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I am retired and I have always had this vision of living in a very busy downtown loft, above a quiet store. I would like to give up driving and walk, or bike everywhere. NYC is out of the picture because it is too expensive, and crowded but I havent been to too many places where this is possible. Anyone know of something or somewhere that may be more of a reality? It is just me, no kids! It would be fun to walk to the stores or coffeeshops.
Dont know one. Try looking in towns with preserved and active central business dist. Many of those old buildings have small apartments in them. There's two I can think might fit the bill. Guthrie, Ok and Delevan Wi.
Just a heads-up, while most of these other cities wherein you can you can find these arrangements won't be as expensive as NYC or San Francisco et al, they will likely be the priciest places in town
In that kind of environment: urban, mercantile, busy=popular, heavily trafficked, sought after etc, the real estate is expensive. That's how it is where I live and I live in Omaha. It's not Mayberry or not New York City. Two-bedroom Condos in "The Old Market" district (one like you describe) sell for 2 million and up, so you can imagine what loft apartments would go for. And all these nice shops and stores you can walk to will still cost a lot to shop in.
"Town Center" type developments of mixed use keep cropping up. Not urban per se, but the idea is for walkability. North Alabama already has Providence, and a couple more in the works. One from way back in the 1980s was Miami Lakes in south Florida.
The town I live in does have these lofts above shops in the downtown, historic business district, but all require you to walk up a long stairway to get to that loft. There are no elevators to get you there. Very cute lofts, in high demand and very expensive. Is this something you want to do in retirement, go up and down a long flight of stairs to access your apartment? I can't imagine doing this, especially carrying bags of groceries, etc. I did that in my younger days. Now? Forget it. Mostly these pricey lofts are inhabited by young, wealthy hipsters and such.
You can live in downtown Indianapolis or now on the Red Line that just opened. We have lived downtown for 20 years and it is even better now. I can walk to a doctor and dentist, hardware store, regular grocery stores (Kroger type) and Whole Foods, $125 million dollar library, lots of restaurants, bakery, coffee shops, YMCA, etc. We have 10 hospitals within 1 mile of our house.
While real estate has gotten expensive right downtown, the Red line has opened up more areas south of town for rental and ownership.
The town I live in does have these lofts above shops in the downtown, historic business district, but all require you to walk up a long stairway to get to that loft. There are no elevators to get you there. Very cute lofts, in high demand and very expensive. Is this something you want to do in retirement, go up and down a long flight of stairs to access your apartment? I can't imagine doing this, especially carrying bags of groceries, etc. I did that in my younger days. Now? Forget it. Mostly these pricey lofts are inhabited by young, wealthy hipsters and such.
I was thinking the same thing. OP says he/she is retired but does not mention age. And sadly, can start out as the picture of health but still have "things" happen. But if it's just a step toward another retirement place in later years, it could be a great experience.
When I was 50-60, I thought I could do everything. At 77, not so much anymore.
There were some cute places in downtown St Paul Minnesota that I almost moved to but you couldn't have animals. They were fairly reasonable too.
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