Does Murfreesboro have this type of neighborhood?... (lease, loft)

[SAKaren]

Thanks, Kim. I've highlighted the St Andrws Drive area in my realty searching. And please let me know if you hear of anything else I should consider!

Karen

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by Kim918

I know, I would be right there too. I have often thought about moving to Nashville in a few years.

Kim, Nashville isn't really walkable either. The city is all over the place. Its also much more affordable in Murfreesboro to live.
Do you know anything about Apts on St Andrews? My son is interviewing tomorrow in the oro, and hopefully if he gets the Job, we will be looking for apartments there.

Diane G

[Kim918]

Originally Posted by Diane Giam

Kim, Nashville isn't really walkable either. The city is all over the place. Its also much more affordable in Murfreesboro to live.
Do you know anything about Apts on St Andrews? My son is interviewing tomorrow in the oro, and hopefully if he gets the Job, we will be looking for apartments there.

Diane G

I know not all of Nashville is not walkable. There are a few areas I really like though. 12 South being one of them. I also thought of buying one of those loft apts in the Gulch.

As far as apts on St. Andrews. All of them are pretty nice. Not very expensive at all. The 3 complexes Woodgate Farms, St. Andrews, Carrington Park. All are very nice and well kept. I lived at Woodgate Farms for a few months before we bought a house and I thought the the rent was more than reasonable. 2/2 was $750 at the time and then I rented a garage for another $75 a month. The office staff were very friendly and accommodating. I've heard Cason Estates is also nice.

I hope your son gets the job. I know how badly you want him to move here Diane.

[Mike in TN]

Not too much comes to mind, so I just pulled up Google Maps and started looking.

I don't believe there's a name for this neighborhood, but you may like the area that is surrounded by E. Clark (south), N. Tennessee Blvd. (east), Northfield (north) and Memorial (west). There aren't any sidewalks there, but the streets are wide enough and traffic isn't too bad. The home are probably from the 60s and 70s, but you can use a site like Zillow or Trulia to find out for sure. They probably meet your square footage and price requirements as well. MTSU is very close to there. Depending on where you live in that area you could walk to a few places (Hastings, Publix, Reeves Sain drug store/post office, restaurants, etc). From running, walking, and biking through there I'd guess that the area is fairly mixed, but most could be empty nesters. Biggest drawback here might be that it's about 2.5-3 miles from downtown. Again, not sure if there's a rover stop in there.

You might like the area around Jones Blvd, between W. Clark and Northfield.

You say you're sick of suburbia, but that's essentially what Murfreesboro is. It's an overgrown college town that relies heavily on Nashville for much of its economy. I really think it's going to be tough to find what you're looking for here.

Any reason you've ruled out a larger city like Nashville?

[Mike in TN]

Oh, and many of the homes in the Bellwood area might also meet your criteria.

If you pull up a map and look where Bradyville Pike first branches off of Broad/US-41 I can explain what this area is.

It's the area enclosed in between S.Church/Shelbyville Hwy, SE Broad, and Middle Tennessee Blvd.

Again, large, older, ranch-style homes from probably the 60s or 70s occupied by a lot of empty nesters. Not many sidewalks, but the streets are wider so walking shouldn't be much of a problem. Getting to the square is a breeze from here; probably only a mile, mile and a half. Not too much to actually walk to other than the post office.

[Marie16]

Karen,
I see the kind of neighborhood you are looking for, but unfortunately, Murfreesboro is not really set up to accomodate that kind of lifestyle. We moved here from abroad as well and we never had a car abroad, but here, it is really essential. Downtown is great, but there aren't really neighborhoods (although there are sidewalks). Furthermore, many of the older neighborhoods are a little isolated in terms of walking to other places. Near the university (MTSU), there are lots of shops, restaurants, etc. that you could potentially walk to, but the roads are so busy and people aren't accostumed to watching out for pedestrians. Where would your jobs require you to live nearby?

[SAKaren]

Hi Mike. I'm not sick of suburbia--just allergic. :-) We have lived overseas for the past ~15 years. So we are accustomed to diverse, mixed use neighborhoods and love walking to neighborhood shops. I grew up in the suburbs (Atlanta area), but now when I visit think that readjusting to that life would be hard. The reason for our interest in Murfreesboro is that my husband is being considered for a job at MTSU.

I appreciate your insider's perspective. I may have to further revise my expectations. But I know that the area has many positives. I'm sure we can find our niche if that is where we end up.

I'll try to learn some more about the areas you mentioned. Thanks again for taking time to be helpful.

Happy New Year!

[SAKaren]

This sounds really hopeful. I appreciate it very much!

[SAKaren]

My husband is being considered for a job at MTSU. I get a sense that Murfreesboro is a great, friendly place, but doesn't have the kind of neighborhood I might have hoped for. That is ok; I don't mind adjusting my expectations. But it also makes sense to me to try to come as close to some of our ideals as possible. I don't want to be overly particular, nor to throw in the towel when I know deep down that the fit isn't right.

I woudl be interested in hearing how your transition into life in Murfreesboro has gone. Do you have children? Have they adjusted well?

Thank so much and happy new year!

[Lamplight]

Karen,

I am car free in Murfreesboro and have been for a couple of years now. I bike everywhere but I live off of Thompson Lane, so you could possibly find a place that's more walkable. To be perfectly honest, being car free here is not easy. On a bike you face angry, impatient motorists. On foot you'll likely have to walk fairly long distances to go to all the places you need. Rover is great but useless for me. It doesn't go near my apartments or where I work, and it doesn't even operate on weekends. Not only that, but it also only runs from 6am to 6pm, most of that time I'm at work anyway. However, you may be able to use it depending on work and where you live.

This may sound discouraging, but I will also state that being car free in Murfreesboro is likely much easier than it would be in just about any other town in the area. We have the Stones River Greenway, which is an MUP mostly meant for recreation, but whoever designed it initially had the foresight to route it conveniently through the middle of town. This may not do you much good on foot, but for car free cyclists it's a godsend. Plus they've been building additions to it like crazy lately. The newest addition should be done in April and can take you all the way from Old Fort Park to highway 99, which could be pretty convenient for a person living in the neighborhoods nearby. Eventually that stretch is supposed to extend all the way to Barfield Park, which would be a huge step forward for the car free in this town.

As far as housing, if you were not looking for an 1800 sq ft house I would probably recommend the neighborhood that sits in between Memorial Blvd, Medical Center Pky, Broad St, and Northfield Blvd. It's not the nicest neighborhood but it's certainly not unsafe, and there are some very nice older brick homes here and there, especially on Kingwood Drive. This neighborhood is surrounded by just about everything you need, there are Rover stops on the outskirts of it, and you can even bike to the Greenway fairly easily (Brinkley Ave to W. College St, there is a Greenway entrance many people forget about). The problem is, most of the houses in this area are probably going to be more like 1000 to 1300 sq ft. You may find an exception, but I wouldn't be too hopeful. Still, unless you have a family of four or more, this area would be my recommendation. I suggest searching Google Maps and typing "Kingwood Drive", then doing a street view.

In the older downtown area there are some great, large old houses, but many times you are actually farther away from grocery stores, restaurants, etc, though closer to the library and the shops around the square. Plus, unfortunately, that part of town generally sees more crime, though I'm not convinced that it's terrible or anything. I ride my bike all around there late at night on weekends and never really feel at danger. Not sure about walking, though.

Good luck, and feel free to email or PM me with any more questions about living without a car here. Even more so if you wind up moving here!