NYer to relocate to raleigh-durham (Chapel Hill, Carrboro: apartments, rent, lofts)

[lavabean]

Hi,
I am new to this forum.
I am an artist living in NYC for over 30 years and will have to make a move soon, leaving my 20 year old in college. I play badminton, inline skate, cycle and swim. I'm looking for a 'community' atmosphere, diverse ethnicities, no suburbia. I want shops, interesting ethnic restaurants, quality food, good coffee, vintage/indy movies,culture (dance, music, art-galleries etc). Ideally i'd like to find an old loft bldg to live in, nothing spiffy, no modern newly built lofts. Or something with character at least.
Will I find it somewhere in this area? Also I'd love not having a car . . . what are the chances?
thanks,

[mdp_az]

Sounds like in this area, downtown Durham has most of what you're looking for. The biggest challenge for you will be not having a car. Durham has a bus system and a nice urban trail network, but I still think life w/out a car in Durham could be challenging. As for lofts, there are a lot of old tobacco warehouses that have been/are being converted into lofts, office space, and retail, so I think you could probably find a place to live that is what you described.

Chapel Hill/Carrboro might be worth checking out, too. They have a free bus system, so you might have a better chance of getting by w/out a car there. Not sure about loft living there, though, and the cost is somewhat higher than Durham.

[jln69]

I would suggest inside the beltline in Raleigh. Chapel Hill might be too suburban for you though. Compared to NYC, you might find Raleigh is suburban. The Triangle is more spread out than you are used to. I wouldn't give up the car too soon. The area is a beautiful place with lots of trees. It is diverse and there are things to do just on a smaller scale than NYC. Raleigh has the greenway which you can cycle and inline skate. Raleigh has an artist community at City Market. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[rnc2mbfl]

I think you can find your life in either Downtown Raleigh or Durham. An earlier post explained what downtown Durham has to offer and I'll do my best to tell you about Raleigh.
There are various downtown loft type spaces to live. The most obvious is The Cotton Mill at Peace and Capital. It's a condo but there are those who rent their units as well. It's a true loft built from a 1890 brick mill building. There are also various loft type spaces throughout town over storefronts, etc. Those are trickier to find but may satisfy you.
While Downtown Raleigh is rapidly expanding and developing more services, I am not exactly sure you can live without the occassional car ride. Now, that doesn't mean you can't. A few years back when Hurricane Katrina was wreaking havoc on gas prices, I refused to drive. Instead, I used my bike with a "stylish front basket" to live my life. I found that I could do that pretty easily as long as I didn't want to go to Home Depot or Target. But, I could go the grocery, drug store, etc very easily. Other than those few bike trips, I can walk to many restaurants, clubs, coffee shops, etc. from my downtown neighborhood. I have the luxury of telecommuting so heading to an office wasn't an issue.
Doing this experiment also forced me to explore more of downtown's independent retailers. I really didn't find it that difficult to achieve. I even leveraged the city greenway system to go to Crabtree Valley Mall 4 miles away and attend my friends' kid's pee wee football game way on the North side of town. Now there's even a Target that is actually reachable by bike at North Hills if I wanted to go there.
Raleigh has a pretty good arts scene. I'd look into Artspace at Moore Square and has monthly First Friday Gallery walks. There's also Artsplosure in the Spring. I'd also look into SparkCon (google it) to see how the creative community is coming together.
Just North of the Glenwood South neighborhood is the Rialto Theatre. It's strictly an indie/non-mainstream movie house. There are others in the area as well but not reachable without a car.
Good luck!

[saturnfan]

As an ex-Manhattanite, I really miss the bus and subway system.

Public transit in Raleigh is very spotty and will not usually allow you to eliminate a personal vehicle. Chapel Hill may be better for you.

[raccemup]

What everyone else said... but I have to add: What you just described sounds exactly like... NY! A little friendly advice... Don't move here looking for a more affordable version of NY becaues it doesn't exist. If you can learn to embrace the Triangle for what it is, then you'll be very happy but it's NOT NY, it's NC. Too many people move here looking for cheaper versions of "home" (wherever that is) and are miserable here. It's not for everyone but it's a nice place that's clean, affordable, great weather, and friendly people so with the right outlook, you can't go wrong.

I hope that didn't sound too harsh, I didn't mean it to. I'm from NY myself and just know that you won't be happy if you just want to move to a more affordable area. It's a BIG change.

PS Nothing irritates more than other NY'ers that come here and whine and complain and compare it to NY and think that nothing will ever be good enough for them if it's not from NY. Not that the OP did this... I'm just sayin.

[S & M]

CHAPEL HILL!! it's a college oriented town (UNC) but it's nice. enough arts and good coffee too. CHAPEL HILL is not huge like Raleigh. I just moved from NYC and am glad to be here than Durham or Raleigh. Having a car is almost a must, but public transportation IS available in Chapel Hill.

[danadana]

Downtown Durham would be my suggestion. You can check with the Durham Art Council to get the vibe of local artists. I have found plenty of ethnic independently owned restaurants in Durham. I have a friend who lives in West Village on the edge of Downtown Durham. They have hosted pot lucks to get to know one another. Check this link West Village Urban Loft Apartments- Local Area Good coffee can be found at Broad Street Cafe http://www.thebroadstreetcafe.com/and (broken link) Francesca's http://www.francescasdessertcaffe.com/near (broken link) Duke University. I know there are some coffee shops downtown but I have not tried them yet. You can see indy films at Carolina theatre. Carolina Theatre The American Dance Festival performs during the summer at Duke University. I would check out the Nasher Art Museum near Duke. NASHER Museum of Art at Duke University

You will need a car to get around. My partner used to take the bus. It just takes awhile to get around. For shopping, I like to go to Southpoint Mall in South Durham. There are some really cute independent clothing shops in Cameron Village, Raleigh as well. Hope that helps.

[askinsurance]

Ah, NY home sweet home. Sadly you will not be able to get away with not having a car anywhere in the triangle, I would suggest the cotton Mill also, to look for a lofty apt. I love that building!!!

Good Luck with the move...

[ginormousbear]

Carrboro is one of the more funky/artsy parts of the Triangle. Probably best described as a little bit of a hippy town with very left-leaning tendencies. It's on the West End of Chapel Hill, so it benefits from the free bus service (though I agree with an earlier poster that says it's hard to live here without a car). Pretty walkable, with a solid variety of restaurants and shops.

Walk Carrboro - Walk Carrboro - Home
Carrboro Citizen - newspaper - The Carrboro Citizen