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The "Quiet Boom" in Urban Living


Andrea

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Highrise towers tend to garner more attention, but there's also a phenomenal increase in the number of lowrise buildings, townhomes and single family homes inside the city. I don't know the statistics, but I would have to guess that the combined value of these projects easily equals what's happening with highrise projects.

There's just a tremendous amount of infill, conversion and rehabbing, and it's happening all over the city. In my neighborhood we've seen many hundreds (probably a few thousand actually) of new townhomes and single family residences. The vast majority have represented quite substantial investments by new homeowners, with prices almost always over $500,000 and frequently well into the $1 million+ range. Within a mile I can readily think of dozens of new homes in that category.

And I see similar things going on in many parts of town. It's happening in the close in areas of DeKalb County, too -- the areas around Brookhaven and Johnson Ferry are quickly becoming wall to wall. This tells us that people are committing to the city in a big way. So it's not only the density that's increasing, it's the level of investment in the future as well. I think this quiet revolution is going to have an enormous impact on the city in the years to come.

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Well Ive read a lot of articles about the boom in mixed-use intown projects but we certainly tend to get a lot more excited about highrises on these forums. Actually I think we used to discuss those projects a lot more when there were fewer highrise projects to keep up with and we had the early stages of BIG projects like Glenwood Park, Inman Park Village and Atlantic Station.

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^ I agree with you, I think what is happening in the East Atlanta area, Inman Park, Marietta St corridor or other infill areas bordering established neighborhoods will influence the changing face of the city. The City Hall East project alone dwarfs many skyscraper projects in terms of size & significance.

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^ I agree with you, I think what is happening in the East Atlanta area, Inman Park, Marietta St corridor or other infill areas bordering established neighborhoods will influence the changing face of the city. The City Hall East project alone dwarfs many skyscraper projects in terms of size & significance.

City Hall East is the old Sears on Ponce right? Man that place is massive!!!

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One of my best friends lives in the Metro Pointe Lofts just off of Marietta St. Wow. You can just see this area is about to boom. There are tons of new stores and apartments going up along side the street. Every single abandoned building on the street has a brand new shiny for sale sign on it. Someone is buying up all this property because they can see whats about to happen.

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I can't wait for the area around CentOly Park to get built up. Allen Plaza going up is helping but just a little too far away. A big complaint of a lot of NFL fans that come to games is that there are enough restaurants in that area. It is getting much better, but somewhere I remember seeing a development around the Chamber of Commerce. Was that right?

I wish Underground would clean up its act a little. I haven't been down there since they changed the laws in Buckhead and a lot of the bars moved there. It would be really nice to have Underground mixed into Five Points MARTA mixed into Marietta Street mixed into the GWCC/Dome/Philips area mixed into Centennial Olympic Park mixed into Allen Plaza.

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Where is White Oak Hills, Andrea?

"White Oak Hills neighborhood is at the southeast corner of Memorial Drive and Candler Road, extending south to Glenwood and east to Line Street."

It is across Candler road from East Lake, but it is not in Atlanta or Decatur. It is in unincorporated Dekalb County in the 30032 zip code next to Belvedere Park neighborhood.

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I'm new to this board, but I'm a City of Atlanta resident and spent almost 2 years recently house hunting and learned about almost all of the distinct neighborhoods in this beautiful city. There are a couple neighborhoods that I find myself getting the most excited about.

West End

There is a quiet BOOM going on there. Beautiful Victorian and Craftsman homes are being renovated around the neighborhood. The neighborhood is bordered by the Beltline on the South and West, North by I-20, and has Marta Station and Metropolitan Loft Art District (formerly called Candler-Smith) to the East. Talk about access!

Also West End's Northeastern neighbor...

Castleberry Hill

"Real" Lofts, Art Galleries, independent restaurants, independent shopping... I could go on and on.

These two Atlanta neighborhoods have a rhythm that I love. As gentrification moves west I hope these neighborhoods maintain their diversity and distinctness.

Viva La Atlanta!!!

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  • 1 month later...

Martinman, thanks. I really like what's happening on DeKalb Avenue. I was talking with a realtor friend over there recently, and she thinks the Sembler shopping center at Edgewood has been a major boon to development. I know many people aren't crazy about Sembler's developments, but that area has lacked services for a long time.

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^ Except for Inman Park & Candler Park, the southwest Atlanta neighborhoods were universally in praise of a new shopping center. It did make a big difference to us, we no longer had to drive to Buckhead or the crowded Midtown or Ponce grocery stores. I truly doubt it made any major negative impact on Little Five Points or East Atlanta as feared, except perhaps Best Buy due to cd sales.

Plus, as for shopping centers, it wasn't too bad of a design, thanks to SSP's Terminus.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

I'm an un-reformed skyscraper fan but I'm really excited about a lot of the non-highrise residential development going on around the city.

Armour Lofts

armourloftsyi4.png

Eon at Lindbergh

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Renaissance Walk at Sweet Auburn

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752 Moreland

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Oakland Park Lofts

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Plexus on Ponce

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870 Inman

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The Lofts at Inman Park Village

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Castleberry Point

castleberrypointkl8.png

Tribute Lofts

tribute1.jpg

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I think that non-highrises are fare more interesting and far more valuable to the urban environment. During my last venture to Atlanta I made it to some neighborhoods that I had not been to before, and I was really impressed with what is happening in places other than Peachtree St. Thanks for the update here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Business Chronicle featured the real boom coming to the westside of Atlanta which I like to call the forgotten side.

A really exciting development called Westown will have 1,450 homes, mostly midrise condos and 150,000 square feet of retail/commercial space. The firm that did the planning for Glenwood Park is also involved with this project.

All together the developments on the westide totalled more than 5,200 residential units.

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Good catch Martinman.

West of the Connector is really starting to get some attention. Much of it is ripe for revitalization. The existing housing stock is nice and there are several arteries that take you right into Downtown/Midtown.

Westown, is going to be located in a part of Atlanta called Blandtown (No, I didn't make it up) west of the Reservor, near M West Townhomes. Brock Built (responsible for the West Highlands development on Perry Blvd) is also involved in it's development.

http://theestatenews.com/housing-market/We...t-side-whopper/

Over the last couple of years I've seen 100s of millions (maybe billion +) invested west of the connector. Historic Westside Village (HJ Russell), West Highlands (Brock Built), Sky Lofts (HJ Russell), Metropolitan Arts District (formerly Candler-Smith, largest warehouse conversion in Atlanta), Marietta Corridor, McDaniel Glenn Development (You can see the construction from I-20. They claim the architechture will be French Quarter meets Midtown) and I almost forgot Castleberry Hill. There is more, but I think you get my point.

My only concern is that projects of this size typically become intown subdivisions instead of intergrating with the existing communities. For example Atlantic Station. How many people know that Atlantic Station is in Home Park. And although better intergrated, how many people know that Glenwood Park is in North Ormwood Park (btw separate neighborhood from Ormwood Park. sandatlanta.org).

That is just my $.02, as if it matters. I'm just a pawn (Atlanta resident) trying to keep by street clean. :mellow:

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