Are you familiar with both Nashville AND Houston? (Murfreesboro, Franklin: affordable apartments, rent)

[visitingthisplanet]

If so, I'm looking for a Nashville neighborhood equivalent of somewhere like Sugar Land, Katy, or Clear Lake. Somewhere with affordable apartments, not too far from the city, and with convenient amenities like grocery stores, basic shopping, inexpensive restaurants, a theater, parks, etc. I don't want to be in the hippest, trendy part of town or the decaying, past-its-prime region either.

Can you help point me in the right direction(s)?

[CountryGirl2b=]

No idea bout Sugar Land or Katy, but what is your price range for an "affordable" apartment???

[DubbleT]

Well, twenty some years ago both Katy and Sugarland were mostly fields. Developers came in and built them up practically overnight. If they are still similar then I'm thinking a mix of affordable to mid range housing (little to no older housing stock and lots of cookie cutter n'hoods) and small shopping centers/strips

[BoomSoonBri]

Hermitage, Brentwood, Bellevue - Nice areas, plenty of apartments to choose from

I grew up in Nashville (parents still live there) and have family in Katy and Cypress areas.

[aaronmidnight]

@BoomSoonBri - There are very few apartments in the city of Brentwood, which is in Williamson County.

There are however many apartments along Old Hickory Boulevard in southeast Nashville that have a "Brentwood" postal address. But they are in Davidson County and use Nashville schools, utilities, city services, etc.

Parts of Franklin could work too. You'd be near I-65 (access to Nashville), lots of shops and restaurants (mostly chains), I think there is a movie theater at Cool Springs Mall. You'd have relatively easy access to historic Downtown Franklin which has some quite popular residents and one of the best bakeries (Merridee's) in the area.

Not too much in the way of parks, although I think there is a walking trail at Harlinsdale Farm (The Park At Harlinsdale Farm - Yelp)

[BoomSoonBri]

Aaron - I was referring to the Old Hickory Blvd area near I-65...definitely considered Brentwood area. High traffic area with plenty of restaurants around. OP didn't mention schools so I figured that wasn't a huge issue.

[visitingthisplanet]

Extremely helpful so far! Thanks everyone.

Not sure what "affordable" rent is in Nashville. I was paying $950/mo for a fairly small but nice 1-B outside Houston. Is it comparable there? I don't want high-end but I do value safety, cleanliness, and being near to at least a few trees.

[groovamos]

I grew up in Nashville and lived there three times and have lived in inner loop Houston for 26 years.

Trying to shoehorn Sugarland into a Nashville comparison will not be very useful. One thing that the Nashville metro has that Houston does not, (excepting maybe the smallish Alvin/Angleton and Richmond) are a few sizable old towns within 30 miles having a real town square with courthouse. Yes Katy is an old town but the town center is more of a strip and no county courthouse, and probably resembles the Murfreesboro/Smyrna part of metro Nashville. Humble and Spring may be kind of cute in the old sectors but are kind of minor in this regard.

Sugarland, Pearland, and the Woodlands are modern planned "town centers" and I may be wrong but since Imperial left I don't think there are any significant corporate headquarters in Sugarland, even though lots of corporate operations there. The Woodlands does have a couple of major corporate headquarters. This is leading to the case of Franklin and Brentwood near Nashville, each with corporate headquarters, Franklin with a town square and county seat, the most famous of the Nashville 'burbs. Murfreesboro, population ~~ 110,000+ is also a county seat with corporate operations, and possibly headquarters. I don't know of any modern planned town centers around Nashville like Sugarland, but Mt. Juliet may become that.

Nashville has some great suburban choices. I should leave the discussion of those to the people living there, just saying that comparison of the two regions on a blog is not very productive in my view. Nashville is a great place situated in a beautiful state.

[visitingthisplanet]

I understand what you're staying about the two places being unique and therefore comparisons not being very useful, groovamos, yet your reply was extremely helpful and exactly the kind of information I was hoping for! Thank you!

There are a handful of corporate HQ's in Sugar Land but not too many. Mostly it's booming with retail, eateries and housing. It's definitely coming into its own as more than just a sleepy bedroom suburb of Houston though, with a baseball team and stadium, new parks, and the increasingly-popular Town Square area (which some Houstonians now drive to for its dining and boutique shopping options).

Franklin and Brentwood both sound nice, like places I'd enjoy living. I'm also looking at Spring Hill.