Parkins Mill/East Parkins Mill vs. Alta Vista

[PuppiesandKittens]

How prestigious and desirable is the Parkins Mill Road area--specifically, the Parkins Mill Road area between Sara Collins Elementary and Mauldin Road, such as where East Parkins Mill and Parkins Mill intersect, or around Quail Hill Drive or in Collins Creek?

Compared to Alta Vista (neighborhoods around Crescent Avenue), is that part of Parkins Mill Road/East Parkins Mill considered better or worse? Or are they comparable?

I always figured that Crescent Avenue (in Alta Vista) is Greenville's most prestigious residential street, but I'm curious as to others' views.

Thanks. 

 

[GMoxley]

Does it matter?

[Exile]

40 minutes ago, GMoxley said:

Does it matter?

Maybe not, but it's an interesting question. Why the downvote? A bit severe, don't you think?

Historically, my impression has been that, demographically, there's little difference between the two: a mix of doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and corporate executives. But Crescent/some of McDaniel/Woodland Way, etc., has been considered more prestigious. E.g., I knew of a Michelin executive who, upon getting a promotion, moved from a perfectly good PM address--with lots of acreage--to a fixer-upper on a postage stamp in the Crescent Avenue area. So people of similar means were willing to spend more money to live there.

The East Parkins Mill area seems lately to be attracting people who are building really large houses--estates, really, in some cases. Parkins Lake Road has always had that kind of character to it, despite its proximity to I-85. So maybe the the prestige factor is changing or has changed in my long absence from Greenville.

Greenville's prestige neighborhoods have always seemed to me to be broken up into relatively small areas: Crescent's a relatively short street, and the whole Alta Vista area gives way to smaller houses really quickly. West Faris and West Prentiss are a mixed bag. Then there's portions of the N. Main area, Earle Street, James St., all of which seem to be mixed in with more humble streets. Chanticleer seems to mirror PM and EPM, without the major connecting road running through the middle of it.

I would be very interested in reading a history of Greenville's neighborhoods.

[gman430]

Don’t forget about the Manor section of Verdae. Those homes are massive. 

[Exile]

9 hours ago, gman430 said:

Don’t forget about the Manor section of Verdae. Those homes are massive. 

I never know what to make of developments like that. Are the people who live there demographically similar to EPM and Crescent folks? I.e., is old--or at least older--Greenville $$ moving to that area? Or is it rather people of pretty good means who've taken advantage of low mortgage rates to get into a much bigger, fancier house?

[GvilleSC]

45 minutes ago, Exile said:

I never know what to make of developments like that. Are the people who live there demographically similar to EPM and Crescent folks? I.e., is old--or at least older--Greenville $$ moving to that area? Or is it rather people of pretty good means who've taken advantage of low mortgage rates to get into a much bigger, fancier house?

Based on folks I know living there— I think it’s some of both. 

[Exile]

An interesting historical factoid about Parkins Mill: back in the day, the sewage treatment plant--which I wish had been moved downriver when some developers (I think led by Champ Covington) proposed it 25 or 30 years go--often smelled to high heaven. It wasn't like the paper mill in Georgetown, which you could occasionally smell at Pawley's Island when the wind was right, but within about a half-mile or so it was a regular odor. Southbourne Ct. and Faversham Cir. were built just at the periphery of the odor. Southbourne filled up with houses by the early 80's, Faversham somewhat later (because it's closer to the sewage plant). But it was only when their technology reduced the odor that houses were built south of those short streets. There are now three or four houses south of Southbourne/Faversham before you get to the power lines and the Reedy flood plain.

Anyway, that's a gauge of how desirable that end of Parkins Mill was: people who could afford to live just about anywhere built houses on the edge of a stink zone! And with all that I-85 noise.

[Exile]

One other thing about PM/EPM attractiveness: J. L. Mann HS. Back in the 70's-early 80's at least, a lot of people lived in that area in order to be zoned for Mann; others who lived in other high schools' zones, took Latin so that they could attend Mann, which apparently had the only Latin program, at least on that side of town. I don't know whether Sara Collins Elementary was a draw or not. The entire area was zoned for Beck Middle, which at that time was in Nicholtown, behind Tanners.

[PuppiesandKittens]

Thanks, everyone (and Exile, we must run in the same circles or have grown up in the same circles).  I appreciate everyone's perspective.

I was checking out housing prices in Parkins Mill/East Parkins Mill.  Million-dollar houses (give or take $100,000 or so) are common around there.  I never would have guessed that the area would be so pricey, and I still can't figure out where people in Greenville get that much money. It's not like there are multiple Fortune 50 companies or Silicon Valley unicorns headquartered there, for example.