29 replies to this topic

[socaguy]

What neighborhood in your Georgia city is the trendiest?  Which area of Savannah, Macon, Columbus, Statesboro,  Albany,  Athens, or anywhere else have a somewhat high concentration of trendy, upscale shops,  gentrified older houses,  coffee shops, bars, etc.?  Im thinking of someplace like Va-Highland in Atlanta or Five Points in Columbia.  

In Augusta,  probably the "closest" you can get to that is the Summerville area.  Its quite a large neighborhood of huge old Mansions,  smaller gentrified bunglalows and several commercial areas with more upscale shops.
The MonteSano/Central avenue node of shops is probably the most intersting commercial area in the district.  It has street front retail with antique shops,  drug stores,  cafes, and some quirky little boutiques.  Some of the architecture in this area is unique and it is within a walking distance to Augusta State University.
The Surrey Center area is on Summervilles' western edge and is a lifestyle center before its time.  Its an older, (1950s?) multi-level shopping center with a New Orleans look to it,  complete with fountains and wrought-Iron.  It has some of Augustas best restaurants, (French Market Grille among others) and best nightclubs, (Vue) as well as some mall staples like Chicos, Talbots, Jos Banks, etc).  
The eastern portion of Summerville,  bordering the Harrisburg area is home to famed hotel The Partridge Inn as well as several other midrise buildings (Bon-Aire hotel and George Walton condos) giving the area a mini skyline.  

So,  lets hear, (or see) about some of your towns "coolest" neighborhoods?

[Spartan]

Five Points in Columbia is trendy? Hmm... might want to think of a different example. Interesting topic though.

[ATLman1]

For Columbus:

By far, the nicest area is Green Island Hills. It is a large area in the NW part of Columbus along Lake Oliver. Many of Columbus' wealthiest live in that area. Bill Heard, owner of Bill Heard Chevrolet (world's largest Chevrolet Dealer), recently built a 25,000 sq. ft. home. Green Island is a mixture of new and old homes. Also, Tree Tops which is near Green Island is a very trendy/wealthy neighborhood.

[socaguy]

Thanks Atlman1.  Sounds like some interesting neighborhoods.  LOL Spartan.  Your probably right....I probably wouldnt consider any area of any city in South Carolina trendy....but the 5 pts. area seemed young and vibrant last time I was in that area (maybe 10 years ago?).  I wouldnt go so far as to say any of Augustas neighborhoods are trendy either... I guess eclectic might have been a better word for Summerville.  About as trendy as you can get in a mid-sized southern city in the shadow of a giant, (Atlanta).

[socaguy]

I guess i should mention that Id probably consider DT Augusta the most vibrant area of the city for little cafes,  large concentration of clubs/bars,  Art galleries,  coffee shops,  etc. etc.  It would probably be the youngest and maybe hippest area of Augusta but seems like most Downtown areas of mid-sized cities have become like this.  The Summerville area just has alot more money and definately has the potential of becoming an area similiar to Va-highlands with cute little street front shops tucked away in a cozy,  forested neighborhood.

[cocateho]

downtown savannah is becoming quite trendy. alot more upscale developments are going on and theres a very artsy element in the culture from at least forsyth park north. forsyth and broughton street are the main hubs though.

[socaguy]

Yes,  I heard Broughton st. is getting an Urban Outfitters,  Marc Jacobs, and Hugo Boss.  What other stores are on that strip now?  

What about Macon?  Im sure that city has a cool little neighborhood somewhere near the University?

[cocateho]

socaguy, on Aug 19 2007, 02:31 PM, said:

Yes,  I heard Broughton st. is getting an Urban Outfitters,  Marc Jacobs, and Hugo Boss.  What other stores are on that strip now?  

What about Macon?  Im sure that city has a cool little neighborhood somewhere near the University?

Paneras and Anni allman's downtown music store just opened up. i cant rememeber what else is coming, i know theres a few more. and ellis square is getting a bunch of high end stuff like ruth's chris steakhouse

[mitchella81]

ATLman1, on Aug 18 2007, 09:22 AM, said:

For Columbus:

By far, the nicest area is Green Island Hills. It is a large area in the NW part of Columbus along Lake Oliver. Many of Columbus' wealthiest live in that area. Bill Heard, owner of Bill Heard Chevrolet (world's largest Chevrolet Dealer), recently built a 25,000 sq. ft. home. Green Island is a mixture of new and old homes. Also, Tree Tops which is near Green Island is a very trendy/wealthy neighborhood.

I must agree with you on Green Island, but i think that whole area of Columbus should really be included. Look up the street to the brookstone nieghborhood where the average price is a half million dollars for a home. and even across the river into Phenix City the gated million dollar nieghborhoods along the Alabama side of Lake Oliver Rock Island & St. Annes Bueatiful upper class homes priced well over the million dollar mark.

[ATLman1]

mitchella81, on Aug 19 2007, 11:52 PM, said:

I must agree with you on Green Island, but i think that whole area of Columbus should really be included. Look up the street to the brookstone nieghborhood where the average price is a half million dollars for a home. and even across the river into Phenix City the gated million dollar nieghborhoods along the Alabama side of Lake Oliver Rock Island & St. Annes Bueatiful upper class homes priced well over the million dollar mark.

I agree, the whole NW section of Columbus has some extremely expensive subdivisions. Also, St. Andrews in Phenix City is amazing. Harris County is full of nice neighborhoods as well.

[dougtha1]

In MACON....

.....North Macon/Bass Rd. Area & Oakview/Sub-South Macon. Both areas have million dollar homes, heavily landscaped yards, golf, and you can find all the Bentleys, Ferraris, and Maseratis in these areas aswell. Providence in North Macon also has there own "Towne Centre" with office space, shops, amphitheatre, a lake, and more.

[Savboy08]

dougtha1, on Aug 20 2007, 02:43 PM, said:

In MACON....

.....North Macon/Bass Rd. Area & Oakview/Sub-South Macon. Both areas have million dollar homes, heavily landscaped yards, golf, and you can find all the Bentleys, Ferraris, and Maseratis in these areas aswell. Providence in North Macon also has there own "Towne Centre" with office space, shops, amphitheatre, a lake, and more.

I bet that area of Macon is really pretty with all of those hills(seems like Macon has more hills than the average fall-line city in Ga.) which is one of the reasons I think subdivisions in the Atlanta area are so beautiful.  I like the extra appeal added by the geography of Ga's. piedmont areas.

[gah]

If trendiest means most "up and coming" (rather than most expensive), then not sure what area of Columbus really qualifies.  Columbus not really a "trendy" city -- at least in a  artsy-craftsy sense.  I think that trendiness for Columbus is still a few years off.  With the next 5 years, I can see Bibb City, DT and Midtown starting to become trendy. Possibly spilling over into East Highlands.   In those areas there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of underutilized but beautiful housing.  If there is a reason to live close in (jobs, recreation) then those neighborhoods will really be popping.  Assuming that whitewater comes on line (with new hotels, cafes, and jobs) that will help == as would expansion of TSYS and other businesses in the DT area.  

Columbus seems to be slightly behind other 2d tier cities -- so I would expect the "trendiness" factor to catch on there shortly.  But right now my opinion is that Columbus is still in a pre-trendy stage.

[Topher1]

Socaguy pretty much covered the trendiest areas in Augusta (Summerville/Central Ave and Downtown/Artist's Row).  However, crossing the river into SC, downtown Aiken is attracting increasingly "hip" businesses.  10 years ago, you could pretty much only dine and buy antiques/knick-knacks in Aiken.  Businesses in DT Aiken today include several art galleries, a modern upscale furniture store (and a new furniture design studio), high-end women's clothing and shoe store, several trendy new restaurant/bars, an organic grocer, an upscale grocer, new performing arts center, etc...  You'll still find plenty of elderly folk perusing the antiques, but Aiken's attracting a lot more young folk these days.

[andremurra]

I would say that Statesboro does not yet have an all-inclusive “trendy” neighborhood. However, I don’t really see a major correlation between wealthy mansions and “trendiness”. Statesboro has several neighborhoods with different trendy components but does not yet have one specific area with all of the components, but I will try to define the areas that have “trendiness” variables.

Savannah Avenue Historic District – is a popular neighborhood area with a few mansions and many appealing large homes of various styles. The strip has some office intrusion on both ends and connects downtown Statesboro to the Eastern Commercial Corridor, so the residents pay the price of heavy traffic and noise pollution, but no worse than the homes that historic Savannah puts up with.

Zetterower Avenue Historic District – is a popular strip of offices and light business set up in primarily historic Victorian homes, with other historic styles incorporated. This street connects Downtown Statesboro and Savannah Avenue to Georgia Southern University. The Downtown Greenway runs alongside this street for some of the distance as its connects to a large public park area with a playground, baseball/softball fields, a pool and event facilities.

Downtown Statesboro – is not a very trendy location (yet) but has the highest concentration of “Arts” in the community. It hosts several art galleries, an art museum, a very upscale but small theatre seating about 372, photography studios, chic restaurants, and several unique design shops. Still the downtown area is dominated by large banks, government offices, churches, hotels, law firms and miscellaneous offices. It probably has the most potential to be trendy, but does not offer many residential options and arts do not comprise a majority market share. The churches, banks, and government buildings add nice scenery, but there are too many random offices at this time. There are also a few designer clothing stores, mostly women’s though.

Midtown Statesboro – was once an eyesore on South Main Street, but today it has some new components with much potential. The major components promoting trendiness in this neighborhood are Midtown Marketplace, Tillman Park, Woodlands Square, and the Memorial Park. Midtown Marketplace development hosts the Midtown Coffee Shop, The Wine Cellar, Wrapsody Grill (my FAV restaurant!!) and the soon to open, Christopher’s. Supposedly, the upscale Christopher’s is promising to be the most fine-dining experience in the region. Tillman Park is a beautiful & upscale, Charleston-style gated condominium development with 34 units (two-story, row-townhomes, and three-story flats) with large wrap-around porches, all multi-colored exteriors and very attractive amenities. The units start in the $240’s. Woodlands square is probably one of the swankier shopping centers anchored by Talbot’s, and soon Mellow Mushroom. The strip also offers (my FAV!!) Sunglasses on Main (which sells the latest Versace, Vogue, D&G, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Prada, Ray Ban, Oakley, Fendi, etc. eyewear), Book & Cranny (a small-scale Barnes & Noble), Quizno’s, Latte~Da Coffee Shop, Bella Bikinis (upscale women’s designer clothing store), a bakery, massage spa, and soon an ice cream parlor. Also located in the neighborhood are RJ’s Steakery, Gnat’s Landing (St. Simon based Seafood restaurant), Daylight Donuts, the Northern entrance to GSU as well as Sweetheart Circle, 92-room Holiday Inn Express. Unfortunately there are still several eye-sore properties in this district.

Lanier Drive – is the major thoroughfare street anchoring a two-mile triangle of streets where over 10,000 students reside. The streets are lined with upscale residential apartments and condominium communities, as well as a few low-scale properties, Paulson Stadium, the Performing Arts Center, the Foy Fine Arts Building, the Russell Union, seven dormitories, ten popular bars, a 24-hour diner and several other eating places. Everything is geared toward a “Party” atmosphere.

[socaguy]

Topher,  last time I drove through Downtown Aiken I noticed a few of the places you mentioned.  Aiken seems to be drawing more and more of a hip crowd lately, (as opposed to the hip-replacement crowd who always seemed to predominate in the town, {its a big retirement area}).  

Yea,  wasnt really talking about expensive suburban areas.  I was really going for intown, older neighborhoods with street front retail nodes, older gentrified homes,  etc.

Another area of Augusta I would "look out" for is Harrisburg.  An older area in between DT and Summerville,  Harrisburg is still pretty scary at times but lots of students live in the area and Walton Way is gentrifying with the new Hospital,  new restaurants and the like.  

North Augusta seems HOT lately too but its Downtown is anything from trendy.  The city is attracting lots of people with money and seems to have a fairly large gay population but Downtown is still very QUAINT...reminiscent of a small town with banks,  pharmacy, diners, church's,  gift stores, etc.  In other words nothing very trendy or eclectic.   Absolutely nothing wrong with this though,  as its a cute Downtown and very clean.  I do see some more "hip' places coming in the future though,  especially since the new retail strip with lofts above was recently built and the expansion of Hammonds Ferry.

[Spartan]

socaguy, on Aug 18 2007, 08:19 PM, said:

Thanks Atlman1.  Sounds like some interesting neighborhoods.  LOL Spartan.  Your probably right....I probably wouldnt consider any area of any city in South Carolina trendy....but the 5 pts. area seemed young and vibrant last time I was in that area (maybe 10 years ago?).  I wouldnt go so far as to say any of Augustas neighborhoods are trendy either... I guess eclectic might have been a better word for Summerville.  About as trendy as you can get in a mid-sized southern city in the shadow of a giant, (Atlanta).

Well, I take issue with that statement. Most of SC's large cities are just as trendy as any of Georgia's, but I'm not going to derail this topic by getting into that.

I think that perhaps the definition of trendy is not clear. Five Points in Columbia, for example, is as you said, young ad vibrant. Its a local neighborhood shopping district and a big bar scene for USC. But I wouldn't call it trendy. The Vista is a similar type of district in downtown Columbia, and most would consider that to be the more trendy type of in-town neighborhood. And on top of that Five Points isnt a neighborhood, its the shopping district. The neighborhoods around them have different names. But then you also have the trendy suburan neighborhoods and country clubs and what not.

I apologize for not knowing any major Georgia city's neighborhoods well enough to use examples that y'all might understand more clearly.

So my question then is this- what types of neighborhoods are we talking about here and what makes them trendy? Is it just the yuppie and/or young professional type of neighborhood? Or just those extremely popular for people to live in for whatever reason?

[socaguy]

^^Look we are talking about Georgias mid sized cities here....None of them are going to be what id really call trendy.  South Carolinas mid-sized cities (Greenville and Columbia and possibly Charleston) probably have trendier areas than Georgias (except Atlanta or MAYBE and thats a big maybe) Savannah.  Lets just try to get as close as possible as we can,  alright?

Im not sure why its not clear but Im thinking about intown areas with older,  gentrified homes,  retail at street-level (pedestrian activity) sporting trendy little boutiques,  cafes, etc.  Greenvilles West End comes to mind although its pretty much just an extension of Downtown.  Im not talking about suburban areas but some could be considered trendy.  I dont care for McMansions and gated hoods and most cities have these areas so leave those out.

[poohsfolks]

dougtha1, on Aug 20 2007, 04:43 PM, said:

In MACON....  Providence in North Macon also has there own "Towne Centre" with office space, shops, amphitheatre, a lake, and more.

Actually, all Providence has right now are homes.  None of the other amenities have been added.  Ground has been cleared for the commercial development and, I've been told, the amphitheater.  

For Macon as a whole, I asked my wife.  She's far more knowledgeable about all things trendy, and she laughed when I mentioned Macon and trendy in the same sentence.  As for the higher-income areas around Macon, in her words, "money does not necessarily equate to trendy."

Edited by poohsfolks, 27 August 2007 - 07:55 AM.

[andremurra]

I would not equate to Greenville or Columbia in any way as being more trendy than "a big maybe" Savannah. Savannah is not a big maybe, and thats pretty obvious. Yes, it is a tourist destination, but SCAD has influenced a tremendous development of a trendy scene in Savannah. Also, I actually think that downtown Macon has trendy components as well. I think we may all be talking about something else. Trendy needs to be defined at least for this particular topic.