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I have never been to the upcountry, and I'll be there for my first week of work in the new year. I'm trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible to make the most of my trip. Can you help me understand the various parts of town?
1) is there a hip part of town, with breweries and specialty coffee shops?
2) is there a historic mansion part of town?
3) is there a part of the city to be avoided?
4) ultimately, if money wasnt a factor, where within the metro would you move to?
Anything else I should know? They gave me up to 2 years to decide to use relocation and move, or continue to WFH with occasional 2 hr trips up 85.
I'm not at all opposed to moving, however we only moved to ATL 2 years ago, so another move isn't on the top of my list. However, I know our money would go a lot farther there as well.
Greenville is much smaller, less wealthy, and less 'hip' than Atlanta in general. Downtown would be the 'hippest' part relatively, but it is still mostly 'square.'
There is not really a whole area of 'historic mansions' since Greenville was not a big center of wealth in the past. There are upper middle class neighborhoods such as Augusta Rd and Collins Creek, with million dollar homes scattered throughout.
Since I don't really care to be surrounded by potentially pretentious old money people (or really well-off new money people either), I would probably buy a house in a solid middle class established neighborhood such as Gower Estates (where homes have still risen in value a lot in the last couple decades).
You can look at crime maps online to see what neighborhoods you might want to avoid.
HDWill is being a little hard on Greenville.I think Greenville could offer everything you are looking for unless you need hard core big city excitement, and oh so easier to simply live day to day in Greenville, but what do I know, my son in law refers to me as the old goat!
Downtown has lots of breweries and coffee shops. The downtown area is compact; you can easily walk the whole thing. The North Main Street area has the nicest older homes, but not mansions. Areas to the west, like Berea and Sans Souci aren't as nice.
If money were no object, I'd build a custom home on acreage north of the city. Wait- that's what we did, and we don't have a lot of money! We like the rural, hilly areas in north Greenville County, with a lot of outdoor activities at hand. Downtown Greenville isn't far away when we need our city fix. If I wanted to live in the city, I'd buy something on a residential side street close to Main St. We stayed at a B&B on Pettigru, and it was nice to be able to enjoy downtown without having to drive.
Check out The Village of West Greenville. https://www.villagewgvl.com/ It's an artsy and hip area. I would live in downtown Greenville if I could afford it. I also like the North Main area and it has some very nice historic homes. There are breweries scattered around. Downtown is very walkable and has restaurants, bars, cafes, breweries, shops, events, etc.
West Greenville (outside downtown) and parts of Whitehorse Rd are some of the :iffy" areas.
Many of the big box stores and shopping are located on Woodruff Rd. Woodfruff Rd can get congested but nothing like ATL traffic. There are also other areas around GVL with big box stores, shopping, and restaurants. The mall is off Haywood Rd. Greenville pretty much has whatever you need.
You are not far from the mountains and Asheville is nearby. It's got a gazillion breweries and is hip. West Asheville is full of hipsters. You can take a day trip there.
Greenville is much smaller, less wealthy, and less 'hip' than Atlanta in general. Downtown would be the 'hippest' part relatively, but it is still mostly 'square.'
There is not really a whole area of 'historic mansions' since Greenville was not a big center of wealth in the past. There are upper middle class neighborhoods such as Augusta Rd and Collins Creek, with million dollar homes scattered throughout.
Since I don't really care to be surrounded by potentially pretentious old money people (or really well-off new money people either), I would probably buy a house in a solid middle class established neighborhood such as Gower Estates (where homes have still risen in value a lot in the last couple decades).
You can look at crime maps online to see what neighborhoods you might want to avoid.
DO NOT believe this post. My goodness, this person obviously has a grudge or is not familiar with our great area.
Appreciate all of the insights, immensely helpful for me!! Despite my job being off 85, I chose to get a hotel in the heart of downtown off mainstreet so I can have a better jumping off point.
Appreciate all of the insights, immensely helpful for me!! Despite my job being off 85, I chose to get a hotel in the heart of downtown off mainstreet so I can have a better jumping off point.
Good choice. I think you're going to love it, even if you are from a bigger city. Lots of my family come down from DC and they love Greenville.
Just wanted to give an update. I spend the last week in Greenville and really enjoyed my time there. I stayed DT and spent what free time I had walking the downtown parks and trails system, eating at local restaurants and coffee shops. I loved seeing Paris Mountain so close, it was a nice backdrop to the city.
I had a few followup questions (some of them political. Please, please, my goal is NOT to spark a political debate on this thread. I promise not to do any political bashing). I have roughly 18 months to enact my relocation benefits if I want them, and as Georgia has turned blue in a heart beat, it has us more seriously considering a move (not to mention the lower COL).
Questions:
1) Is the upstate region primarily Republican? I got the impression it was, but wanted to validate.
2) Is Greenville itself Republican?
3) Is there a general area of a metro with the best schools?
4) What's your favorite aspect of the metro?
5) What's your least favorite aspect of the metro?
6) Any other tidbits one might be interested in knowing?
Thanks so much in advance, I genuinely appreciate the help!
1) Is the upstate region primarily Republican? I got the impression it was, but wanted to validate.
Yes, very much so. It's overall the most "red" region in a "red" state. Part of this is that the Upstate has a somewhat lower black population than the Midlands or the Lowcountry. Quite a lot of people in the Upstate live in a conservative political bubble.
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2) Is Greenville itself Republican?
The city itself is a mixed bag. Around half of city precincts went for Trump, half for Biden. There is somewhat of a racial correlation here as well. But the city does have more centrist and progressive whites than the rest of the region. The city limits are quite small however (population 70,000 in city limits vs 400,000 in larger 'urban area.')
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