Moving to Nashville...Germantown? (rentals, lofts, safe area)

[CPTGMG]

Hello everyone! My wife and I are in need of some help on relocating after my current deployment. We are recently married and looking forward to starting our lives together outside of TX and FL (where each of us grew up).

Friendly people, safety, four seasons with decent winters, and a fair cost of living are some of our top concerns.

We have been doing a lot of research on Nashville and we are falling in love with it already! I have been to TN on a couple of vacations and driven through Nashville a few times...always thought TN was a beautiful state. We want to rent downtown (New experience) for a little while and figure out which area is best for us from there. I was looking into Germantown and found some very cool lofts that we are interested in. The only problem is that I have seen some negative comments on this area. Can anyone please tell me if this area is a place that I should consider moving to? What other places in the downtown area (within walking distance to restaurants and live music) would you recommend?

[alleycat]

Germantown is still in a bit of a transition, but it is a good transition. There has been renewed interested in the area in the past ten years or so, including renovation, conversion of old buildings to lofts, and new construction. There are also new restaurants and that type of thing.

You would have to exercise a little caution in Germantown at night, but I wouldn't consider it a dangereous place to live. I was even looking at a loft there at one time (I work about two miles from Germantown).

One additional comment, it's walkable from Germantown to downtown, but it would be a bit of a long walk to where most of the live music and clubs are.

If I were you, I'd keep it on my list of places to check out, and then do more research when and if you find something in the area you're interested in.

Another option for you might be one of the better areas in East Nashville. Ten or fifteen years ago I wouldn't have made any such recommendation, but from what others are telling me, there are some nice, safe areas there now and they are improving daily. It's just across the river from downtown. Again, put it on your list; check it out further.

[gabbyknashville]

Be sure to look on Craigslist for rentals downtown. I also agree with Alleycat that if you can find something in East Nashville close to the pedestrian bridge, that would be a good alternative. There are really cute lofts near 2nd Ave and also Printers Alley. In any of these areas, you need to exercise caution at night just because as with any tourist area, there will be people who prey on what they think are people carrying cash and not paying attention. Good Luck in your search.

[CPTGMG]

Thanks for the help! When you say East Nashville do you mean the area across the river or is on the same side as downtown? I think I found the lofts you mentioned on 2nd Ave, the Lofts @ 160. They look pretty nice. Does anyone have friends that live at either Werthan Lofts or Lofts@160?
Can you recommend any other loft buildings?

[alleycat]

Werthan Lofts is an old industrial building they're converted. They're probably pretty nice inside; the bad news is they're right across the street from a public housing project (not the worse one in town, but still . . . ). I'm not sure what it would be like to live there. It wouldn't surprise me if someone who lives there said either, "We haven't had a bit of trouble here; it's a great place to live" or "It's something every night around here across the street; the cops are always being called". I wish I could tell you more, but I just don't know. I do know to drive 45 mph through there . . . or some nice gentlemen wearing blue will come and say hello. ;-)

East Nashville is across the river from downtown.

The Lofts at 160 are nice. They are near Riverfront Park and the Courthouse, on the same side as downtown. It's an active area, even at night, so there's a lot of people around; that can be both good and bad. If you think you'd like to live in a historical area that is occasionally teeming with tourists and is at the very heart of the "Nashville scene", then you could put that on the top of your list.