Questions about Madison/Huntsville area (Birmingham, Decatur: homes, neighborhoods, construction)

[kypredsfan]

So here's a quick background: My wife and I just had our first baby back in November and I'm a maintenance tech here at the Nissan plant in Nashville. The outlook for me getting to dayshift is 20-25 years and that is crazy. We've been looking around for new assembly plants for me to get in on the ground floor and hopefully be on dayshift permanently. Toyota announcing Huntsville is absolutely perfect for us.

So, I have a couple of questions. What are some good areas to look in for moving to and for great schools? If my quick research is correct I should look in the Madison area? This looks to be very close to the proposed plant as well.

My second question is, what is there to do for fun down there, both for adults and for families? Here in Nashville we are ticket holders to the Nashville Predators but Nashville has so many offerings for entertainment. What does Madison (Huntsville) offer?

Lastly, I know you will probably be biased, but do you recommend the Huntsville area for families? We will probably have another child by the 2021 expected start of production and will want to make sure we find a great place to raise a family.

Thank you for any advice or comments.

[croberts256]

Huntsville has always been considered a great place to raise a family. As you are probably well aware, Huntsville doesn't have a NHL team. With that said, they do have a much loved SPHL team known as the Huntsville Havoc. Huntsville is great if you love outdoors. City Centre downtown Huntsville and Mid City in west Huntsville are two major live/work/play communities with restaurants, entertainment and shopping that are currently under construction. Town Madison in Madison, AL is the same concept and is currently scoring a Minor League Baseball team. Then there's Bridgestreet and Parkway Place Mall for shopping, etc.

Concerning the Toyota plant, there is currently a Toyota engine plant in North Huntsville. The new Toyota/Mazda plant coming will be on Huntsville's annexed land bordering west Madison, AL. The city of Madison has one of the best school systems in the state btw, a couple of Huntsville's schools are top rated and Madison County schools are decent but not nearly as good as Madison City schools. The Madison area is a great place to live.

There are awesome places in Huntsville as well such as Providence (West Huntsville), Jones Valley (Southeast Huntsville), Hampton Cove (East Huntsville), etc. Truth be told the best area for a short commute to the coming plant would be in Madison or west Huntsville.

[MadisonMike]

You're right, I am biased - but Madison City Schools are outstanding. Very close to the new plant. We have the Huntsville Havoc Hockey team and a AA MILB team coming to town soon. Entertainment options are def. improving lately. You'll love the cost of living down here...and property taxes are VERY low.

Originally Posted by kypredsfan

So here's a quick background: My wife and I just had our first baby back in November and I'm a maintenance tech here at the Nissan plant in Nashville. The outlook for me getting to dayshift is 20-25 years and that is crazy. We've been looking around for new assembly plants for me to get in on the ground floor and hopefully be on dayshift permanently. Toyota announcing Huntsville is absolutely perfect for us.

So, I have a couple of questions. What are some good areas to look in for moving to and for great schools? If my quick research is correct I should look in the Madison area? This looks to be very close to the proposed plant as well.

My second question is, what is there to do for fun down there, both for adults and for families? Here in Nashville we are ticket holders to the Nashville Predators but Nashville has so many offerings for entertainment. What does Madison (Huntsville) offer?

Lastly, I know you will probably be biased, but do you recommend the Huntsville area for families? We will probably have another child by the 2021 expected start of production and will want to make sure we find a great place to raise a family.

Thank you for any advice or comments.

[LCTMadison]

Cost of living is lower than Nashville but our market is becoming a bit Nashville-like in some areas this season....in some price ranges homes are not even making it to the market before they are sold.

Area is GREAT for families. You are not going to have the nightlife you have in Nashville, but we have lots of family oriented events, a hockey team, and a minor league baseball team coming soon....LOTS of growth around here. The new MidCity development is really shaping up to be a great area for fun with Top Golf, Dave and Busters coming, etc. We definitely don't have everything you are used to in Nashville, but Nashville is also really close so its easy to drive up for the day or even spend a fun weekend out. There is a lot going on downtown to improve the nightlife, and breweries have become the big thing over the past decade if you just like to chill out, listen to good music and enjoy craft beer. A lot of people complain about the lack of nightlife here....IDK, we are homebodies so don't venture out much so that has never been a big deal to me.

Madison's draw is the schools. They are all great, it really doesn't matter which school you are in. The board works hard to keep all of the schools on the same level, we don't have the "have and have nots" like you often see in larger systems. Its also busting at the seams, and by the time Toyota arrives we should have the 8th elementary on the way and plans are in the works for the 3rd middle school with a new performing arts center and eventually the two high schools will be significantly enlarged or a 3rd high school will be built.

If you are looking at Toyota then Madison/Athens/Decatur will be most convenient. Toyota is going to be GREAT for Athens and Decatur areas....the two latter will probably benefit the most IMO.

[RocketDawg]

Madison, according to an article I read recently, is the number 1 city in Alabama in which to live, and is pretty high on the list nationally. Basically, it's a great town ... about 50,000 people, but it's a suburb and not a major city. The best place to live, as many have said already, is in Madison, west Huntsville, East Limestone ... depends a lot on your budget.

The Huntsville area is about 1/3 the size of the Nashville metro, and half that of Birmingham, so the amenities are proportional ... except for the night life in Nashville. One good think is, it's less than two hours to Nashville, so you can take advantage of what they have to offer quite easily.

You'll probably enjoy less traffic here, and that's due partly to there being no through interstate highways that pass through here as they do in Nashville. That's both good and bad ... less traffic, but it also makes it more difficult to get around on what are primarily surface streets.

[maillemaker]

Be aware, you can have a Madison address and still be in Huntsville City Limits. We learned that the hard way.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Be aware, you can have a Madison address and still be in Huntsville City Limits. We learned that the hard way.

Yeah, it's weird. Hampton Cove is in the Huntsville city limits and has an Owens Crossroads address.

[Coogan]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Yeah, it's weird. Hampton Cove is in the Huntsville city limits and has an Owens Crossroads address.

I’m guessing it’s less about what city limits you live in and more about which post office is assigned to deliver your mail.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Be aware, you can have a Madison address and still be in Huntsville City Limits. We learned that the hard way.

The reason for the confusion about the connection between mailing addresses and City limits goes back to at least a hundred years ago when the Post Office was determining the most efficient way to assign mailing addresses for rural unincorporated areas, they drew an area around existing towns or communities at that time which had a Post Office and all homes within, say for example, a 5 mile radius would have that town as their city even though those homes were not a part of that town's city limits.


However, as cities, like the City of Huntsville annexed rural areas, like what is now Hampton Cove, it would have been inefficient for the Post Office to change the incorporated areas to a Huntsville address, yet keep the unincorporated areas surrounding it as Owens Cross Roads. In fact, Hampton Cove is a lot closer to the Owens Cross Roads Post Office than it is to any P.O. in Huntsville. - So if you have a package which has to be signed before it can be delivered, it would be quicker for a Hampton Cove resident to pick it up at the Owens Cross Roads P.O. than to drive over the mountain to the P.O. on Clinton near the Von Braun Center.


Another area which is in Huntsville, but doesn't have a HSV address is the Dug Hill Rd. area which has a Brownsboro address - that P.O. is on U.S. 72 East. Also, McMullen Cove has a Gurley address which by the similar logic, it is far closer to the Gurley P.O. (probably 2 miles) than anything in Huntsville.


Ironically, there is one development in which the mailing addresses exactly follow the City Limit borders and that is the large Edgewater community off Zierdt Rd. which is in both Madison and Huntsville. All of the homes in the Madison City Limits have a Madison address and all of the homes in the Huntsville City Limits have a Huntsville address (35824). This makes it easier for a City like Madison to determine if a child zoned for a HSV school is trying to attend a Madison school.

[kypredsfan]

Thank you all for the replies. Madison sounds very encouraging with the Town Madison project going on and baseball team as well. The school system is our number 1 priority honestly so that fits the bill as well.

My wife has never lived anywhere but Nashville so I’m not sure Athens or similar would interest her, or me really, but we’ll check it out too. My wife just says we have to live within 10 minutes of a Target lol.

As far as budget for neighborhoods, if it’s just my wife and I and kids our budget will likely be around $300k or so. If my mother in law moves with us and we need a place with an in law suite, our budget could be upwards of 400-450 since she would be selling her home and helping us out.