Solve the Smyrna mystery (Moreland: maintenance, taxes, law)

[emcee squared]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I love Smyrna, funny name and all.

Just don't confuse it with Smyrna, Tennessee. Or was it Smyrna, Turkey.

Anyway, Smyrna is great. Location is excellent and so is the pizza.

[berkeleylake]

Good thread for outsiders who are considering living in that area. I like Smyrna OK, but haven't lived there. I think most of it has developed nicely since the '80s when I had lived relatively near there in Marietta.

General comment: I think most of that area to live works out better for either empty-nesters, single people or people who cannot swing the higher prices in nearby Vinings. Very convenient area overall.

[ATLTJL]

The young people tell me it's a happening place these days, just behind Decatur on the coolness scale.

I work with people across all age groups, but mostly young people.

I have never, ever, EVER heard Smyrna mentioned on the coolness scale.

The people who seem to be moving to Smyrna are people who want sub-$300k homes that are decent construction and within 15 miles of downtown, usually couples looking to start having a couple of kids. They generally move to Smyrna to have a nice house to have babies in, but most of them seem to pretty much understand that they'll be moving before middle school starts.

Anyway, these are the people I know moving to Smyrna. I wouldn't say these attributes give it any points on the "coolness" scale.

The people who are concerned with being cool seem to be going places like Glenwood Park, Old Fourth Ward, and East Atlanta Village. Most of them go places like Smyrna when they are done being cool and need something a bit more utilitarian. Of course, Virginia Highland still hasn't lost it's cool factor, there are just fewer people who can afford it. Anyway, I've never heard "Smyrna" and "cool" mentioned in the same sentence before now.

[viningsgt]

"The people who seem to be moving to Smyrna are people who want sub-$300k homes that are decent construction and within 15 miles of downtown, usually couples looking to start having a couple of kids. They generally move to Smyrna to have a nice house to have babies in, but most of them seem to pretty much understand that they'll be moving before middle school starts."


This pretty much sums it up. Great place to spend your late twenties and thirties with young kids before you have to make the dreaded move to the "good" school districts, all of which are much further away from in-town. It's kind of like dipping your toe into suburban life without fully leaving the city lifestyle.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I work with people across all age groups, but mostly young people.

I have never, ever, EVER heard Smyrna mentioned on the coolness scale.

Well, I'm sure there are a lot of people who know more about what's cool than I do. I was just trying to give Smyrna a little shout-out.

[boo radley]

Actually, living very close to the Village Green, I ride through there everyday. On friday and saturday nights you can see the young hipsters hanging out at Zucca's and Atkins park. There is a new bar about to open next door to Zucca's.
The West Village is great place for eats and drinks and the massive addition is near completion. The development is doing great with many young professionals moving in.

I wouldn't put it on a scale with Decatur just yet, but there are signs that Smyrna is comming back. I just wish the Jonquil plaza development would crank up again. The neighborhood behind it, off old roswell and spring streets, seems to be doing great with all the new home construction.

[erick295]

I lived there for a few years and have no interest in going back... I pretty much agree with the OP's (very old) assessment... a pretty good indicator of how things are going for them is that the Market Village is sitting mostly empty now. Smyrna is as suburban as suburban gets. It's about as pedestrian friendly as I-285 and it will take a whole lot of optimism to fill in the miles of nothingness that surround its modest scattering of one-off multi-use lifestyle centers.

On the plus side that place is a food mecca. It has far too many good restaurants to list. It's just a shame you have to drive around for miles to explore them.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by viningsgt

"The people who seem to be moving to Smyrna are people who want sub-$300k homes that are decent construction and within 15 miles of downtown, usually couples looking to start having a couple of kids. They generally move to Smyrna to have a nice house to have babies in, but most of them seem to pretty much understand that they'll be moving before middle school starts."


This pretty much sums it up. Great place to spend your late twenties and thirties with young kids before you have to make the dreaded move to the "good" school districts, all of which are much further away from in-town. It's kind of like dipping your toe into suburban life without fully leaving the city lifestyle.

Smyrna is not just folks who want a "sub $300K home" or just singles and couples with young kids. There are families who who live in $500K (and up) homes who send their kids to the nearby private schools in Buckhead or Whitefield Academy or St. Benedicts(which are in Smyrna). Also, plans are well under way to open a charter high school called Smyrna Academy to address the issue of the local public schools. Also, have you seen all of the tear down and rebuilds in the neighborhood east of Market Village?

In a nutshell, the reason people choose Smyrna is that you have quick access to the best of Atlanta without having to pay Buckhead prices. Vinings is just five minutes away from the Atlanta Rd. portion of Smyrna, yet you can find lots of quality housing without paying Vinings prices. Also, the Airport is less than 25 minutes away by taking 285 on the west side.

If you only think of older portions of South Cobb Dr., I can see why there would be crticism of the area, but for many of us who live in the eastern portions, we rarely see those areas. Publix and Home Depot in Vinings are much closer why bother driving west?

Also, I personally find a lot of the older areas like East Atlanta, O4W, etc. to ba a little run down looking. The retail in those areas is lacking. As I have said here before, the #1 Publix in Atlanta is in Vinings and the #3 Publix is in Smyrna and the #2 Home Depot is in Vinings. If Smyrna is such an awful low income area, why are these businesses doing so well?

As far as the "hipsters" are concerned, some of us don't choose a neighborhood based on the number of tatoos and piercings. Some of look at the appearance of the community. Cobb County stands out for attractive street scapes which include landscaped medians. Atlanta Rd. is about to have a landscaped median constructed from Ridge Rd. to Windy Hill further increasing the attractiveness of the area. How many other areas of Metro Atlanta can claim that? Most of the other area governments don't have any money left for aesthetic improvements because they are struggling just to cover the basics!

[ATLTJL]

I can't speak to Home Depot, but I always thought the reason that Publix did so well was because it has a huge draw for nearby apartment and condo communities.

I don't know if there aren't many other Publix stores nearby. When I lived off Cobb Parkway, I used to shop there because it was the closest Publix and being from Florida, I liked Publix. Winn-Dixie was technically closer, but I picked up a tub of pig's brains that literally had a pig's brain in it and I said, "That's it, I'm not shopping here anymore!" I was 22. Nowadays I would have just ignored it, but back then it freaked me out. I knew Publix wouldn't carry any pig brains, so I drove down to that Vinings Publix.

And hey, I don't know if this is still the case....but one of my co-workers insisted that Publix was the best place in Atlanta to pick up women.

It seemed to attract tons of young singles. Again, I attributed that to its proximity to tons of apartment and condo complexes.

Home Depot.....I dunno, usually you need lots of home owners to really make a Home Depot achieve high volume. It must the be the closest HD for a lot of people.

[netdragon]

Smyrna rocks! I love it. I can't see how you don't see a change in 16 years, when I've seen huge changes in five... But maybe that's because I live there.

Well, for one thing, 16 years ago Smyrna was a lot smaller in area. There have been some annexations that have grown immensely in population and upscale housing, all the way down to and including Vinings Estates. Have you been down E/W Connector to Cooper Lake Rd along the Silver Comet Trail and seen everything that has happened there? Most of the improvements in Smyrna have been in the neighborhoods, along and South of Bank Street, especially South of Concord Rd. There's also been quite a bit of urban renewal inside the neighborhoods. E.g. Have you been through and about Forest Hills lately? Lee St and King Springs... Have you gone down Concord Rd all the way to the covered bridge? What about N. Cooper Lake? Ridge Rd? You really need to go into Smyrna neighborhoods to see what's changed, vs just staying on the edge of the neighborhoods or seeing the North end.

Also I wouldn't compare it to suburban areas like Norcross or East Cobb with big lots, open spaces and nimby soccer-moms driving minivans everywhere. Compare it to urban areas like Inman Park and Ansley Park. Yet, it's more affordable. If you are a suburbanite, Smyrna isn't the place for you. If you are an urban person but have a family and want good schools without having to pay for private schools, and want some elbow room and slightly more manicured yards, then it is your place.

I live along the Silver Comet trail and love that we have something as good as the beltline trail, yet it's already here - we're not waiting on it to be finished. Since you are talking about Publix, I live right near the Publix on E/W :-) Not sure about sub-$300k homes. Not much around the part of Smyrna I'm in, unless it's a townhome, since it's mostly newer construction. They stretch all the way up into the million range nearby but typically around $400k. Forest Hills also is getting quite pricey. Yet, a lot of Smyrna is still affordable and it's a good investment to buy there while it's cheap.

I own an investment property near downtown Atlanta, and it's like night and day. When I'm working downtown, or going to my investment property, I can't wait to get home since Atlanta is so dingey. But I don't feel like I'm missing anything entertainment-wise being in Smyrna because the area has almost everything Atlanta has, between Smyrna, Vinings and Cumberland. ITP purists may not consider it intown, but it's intown to me. And if I do need to go to midtown or Lenox for things like the art museum, etc, they are 8 mi away by surface roads.

However, yes there is still the same old blight in the North End once you leave Atlanta Rd. Most of the investment is for residential in Smyrna. If Smyrna were considered "in-town" Atlanta, the commercial investors would be flocking all over it, re-developing Windy Hill and S. Cobb north of Bank St. The only place they have touched so far is E/W Connector and Atlanta Rd cooridors and it's still slow-going. The linear park along Concord Rd will probably also cause a major transformation of the commercial development there as well.

The North end is going to need a miracle to get rid of the blight... Part of the problem may be that there may be just too much commercial property in the North end of Smyrna, and that may need to change to make it less of a commodity.