Best location downtown (Memphis, Central, Midtown: apartments, for rent, condos)

[future teacher]

I have been doing some more research and I have started to think about living downtown. I guess my question is, for a 22 year old, is this an ok idea. Also, what would be the best apartment building to live in. I want to be in a fun and safe area. My max I would pay for rent would be 1000 a month.

[Pearlbob]

People in their 20's and early 30's are the main occupants of downtown. It is the hip place to be now.

As for apartments...that's hard. So much has turned to condo. Most good apts have waiting lists. No. 10 Main, Pembroke, Peabody Place, Gayoso..those are the best off the top of my head. Right on Main. For $1000 you can get a great 1 BR or a smaller 2 BR downtown, easy.

There is also Mud ISland, but that is more family oriented and you would still hae to drive a mile or two to downtown.

[MissCee]

If you don't find anything on Main Street which may be somewhat difficult due to the waiting lists, The Echelon at the Ballpark is a great place to live and it's a couple of blocks from Main St. It's within your price range, right behind the Autozone ballpark and in walking distance to Beale Street, The Fed Ex Forum and anything else happening downtown. It's right in the center of the action. There are nice apartments on Mud Island but you would have to drive about 5 minutes to the action of downtown, but it's pretty there. The apartments are surrounded by some very nice and expensive homes.

[Pearlbob]

I lived in Echelon and hated it. it was loud. LOUD all the time with the drunk people at night, the thug people cruising at night with their stereos up, and the people yelling on the street...the sound echoed up so loud. The staff was really ditzy too, and basically useless (other than the fix-it guys, they were great). The apts were cheaply made, things broke, fell apart...way too much money for what it's worth. There are better places downtown.

[joespake]

I recommend the apartments at south bluff. Easy access to trolley and all activities downtown. gated and safe.

[Pearlbob]

Anyone calling downtown a slum is laughable. Downtown is THE area of Memphis for tourism, clubs, bars, high class restaurants, $500k condos, etc. A slum? Ha. Same with midtown...it's an OLD OLD area of town, so yes, there are some homes that are falling apart and haven't been taken care of. But there are also MANY million dollar homes in the various national historical neighborhoods we have. I live in Central Gardens....a slum? That's ridiculous. 3 bedroom homes that sell for $400k are not slums.

I am the first to admit the many of Memphis' faults. But anyone who gets on here and badmouths the entire city, claiming everything is horrible, everything is bad....they are just ignorant people looking to whine about something. 10 year olds make generalizations like that, not educated adults. Anyone who truly knows Memphis cannot possibly say that downtown and midtown are ghetto slums.

[JMT]

Pearlbob is right on. I think Memphis has one of the most vibrant and hippest downtowns in the country. Midtown is also a hot area. Homes don't stay on the market very long in midtown. I absolutely loved the 5 years I lived in Memphis and always enjoy going back. It's definitely got more than its share of crime and slum areas, but to call Memphis a "ghetto slum" is ridiculous and incredibly misleading.

[Pearlbob]

Exactly! It's the same in many major cities...take D.C. for example. They have an extremely high crime rate in that area, however it's our nation's capital and senators, congressmen, etc all live there. So obviously there must be some very good areas of D.C., in addition to the areas with the crime. Also NOLA (before the storm at least) had a very, very high crime rate but also had a wonderful garden district and million dollar homes.

So of course, there are good and bad to every city. If you must generalize, then of course Memphis has much higher crime than say, Billings, Montana. But with every major urban city, there are various areas of town (downtown, midtown, orange mound, nutbush, whitehaven, east memphis, hickory hill, etc) and some area very good, some are very bad. You can't just generalize a huge city into one statement.