Downtown Memphis Living/Rentals (Bartlett, Germantown: apartments, condo, crime)

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I am going to be doing a work stint working in a downtown Memphis office, which I am looking forward to. Short term from late Nov '07-March '08. But, I would love to live in downtown, midtown, uptown or wherever close to the city center. I am a 50 y/o professional male who has lived in metro downtowns before. No kids or family. But, I need a short term lease. And not terribly pricey, less than $800. Any suggestions on safe places, areas, apartments, houses, neighborhoods to look in, places to stay away from?? Are the Uptown Apartments okay? Is Mud Island okay? Easy access to downtown? Any advice or opinions, specific or general is appreciated.

[Pearlbob]

I would steer clear of Uptown. It's not a good area. It's an area that was all crack houses, housing projects, etc, that was mowed down and they built new, still cheap, housing. However....you can tear down the neighborhood, but you can't keep the old clintele from coming back. It's still a rough area with a lot of crime. There are some Uptown Apts closer to downtown, off of 3rd near Poplar. Those are much safer, but are still a little iffy.

All of Mud Island is completely safe, however it is a suburb of downtown. Suburban type houses and apartments, familes, etc. You cannot walk to downtown from there (in less than 30 minutes I would guess). There are a couple small restaurants in one area, but otherwise, you still have to drive to get anywhere.

I think you are going to have to look for places that would do such a short term lease and then go from there. Find some places downtown or in midtown, and then post back on here with the names/addresses and we can give you specific advice. Otherwise, I'm not sure how to proceed with advice. There are tons of great places to live in the area, but I don't know if any would give you a short term lease.

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Thanks Pearlbob. I did see some in Midtown on rent.com. How about these?

Almadura Apartments @ 175 Stonewall

The Pinnacle @ 305 South Bellevue

Georgian Woods @ 2451 Union Ave.

Number 10 Main Street (what about parking at a condo or apt. downtown if they don't have parking??, expensive? )

[Pearlbob]

No 10 Main is always rated the best apartments downtown. I think they used to have a waiting list though. There is a parking garage right next door. I would imagine it would be $50 a month maybe. Sometimes buildings will offer to pay for parking for a year.

Almadura is iffy. It's on the edge of a really nice historic area, and a run-down vagrant area. The building has no central air - I do know that for sure.

The Pinnacle is not in a nice area. It's not really "midtown" it's again on the edge. Midtown borders some very bad areas, and this is near that.

Georgian Woods is in a fine area, and although the complex seems huge, I never hear anyne mention it. That doesn't seem like a good thing to me. I'm thinking it might be a little shady. It's (again) on a stretch of a huge street (Union) in an area that isn't very popular. Not unsafe, but 3 major streets connect right there over train tracks..it's hard to explain.

[bloink]

Once again, thanks for the advice. I know what you mean about the "edges", hard to know unless you are familiar with a city.

what about out south before you get to Horn Lake or Olive Branch? I'd like to stay in TN for tax purposes. Are there nice apts. on the TN side of the border?

[Pearlbob]

It's really impossible to explain Memphis. A neighborhood can go from very upscale to ghetto in a matter of blocks. Especially in midtown. Even within the best areas, there can be a block of a street that is run-down. You have to come see for yourself when finding a new home.

Nothing "south" within Memphis city limits is safe. The MS suburbs can be fine, but south Memphis overall is known as probably the 2nd worst area of the city (2nd to the entire northern part of Memphis). So no, you don't want to be anywhere near the MS border in Memphis.

[Pearlbob]

Also - you mentioned that you like living in a metro downtown area that is close to things to do. Downtown and midtown are your only options for that here. And even then, it's mainly downtown. That's the only area of the city where you can walk to places. Otherwise, people drive and drive for miles to go eat, drink, shop. The mall I go to is 20 miles from my house, in another city. Unfortunately, that's what you have to do here sometimes. But if you want to be near an outgoing crowd of people and anywhere walkable to things, that's downtown.

[bloink]

Lots of good info. What about out east in the burbs? Where are the decent burbs that are the easiest drive to downtown in rush hour (give or take an hour). How long a drive is it?

Also, what about those apartments "Uptown Place" @ 112 Auction? Large complex in the city, is it safe there or would you think that might be iffy?

[Pearlbob]

Uptown is a bad area of town. It's on the edge of downtown; they mowed down housing projects, crackhouses, etc in areas and rebuilt cheap housing and apartments. But the crackhouses are still scattered here and there, and the clintele of most of Uptown is still pretty low. Lots of crime in that area, especially after dark.

Memphis is pretty small. At most an hour from any suburb in rush hour. Anywhere from 20 min, to maybe an hour if there is a wreck and traffic is bad. Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, Lakeland, Southaven....all are suburbs. Cville and Gtown are the most wealthy, family based.