Relocating to Fort Gillem from NY- need rental advice (Atlanta: house, schools)

[duneganmm]

Hi all,
I'm moving from upstate NY to the Atlanta area for a job at Fort Gillem in Forest Park, but I am not familiar with the area and have heard that it's not the best place to live. Any suggestions on where to rent a house ($1500/month or cheaper) for my husband and I that would be around a 30 minute commute to the Forest Park area? My husband is a chef, so areas that have access to a lot of restaurants would be ideal for him to find work.
Thanks in advance!

Molly

[bryan85]

Forest Park and Clayton County as a whole is run down with a wacko as County Sherriff. I lived there many years, and it's really gone down hill. McDonough or Fayetteville are pretty nice- 2 of the only cities on the south side of Atlanta that are.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by bryan85

Forest Park and Clayton County as a whole is run down with a wacko as County Sherriff. I lived there many years, and it's really gone down hill. McDonough or Fayetteville are pretty nice- 2 of the only cities on the south side of Atlanta that are.

I'd rather live in Newnan or even Peachtree City before either of those cities.

But as far as proximity to Clayton County, I agree that McDonough and Fayetteville are nice enough. For me, Fayetteville is just too isolated from a lot of other places (no interstate connectivity) and the traffic in McDonough is what hell on earth is like.

[duneganmm]

Thanks so much!

[Bobocat]

I agree with mcdonough. There are a ton of restaurants there. I grew up in forest park. I hate there aren't more restaurants and shopping there. It gets a bad rap but there are still good people who live there.

[PTC Dad]

Are schools important? If so, I'd look at the Northgate area of Sharpsburg, Peachtree City, or the Whitewater/Starr's Mill areas of Fayetteville. You could also consider the Ola or Union Grove districts of McDonough, and possibly Tyrone.

It might be hard to find a house for rent under $1500 in those areas, so you could go even further south to areas like Newnan, Senoia, Williamson (Pike County), or Locust Grove, but the commute to Fort Gillem would be even longer (45-55 minutes) and options for a chef more limited.

You could also look at the Eastside suburbs of Lilburn (Parkview) and Snellville (Brookwood) or even Tucker if schools are not important.

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by Bobocat

I agree with mcdonough. There are a ton of restaurants there. I grew up in forest park. I hate there aren't more restaurants and shopping there. It gets a bad rap but there are still good people who live there.

To be honest, with all of the gentrification on the SE side of Atlanta I can see Forest Park becoming much better (though I hope better doesn’t mean displace the lower income Black, Hispanic, and Asian population). If Hapeville booms, Forest Park is next.

[PTC Dad]

Originally Posted by demonta4

To be honest, with all of the gentrification on the SE side of Atlanta I can see Forest Park becoming much better (though I hope better doesn’t mean displace the lower income Black, Hispanic, and Asian population). If Hapeville booms, Forest Park is next.

Probably true, especially if the Marta line goes through Clayton and the Aerotropolis gets going. I think Mountain View and Forest Park would be the first stops Marta expands to in Clayton. Also, Forest Park has the lowest average home prices of any city in metro Atlanta making it ripe for redevelopment. With that said, significant redevelopment is still probably a good decade away.

[Listennow32]

If schools aren't an issue and you would like to have an extremely minimual commute within the county. I would recommend the Lake Spivey area. It's an extremely stable and quiet area. Unlike many places it has not changed for the past 20 years and they are actively building out wonderful trail and park infrastructure throughout the area. It really is a world apart when it comes to the rest of the county. However, there are communities like this all throughout. Another area would be the town of Morrow, but west Morrow around lake Harbin and Lake City as well as parts of Rex, particularly around Rex Mill.My recommendation would be everything with a few exceptions east of Tara Blvd is pretty stable. West of Tara Blvd is where it gets complicated. All an all the county is not as bad as people make it out to be. If you read here many people don't offer a nuanced view because they are outsiders looking in and if they did live there it was many years ago so it's changed a lot. As a city planner that grew up there and knows the community well for the past 20 years I can tell all is not lost. The worst part I would say are the schools, but there are a handful of really good charter schools that are top ranking within the state. It's doable but just not as convenient as other parts of the city yet.

[PTC Dad]

Originally Posted by Listennow32

If schools aren't an issue and you would like to have an extremely minimual commute within the county. I would recommend the Lake Spivey area. It's an extremely stable and quiet area. Unlike many places it has not changed for the past 20 years and they are actively building out wonderful trail and park infrastructure throughout the area. It really is a world apart when it comes to the rest of the county. However, there are communities like this all throughout. Another area would be the town of Morrow, but west Morrow around lake Harbin and Lake City as well as parts of Rex, particularly around Rex Mill.My recommendation would be everything with a few exceptions east of Tara Blvd is pretty stable. West of Tara Blvd is where it gets complicated. All an all the county is not as bad as people make it out to be. If you read here many people don't offer a nuanced view because they are outsiders looking in and if they did live there it was many years ago so it's changed a lot. As a city planner that grew up there and knows the community well for the past 20 years I can tell all is not lost. The worst part I would say are the schools, but there are a handful of really good charter schools that are top ranking within the state. It's doable but just not as convenient as other parts of the city yet.

Good points. I grew up in Clayton County. There are still many parts of the county that are very nice. When I drive through the southern part of the county between Fayette and Henry there are beautiful cow pastures and ranches that are very bucolic, and the Lake Spivey has always been very nice.