Smoke Rise/Tucker

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by MisterNY

First off, thank you all for the insightful replies. Keep em' coming.



We're in McNeel farms. Cheatham Hills/Lovinggood Middle.



I lurk from time to time. Hope all is well. Long time indeed. Isn't Peachtree Corners closer to Duluth? Gwinnett side? Not sure I want to move to Gwinnett though. Commute to the airport.



We're not that far from Marietta Square to be honest. I'm not complaining, she is.




If I have to give up Marietta (serenity, good schools, good amount of land, lower taxes), it better be well worth it. So far, I just can't see giving it up. I suggested she look for work in Marietta/Kennesaw if she feels the commute is that bad (I don't see the benefit in leaving Cobb to be honest). She's a RNP. I'm sure she can find something closer. She just loves Piedmont/her staff etc. Someone's gonna have to make concessions.

I'm ok with driving to Atlanta, and enjoying the amenities the city of Atlanta offers on weekends, even weeknights if something comes up. I'm a city boy by birth, but love the outskirts/burbs way more. The space, the serenity (we're on 2 acres), no neighbors so close to us. I refuse to go back to daily hustle and bustle. The sound of Cicadas make me happy at night. (Weird to some maybe ) But I love it.

As soon as I get to Hartsfield-Jackson, all I look forward to, is my drive back to Marietta.

The John Ward Road corridor is nice. Close to Marietta Square, right in/among the super-tranquil and mega Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, and considered "close-in" western Marietta/West Cobb.

And your school cluster--Cheatham Hill Elementary, Lovinggood Middle, Hillgrove High--is great.

It's not worth the move. With a job she loves, she just needs to deal with a not-too-bad-commute, or she needs to find something closer (Kennestone, perhaps?).

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by MisterNY

...I'm a city boy by birth, but love the outskirts/burbs way more. The space, the serenity (we're on 2 acres), no neighbors so close to us. I refuse to go back to daily hustle and bustle. The sound of Cicadas make me happy at night. (Weird to some maybe ) But I love it.

As soon as I get to Hartsfield-Jackson, all I look forward to, is my drive back to Marietta.

This seems to be surprisingly common among those that grew up in hyper-urban cities...especially those from the Northeast, New York, and/or New York City.

[cwkimbro]

1) If you you think the Smokerise area is good for you commute-wise and schools are hyper-important... you want to look in Gwinnett, particularly at Parkview. It is bordering Smokerise and has the same commute, so long as you buy in an area with easy access to Hugh Howell.

2) Smokerise is special in a few ways.... It is Dekalb's "Rural-estate" character area. A long time ago they decided with a steep ridge in the terrain it was better to have less public investment in infrastructure, but try to maintain larger lots needing less in services but have the area stay more upscale to take advantage of the larger lot sizes.

Smokerise isn't very dense at all and is a rather small community.

The problem with the schools directly relates to Smokerise Elementary. Dekalb County Schools did a very poor job at points in time with how they drew the border for elementary schools considering socio-economic status of the area.

Often to keep an area desirable these county school systems at least try to shelter high-end areas for key elementary schools to maintain property values in the long-run. A good example of this would be Simpson ES in the Nocross HS Cluster in Gwinnett. The Cluster has had a heavy transition to lower income, transient students. However, they were able to keep the core high-value area to a influential elementary school that insulated the area from being affected to heavily from how the entire high school cluster changed.

For comparison sake, what happens in Simpson ES is many people feel safe with the elementary school. Their kids get a head start at getting in honors programs or go to private schools, but only for a few years vs. all of k-12. The area stays far more stable for family desirability for the upper-middle class affluent.

What happened with Smokerise many years ago was two-fold: 1) legitimately, as the area's first residents aged they became empty-nesters and there were not enough students to justify keeping the borders of Smokerise constrained and 2) in Dekalb it became politically popular to try zoning in lower-income (heavily apartment areas) into some of the best Elementary school districts in part trying to prop up those areas a bit more aggressively than other county's in the area.

In many cases it led many of the more affluent areas to become less desirable and not meet their full potential. This is Smokerise.

Smokerise ES takes in many areas that heavily built with apartments going north towards the core of Tucker and along Mountain Industrial. I would say currently a majority of students at the school from a narrow slither to the northwest closer to the core of Tucker.

If either the borders were left more constrained on the SFH estate area and/or the homes were populated with younger families again I really think Smokerise ES could establish itself more like Simpson ES does in the Norcross HS cluster in Gwinnett.


Now what Smokerise does have is excellent value. The SFH area is extremely safe, quiet, insulated, and has great homes. It was developed as a more upscale area. The key thing is you can get what is a $900,000 house in many parts of East Cobb, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Peacthree Corners, etc... for $600,000.

or a $1.2m house for $900,000. A $600,000 for $400,000 found elsewhere.... You get the idea.

The other key reason to choose to buy here is you want to be on a large lot. That is what the area is. You won't find too many more areas with lots this large that are this affordable.

If you go right across the county line to Gwinnet for Parkview you will find better schools, but instantly the zoning style changes and you transition from a rural-estate character area to a directly SFH-only suburban area. Lot sizes get smaller. You won't the same yards or homes as nice without paying more.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by PTC Dad

I don’t think the commute would be much better from Smokerise unless you’re on the extreme north or western side of the Marietta zip code. You’d also have a slightly longer commute to the airport. Smokerise is a nice area, but as mentioned, it doesn’t translate into good schools. I think you’re better off in Marietta vs. Smokerise. The Lavista area or Tucker might offer a better commute, but the schools are hit or miss in Tucker.

Commute to Buckhead is nasty. The Stone Mountain Freeway was never completed and so there is a gap in the system there. The east-west roads are limited. Emory University and Decatur form "barricades" to east-west travel. And then once you get to Fulton County, east-west is still very limited with a lot of streets that aren't continuous. I-85 is very congested inbound in the mornings and both directions in the evenings. 285 to 400? Don't even think about it.

You will be very disappointed if you think you are moving to those areas for an easy commute.

[AtlJan]

I agree with other posters. Smokerise will be a worse commute for your wife and worse schools for your kids. Does your wife work in hospital settings or outpatient? Piedmont has that big new office building on Howell Mill and a small office in Vinings. I'm sure she would have already thought of these, but just in case...they would put her a little closer to home. Or maybe some other ones:https://www.piedmont.org/locations/locations-map

[jeoff]

Probably not the best fit for op. With that said, I have friends that were very concerned going into their child’s first year Tucker Middle, but are happy with everything, so far.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by jeoff

Probably not the best fit for op. With that said, I have friends that were very concerned going into their child’s first year Tucker Middle, but are happy with everything, so far.

That's good to hear. And it is a nice, well-planned, and well-built building.


Which elementary school did your friends' child attend?

[PKCorey]

I lurk from time to time. Hope all is well. Long time indeed. Isn't Peachtree Corners closer to Duluth? Gwinnett side? Not sure I want to move to Gwinnett though. Commute to the airport.

No, its closer to 285 via 141 but it would still take you about 45 minutes or so to hit the airport unless you jump off and choose to take the train from Doraville instead of driving to the airport.