Destroy Little 5 Points? (Decatur, Buckhead: to buy, live in, price)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by NYbyWAYofGA

Sembler's development doesn't seem to have affected L5P in any negative way. I actually see potential in the two areas, but they both need to be tweaked. I feel that L5P is kinda small, but with some infill connecting to the Edgewood area it could be enhanced. They both could be enhanced through better connectivity.





Which bring me to this. I remember being so excited about the Sembler development. The renderings looked amazing and I thought about how much this would change the area for the better. Years later, the results have been pretty drastic. There are certain things that I like about this development, such as the townhomes that line it on the edges. However, I am not thrilled with all of the surface lots and big box stores.

I think that when the time comes, it could be easily retrofitted to a more urban/dense format, which is very encouraging. That, along with more infill/pedestrian bridge providing better connectivity, would be great.

Good post--these are are my thoughts exactly about the area.

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Good post--these are are my thoughts exactly about the area.

Not to get too far away from the subject, but I also feel this way about many areas ITP in Atlanta….especially the Glenwood Park and EAV areas. I remember being shocked at how close together those two areas actually are (only separated by the auto-centric retail corridor on Moreland).

I thought about how cool (I don't know if there are currently any plans for the Moreland corridor) it would be if Glenwood and EAV were connected on both sides of Moreland with mixed use infill. Isn't it funny how places that used to seem pretty far away from each other seem so much closer as Atlanta continues to densify? With more infill connecting certain areas, intown Atlanta could be taken to the next level, as far as connectivity/walk-ability goes.

[BringBackCobain]

I think the Edgewood development is pretty good-looking from an asthetic standpoint. They used almost all brick when they could have used cheap stucco like they did at Town Brookhaven. It may not be super-urban, but that is pretty hard to do with big-box retail without destroying the profit margin. Those retailers had to go somewhere, and they could care less if they had to locate in a strip mall. I'm sure it also helped home values and gave a shot in the arm to the gentrification around there as well.

But saying it would destroy L5P is pretty ridiculous. It's not like the stores in each area are offering the same products - I don't see a head shop opening up at Edgewood anytime soon.

L5P needs more bars though, especially to take advantage of the Variety Playhouse post-show scene. Its kind of skewed more towards retail. There's not really a strong nightlife ditrict south of the ones in Virginia-Highlands and Decatur. I'm pretty sure even East Atlanta has more bars than L5P.

[JPD]

There aren't tons of bars in L5P, but there seems to be enough to satisfy the demand. The Porter, Yacht Club, El Myr, Vortex, Brewhouse, Corner Tavern.

By my count, Virginia-Highland only has three more bars than L5P, and the Virginia-Highland business district is a far larger area than L5P.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by koko339

I remember before the Edgewood Retail District was constructed there was a lot of fear that L5P would suffer. As in, traffic would be horrific, chains would move in, customers would ignore the old for the new, etc. Do you guys think it had any noticeable negative effect on L5P?

Mayhem on Moreland | Cover Story | Creative Loafing Atlanta
Mayhem on Moreland

Traffic. People. Big retail boxes. Sembler's plans for Moreland would change intown Atlanta forever.



While the opposition is in its early stages, it appears to be gaining steam. Experienced activists in nearby neighborhoods, like Inman Park, who cut their teeth on the fight against the old Presidential Parkway, now are a part of the effort. To raise money for a possible legal battle, Butler's group is selling T-shirts for $10 each. Outback Bikes and Junkman's Daughter have already agreed to sell them. The shirts show an enormous, menacing joker, a la a jack-in-the-box, popping out of a big box retail shop. The joker, labeled Sembler, is holding a car the way Zeus wields lightning bolts, and looks wickedly down on a terrified-looking pedestrian walking along Moreland Avenue.

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T-Shirts? Im at Cloud 9 & Hookah hook up once every 2 months...Id like to see these t-shirts.

[koko339]

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

T-Shirts? Im at Cloud 9 & Hookah hook up once every 2 months...Id like to see these t-shirts.

I don't think they're sold anymore.

[BringBackCobain]

Originally Posted by JPD

There aren't tons of bars in L5P, but there seems to be enough to satisfy the demand. The Porter, Yacht Club, El Myr, Vortex, Brewhouse, Corner Tavern.

By my count, Virginia-Highland only has three more bars than L5P, and the Virginia-Highland business district is a far larger area than L5P.

My point was more that Virginia Highland, Decatur, and to a lesser extent East Atlanta, seem to be nightlife destinations, while L5P seems more of a retail destination.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

My point was more that Virginia Highland, Decatur, and to a lesser extent East Atlanta, seem to be nightlife destinations, while L5P seems more of a retail destination.

Last time I was in L5P at night was for a concert at the Variety Playhouse about a month ago. There were people everywhere before and after the concert, and the bars were mobbed. It's not like that every weekend?

I don't go there as often as I did in the '90s and early '00s, but it seemed like as soon as The Point closed, things changed in L5P.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by koko339

I remember before the Edgewood Retail District was constructed there was a lot of fear that L5P would suffer. As in, traffic would be horrific, chains would move in, customers would ignore the old for the new, etc. Do you guys think it had any noticeable negative effect on L5P?

Mayhem on Moreland | Cover Story | Creative Loafing Atlanta
Mayhem on Moreland

Traffic. People. Big retail boxes. Sembler's plans for Moreland would change intown Atlanta forever.



While the opposition is in its early stages, it appears to be gaining steam. Experienced activists in nearby neighborhoods, like Inman Park, who cut their teeth on the fight against the old Presidential Parkway, now are a part of the effort. To raise money for a possible legal battle, Butler's group is selling T-shirts for $10 each. Outback Bikes and Junkman's Daughter have already agreed to sell them. The shirts show an enormous, menacing joker, a la a jack-in-the-box, popping out of a big box retail shop. The joker, labeled Sembler, is holding a car the way Zeus wields lightning bolts, and looks wickedly down on a terrified-looking pedestrian walking along Moreland Avenue.

.

Hmmm, I remember reading this article in Creative Loafing....5 or 6 years ago we it was published.

I think it's safe to say that any negative effects the Edgewood retail Semblerville has had on L5P have been minuscule to nonexistent.

For those saying how L5P is today in regard to how it used to be, I would say it is different and just the same. Up until the mid-90s or so it was still pretty gritty. You can mark the time the old Little 5 changed when Sevanda moved to Moreland from it's original location on Euclid and when the Bass High School building was converted to lofts that almost none of the freaks (I say that lovingly as a former L5P freak ) could afford.

Also the people have changed. It used to be mostly hippies, skins (both the cool ones and the bad ones), rockabillies, taggers, skateboarders, and rastas with the occasional suburbanite looking to relive the 1960s by buying a dime bag. The above groups are still there (even the hippies with pony tails...and a SSI card in one hand and bottle of Geritol in the other) but they have been joined by fashionistas, the hip-hop crowd and the hipster set. The hipsters are the oddest ones to me as it seems the only criteria for membership in that set is a pair of skinny jeans and American Apparel t-shirt. Oh, and daddy's credit card

I also find it is way more crowded in Little 5 on an average weekend than it ever was when I was hanging out there in high school. And the amount of suburbanites have definitely increased. At the same time, the amount of homeless has gone down tremendously especially since the iron gates went up around the trees in the square.

What's to happen to L5P in the future is hard to say. It is not as isolated from the rest the city as it once was and EAV seems like a perfect spot for the outcasts of society to hang out away from everyone else. Then again, L5P has a life on it's own that no amount of big retail stores or teenage hipsters could ever dilute.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Then again, L5P has a life on it's own that no amount of big retail stores or teenage hipsters could ever dilute.

In a way, Sembler could be the best thing to ever happen to some of L5P's retailers. And building next to L5P might prove to be a huge mistake for Sembler, or at least for some of their tennants.

For instance, what better way to shine a light on how boring and overpriced it is to buy books or music at a soulless cubes such as Barnes and Noble and Best Buy, when you could go to Acapella, Criminal or Wax n Facts?