Young, Single, "Urban male" moving to Nashville- Needs help picking the right areas (Chattanooga: apartment, rental)

[renaissanceman1929]

Young, single, Urban guy moving to Nashville.

Hello everyone.
I'm a young, single, urban type of a guy that's moving to Nashville. I need help finding the right neighborhoods where other young, single, urbran people live in. I've lived in London, Amsterdam, etc so I'm very much used to being in nice area, but busy with malls, shops, restaurants etc where a lot of young and single professionals live. I currently live in Chattanooga, TN and realized that it's too small for me. I'm in the healthcare field. I've head a lot about Brentwood, Hillsboro and Belmont. I don't know anything about this area. I don't have a family, so I wouldn't want to live far from the restaurants and fun activities. I'm looking to live in a nice area, but yet busy with people and fun activities. Will someone please help? Thanks. J

[akm4]

I'm just waiting for scottv to say Franklin is too "familyish".

I would suggest looking in the following areas-

Brentwood
Franklin
Green Hills (Nash)
and
Hillsboro Village (Nash)

Good luck!

[alleycat]

I would suggest looking in the Midtown area first (this includes the Vanderbilt area, Hillsboro Village, 21st Avenue). This area is also convenient to some of the major medical centers in Nashville (HCA, Vanderbilt, Centennial, St. Thomas, Baptist, MeHarry).

[akm4]

Lots of new lofts and condo complexes sprouting up. Some are just gorgeous. If you lucky enough to find a place near your new job you could have the best of both worlds- a cool living space with no commute!

[ariesjow]

Any of the Midtown neighborhoods sound like they'd work well for you (Music Row, West End/West End Park, Hillsboro Village, Elliston Place, Vandy/Belmont, etc.). All are very popular with young professionals in Nashville who prefer urban environments. You might also want to check out the Gulch which is right between downtown and Music Row. The Gulch is all extremely new urban developments like ICON (http://www.iconinthegulch.com/enter.html - broken link), Velocity, and Terrazzo. There are some great restaurants and bars already in the Gulch but much more to come in conjunction with these and other projects. 12South is another big area for young professionals that's becoming increasingly popular (also read more expensive).

Nashville's downtown is becoming more of a residential draw with many more condos and lofts but it's still primarily commercial and tourist-driven. East Nashville affords great access to downtown and has a handful of interesting neighborhoods and things to do from historic residential beauties in Edgefield to some great live music at the Family Wash. Some parts are a little rough and still up-and-coming so you'd have to do a bit of research about a home or apartment for which you're interested.

There's some incredible progress being made in Germantown, Salemtown, Hope Gardens and the North Capital area all just north of downtown. Germantown has some of the oldest, most beautiful homes in Nashville as well as some great infill. There are not as many restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc. compared to other some of Nashville's other urban neighborhoods.

Green Hills is about five miles to the south of Nashville and not necessarily urban but still very much in Nashville. Green Hills has arguably the best and certainly the swankiest mall in Tennessee (Mall at Green Hills), the great new Hills Center with a Whole Foods and California Pizza Kitchen, and, of course, the Bluebird Cafe. The trade-off: horrendous rush hour traffic...but it's certainly worth a look.

Brentwood/Franklin/Murfreesboro/Hendersonville/LaVergne = Suburbs and likely not your cup of tea (at least from my reading of your post). However, Franklin has an excellent historic and walkable downtown for a satellite city.

Since Chatty is only a short drive away, I suggest making a weekend trip and getting a good feel for the city and it's areas. It certainly won't hurt. Good luck!

[hml1976]

Stay out of Brentwood and Franklin imo. Check out Hillsboro, Belmont, the Gulch, West End. We lived in Green Hills in our 20s and it was a little too family oriented for us.

[snowflake73]

I'm single and moving to Mount Juliet, Providence.

Providence - Setting the new standard of living in Middle Tennessee

Providence MarketPlace (http://www.shopprovidencemarketplace.com/home/index.ch2 - broken link)

[scottv]

Originally Posted by akm4

I'm just waiting for scottv to say Franklin is too "familyish".

HA, well it is...young, single people do not hang out in Franklin in any significant number that I've ever seen. If they do then tell me where and I'll go there...every time I've been to Tin Roof, Dan McGuiness, Jonathan's (Cools Springs locations) it's full of married people either with their spouses or doing a guy/girls night out from their family. Thoroughbred movie theater feels like a middle/high school.

To the OP: you'll want to stay in Nashville, around 440/Hillsboro area depending on your budget and if you're buying or renting (some of these areas have quite a differential between rental rates and home purchase price): Sylvan Park, Hillsboro Village, Green Hills, Belmont, Crieve Hall.

[kcnative]

Surprised no one has mentioned East Nashville.

[ariesjow]

^ Actually, I talked East Nashville in my post above. It was a must-mention, IMO.