Downtown Living (Knoxville, Maryville, Farragut: rentals, lofts, crime)

[bigmax]

My wife and I will be relocating to Knoxville in mid October. We are really interested in exploring options for downtown living. There seems to be a lot of good vibes about downtown living etc, etc. I will be working in the city, my wife telecommutes, no kids, no pets, so downtown living suits us best........but we would love to hear from any posters that have actually lived in downtown Knoxville. What are the pro's, con's, areas to avoid, good lofts to target, what is parking like, crime, grocery shopping etc? We would probably look to rent first, to get a good feel of the place, but there does not seem to be a lot of rental stock around. Any advise at all would be greatly appreciated..

[knoxgarden]

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I've visited friends who live in the lofts and wish I could afford it. The ones I've been in are gorgeous.
They don't seem worried about crime but they say they have problems with crowds after Sundown in the City and some of the big events on Market Square.
There's been talk about getting a grocery in downtown but for now you'd need to go across the river or into Bearden. Not that far.
The lofts usually have dedicated parking.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by knoxgarden

Check out Metro Pulse for rentals and downtown news.
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I've visited friends who live in the lofts and wish I could afford it. The ones I've been in are gorgeous.
They don't seem worried about crime but they say they have problems with crowds after Sundown in the City and some of the big events on Market Square.
There's been talk about getting a grocery in downtown but for now you'd need to go across the river or into Bearden. Not that far.
The lofts usually have dedicated parking.

You don't even have to go that far for grocery shopping. Food City has opened a gigantic new supermarket on Western Ave in Mechanicsville just a few hundred feet from downtown.

[myndsplyntur]

www.sterchilofts.com
www.emporiumlofts.com
www.firestreetlofts.com
www.candyfactorylofts.info

Where are you moving from? Knoxville's downtown, depending on where it is you are moving from, leaves a lot to be desired, but great strides have been made and there has been some improvement. Downtown is growing, there are things to do but overall in comparison with many cities it is somewhat desolate...

[bigmax]

Thanks for the insights.

We are moving from the burbs of a major North East city.

We have lived downtown in some really big cities not only here in the US but also overseas. We certainly don't expect downtown Knoxville to compare with NYC, San Francisco or Tokyo for example. But the thought of being able to walk to work is still really appealing!

I realize that there are trade-off's. Just how bad is traffic coming in from say Farragut or Maryville for example?

Anyway, we are just exploring options at this stage so any and all comments, opinions are greatly appreciated.