute by car can easily turn into a 2 hour commute by bus.

Other folks might have different opinions, but I think I would prefer driving into downtown in the mornings, as opposed to into East Memphis.

A good place to get your feet wet would be the Madison Humphreys apartments - you can even commute to Ridgeway Loop without using I-240 (Humphreys to Shady Grove), then hop back onto Poplar Ave, swing onto I-240 south, and make the somewhat long but pretty easy commute into downtown.

Your wife would be driving east in the afternoons, along with a lot of other folks from downtown/Midtown/East Memphis trying to get further east into the suburbs, but your job is right in the thick of things, so both a morning and evening commute will encounter a little bit of clogged traffic around 240/Poplar.

Thanks for your input jabogitlu -- can I ask why you would prefer driving downtown in the mornings instead of east? My impression (probably incorrect) is that traffic is heavier going downtown in the mornings.

[Comingtomemphis]

I agree with Jabogitlu that MATA (public transit) would not be desirable. And I agree with Mattec that living Downtown would be a good choice.

In general, Memphis is not a walkable city, with lamentable sidewalks and limited crossing lights: they are really more sprint than walk lights! Unlike say, New York City, where there are crosswalks at every intersection, Union and Poplar, among many others, have very few crossings. You either have to run across or walk many blocks to the nearest crosswalk. There would not be many good options for walking to work in East Memphis.

Downtown, however, is walkable. If by one block east of Riverside you mean Front or Tennessee, then walking to work would be easy (unless north of the Auction Ave. bridge). Only you would need to drive, and that would be against most commuting traffic. You wouldn't need to co-ordinate schedules to share a car. We live Downtown and shared a car for a year, which wasn't an issue. The person driving can pick up groceries on the way home, and you would both have access to your car on the weekend.

There are plenty of rental options up and down both of those streets, so you should be able to locate close to your wife's work, although you will probably pay a bit more for the same square footage than out east. Mud Island is not without amenities, but it is not an easy walk to Downtown, especially after dark or in bad weather.

If you are looking for the names of specific apartment buildings Downtown, try the Chisca or Metro 67. There are also lots of private landlords who own condos. Ideally, look for one with parking, as on-street parking is becoming tighter.

[CristenS]

Public transit isn't an option here, so go ahead and cross that off your list.


If you lived downtown, your wife could walk to/from work, have a coworker drop her off at home after work, bike to work, get a scooter, etc. However, the island (Harbortown) is not walkable to the rest of downtown. She could bike, but it would be a hot, sweaty bike ride in the summers, and a long wet one in the rain. It really depends on where exactly her job is and if you could get a rental right next to it.


Walking will not be an option at all for you if you live out east...you could bike, but it's a very traffic congested area of town at Poplar/240. That intersection of Poplar/Ridgeway/240 is an absolute nightmare almost 24/7. Expect a lot of sitting in your car, not moving.


What do you want in a home, other than the commute issue? Would you enjoy being an concrete urban area of downtown? It's not a very residential area. Or do you want to see grass, trees, etc?


Memphis is unfortunately a very car-oriented area. If you are set on only having one car, my opinion to make it work would be to live downtown where she could walk to work if need be, then you make the trek out east in the car. In the event someone gets stranded, she would have options to get home from work if you lived downtown.

[Salmonista]

Here's another vote for living within walking distance of the downtown job and commute by car to the East Memphis job. That's what I would do in your situation!

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by evecon12

Thanks for your input jabogitlu -- can I ask why you would prefer driving downtown in the mornings instead of east? My impression (probably incorrect) is that traffic is heavier going downtown in the mornings.

I based it on your desire to be closer to more amenities -- but, that might be far outweighed by the ability to walk to work downtown, as so many others on this thread have laid out. As far as traffic goes ... My commute into downtown from Midtown was always quite easy in the mornings. I'd say from a pure numbers perspective, just as many or (probably) more folks work around the I-240/Poplar corridor than they do downtown.

Either way, welcome to Memphis.

[evecon12]

Thanks for your feedback, everyone!

We are currently weighing the pros/cons of a more expensive apartment downtown (closer to work) vs. a less expensive apartment out in east Memphis with a longer commute (and potentially terrible, judging by the ubiquitous bad reviews for just about everyone, at least some of which I suspect might be faked to discredit competition). I will probably check in with more questions soon.

[eastmemphisguy]

FWIW, traffic here doesn't even compare to the big cities. Poplar/240 out east is one of the worst traffic points in town, but even that is a breeze if you've handled big city traffic. A half hour should get you from there to downtown, either by the south loop to 55N to Riverside or straight down Poplar.