Young Couple Moving to Atlanta from Canada- Want a Live/Work/Play place. (Alpharetta: sales, 2014)

[chantali]

Hello Future Fellow Atlantians,

We are a young couple in our mid-20's moving to ATL under a E2 visa. My husband will be running a sales consulting business and I will stay home for the first year and then we plan to have a baby. Until we have a baby we plan to have one car so want a walk friendly area. We want a place where a gym and grocery store is all within walking distance so when my husband is at work I can easily walk everywhere. We also want a midtown/downtown/live/work/play feel.

We don't care about race, however, we would like to be around other working professionals and in a safe area.

We want to rent for the first two years until we can get a feel for which area is best to raise our children. We are not opposed to having our first child in an apartment but would like a relatively baby-friendly area.

Our rental budget is $1400-$2100 per month for a two bedroom two bathroom. We initially wanted to move to the Haven at Avalon in Alpharetta then upon further research we found it was grossly overpriced also it is quite far out of Atlanta, and we don't want to isolate ourselves especially if we have one car.

We then looked at Ponce City market apartment which we also felt were overpriced. We have now looked at certain apartment complexes in Vinnings, however, we worry the area will not be walkable enough and too far from downtown.

We like Atlantic Station Lofts as the prices are very reasonable also there is a Publix and LA fitness right there.

The only concern I have now is the safety of the area. I have read a lot of bad reviews about robberies and drug dealers in this area however, these reviews were old.

We are from the suburbs of Winnipeg, Canada and although it is the murder capital of Canada (ha) I'm afraid we might be lacking street smarts of a major U.S. city.

Does anyone have any recommendations of other live/work/play complexes like Avalon and Atlantic Station that may be better than the ones we have mentioned?

Also would you recommend Atlantic Station for us based on our needs? Is it safe? What else is comparable that we should look at. Ideally we would like a place that is cool enough to make all the Winnipeggers jealous.

[cqholt]

Atlantic Station(AS) sounds like the ideal place. As for crime, I have never felt unsafe, but I want to present you with the APD crime map and allow you to make your own judgement, APD Zone 5. AS offers a free shuttle to MARTA's Art Center Station. Also, it may be a ways off, but AS is zoned for the best cluster in Atlanta Public Schools. AS is served by the K-8 Centennial Place School and Grady HS, http://www.atlantapublicschools.us/c...PS_2014-15.pdf. Other Work/live/play areas are Glenwood Park, Welcome to Glenwood Park :: We're adding 40 news homes to Atlanta's favorite New Urban community. There are other areas of Atlanta that have apartments located in excellent retail/business districts. Examples I can think of is Terminus in Buckhead, Terminus Atlanta - World Class Office Towers | Terminus and Midtown.

[DreamerD]

"We don't care about race, however, we would like to be around other working professionals and in a safe area."

Interesting quote...I don't mean that in a good way though.

[Ant131531]

Midtown, though that may be too expensive for you. Atlantic Station is fine though. Rents are going up though.

[CCATL]

Midtown and Atlantic Station sounds ideal for you. As you noted, the less than stellar reviews regarding safety at Atlantic Station are quite old - the area has drastically improved over the past 3 years or so. I'm there all the time, and there is a noticeable increase in foot traffic AND security. There are a number of events there happening all the time, you can walk to the grocery store, restaurants, LA Fitness, a movie theatre, and clothing stores. I would highly recommend it if it fits your budget. Midtown also fits the bill, but it is spread over a wider area than Atlantic Station, which is quite compact. Midtown is steadily gaining more foot traffic as new towers are going up on many corners. Downtown is dense, but not quite there yet in terms of amenities.

[chantali]

Originally Posted by DreamerD

"We don't care about race, however, we would like to be around other working professionals and in a safe area."

Interesting quote...I don't mean that in a good way though.

The forum on Atlanta stated for new posters to state their preferred demographics; race, age and income. We don't care about race, however, we would prefer to be around other young professionals. It sounds like your implying that In
order to be a young professional you need to be white, which is far more racist than anything I could of implied.

BTW we are a young minority couple of different ethnic backgrounds, and I meant what I said, we don't care about race. If you wish to turn this post into a battle of racism please take your comments elsewhere.

My husband says : quit trying to be an Internet tough guy.

[chantali]

Originally Posted by CCATL

Midtown and Atlantic Station sounds ideal for you. As you noted, the less than stellar reviews regarding safety at Atlantic Station are quite old - the area has drastically improved over the past 3 years or so. I'm there all the time, and there is a noticeable increase in foot traffic AND security. There are a number of events there happening all the time, you can walk to the grocery store, restaurants, LA Fitness, a movie theatre, and clothing stores. I would highly recommend it if it fits your budget. Midtown also fits the bill, but it is spread over a wider area than Atlantic Station, which is quite compact. Midtown is steadily gaining more foot traffic as new towers are going up on many corners. Downtown is dense, but not quite there yet in terms of amenities.

Thank you for the reply. Its reassuring to hear that it is a safe area. We are looking at 17th street lofts and now seriously considering them. Fortunately they are within our budget also. We defiantly like Atlantic station from what we have seen so far. Were planning on visiting Atlanta this summer and really narrowing it down as we have never even been there!

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by chantali

The forum on Atlanta stated for new posters to state their preferred demographics; race, age and income. We don't care about race, however, we would prefer to be around other young professionals. It sounds like your implying that In
order to be a young professional you need to be white, which is far more racist than anything I could of implied.

BTW we are a young minority couple of different ethnic backgrounds, and I meant what I said, we don't care about race. If you wish to turn this post into a battle of racism please take your comments elsewhere.

My husband says : quit trying to be an Internet tough guy.

There was that 'however' in your sentence that gave the implication that depending on the race, there could be an element of crime and that's why you felt the need to say the area should be safe. I notice that in society there tends to be a lot of criminalization and preconceived criminalization of poor people, especially black and Hispanic.

With regards to the 'young professional' and being white, that was nowhere in my thoughts. I actually tied that to being middle class or somewhere thereabout.

I don't mean to turn this into a battle...I just think that language is important and many times there are hidden implications in what people write. What I also found interesting is that being in an area with working professionals was linked to safety. Anyway, that's a sociological discussion and probably goes beyond this thread.

Maybe Candler Park would also be an option. I would like to think that it is walkable and not as expensive but I did hear it isn't as cheap as it used to be. Atlantic Station would suit you in the short term and then maybe in a few years you could perhaps buy a house before getting priced out of the area (if the rent continues to climb the way it is). I'm open to everyone's opinion. Oh, maybe Decatur would be a good choice but not sure if it is too far from Atlanta for you. Certain parts are very walkable but I don't know the entire Decatur area.

You said you are planning on having a baby...thought these areas would be a better option towards space. I think it would be great to have something you can grow into until you are ready to buy a home.

[space cadet]

Originally Posted by chantali

The forum on Atlanta stated for new posters to state their preferred demographics; race, age and income. We don't care about race, however, we would prefer to be around other young professionals. It sounds like your implying that In
order to be a young professional you need to be white, which is far more racist than anything I could of implied.

BTW we are a young minority couple of different ethnic backgrounds, and I meant what I said, we don't care about race. If you wish to turn this post into a battle of racism please take your comments elsewhere.

My husband says : quit trying to be an Internet tough guy.

You don't care about race, but you don't want to live next to a plumber or artist, or any old people. Got it.

[Fubarbundy]

Just a suggestion, if anyone is truly "colorblind", then there would be no mention at all. Sometimes it's difficult to catch intent in a sentence. "Decoding" is tricky when nothing was hidden to begin with. I read the sentence in question as: this doesn't matter, but this does matter... simple as that. We all have preferences, even as we may endeavour to extinguish that pesky flame with equalness.

Sounds like they've got their future home picked out for all the right reasons, so hope the Winnipeggers (sounds a bit kinky, no offense!) enjoy their visit and move here.