Where to live in Atlanta near Georgia Tech?

July 8, 2009 6:41 PM

AtlantaFilter: My partner is moving to Atlanta to take a postdoc at Georgia Tech. Please help us find a place he'd be happy living (and I'd be happy visiting!) for the next two years.

My partner is moving to Atlanta from Chicago in a month, and needs advice about the relocation! We're going to spend a weekend there soon looking for his future apartment, and if you know the city, we'd love some advice to help us narrow down which places on craigslist are worth the visit during the short time we have.

Some details: He'll be working at Georgia Tech, on the south side of campus. With his budget, he'd like to stay under $900, and have at least a one-bedroom. He's not planning on having a car, so the primary concern is that it needs to be accessible to Tech by bus or MARTA, and ideally close enough to bike in on a regular basis.

Things we'd love to have nearby if possible: farmers markets, a micro-beer pub, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, a comfy independent coffee shop, and a few good, cheaper take-out options. Parks and museums are nice too. While we are both city-dwellers and so a little grit doesn't bother us, we'd also like someplace we don't have to worry about feeling safe walking around at night.

So, normally, we'd just roam around nearby neighborhoods to see what felt safe, fun, etc. But we have no time for that. So, what neighborhoods near Georgia Tech should we look at? I've heard good things about Midtown and Poncey-Highlands, but I've also seen reviews saying that it's absolutely not safe to live along Ponce de Leon. Are there sections that are particularly bad which we should avoid, should we just stay away completely, or is there really nothing to worry about?

What about areas south and west and north of the campus? Any good sections there or places we should absolutely stay away from?

Thanks for your help hive mind!

posted by 44sunsets to home & garden (12 comments total)

The Marietta St. corridor west of campus has a good independent coffee shop and brew pub. Some of the apartments around there have shuttles to campus. You should also google Tech's Stinger shuttle to see where it goes. If he's going to be without a car, he should consider living in Home Park, just north of campus between Northside Drive and Howell Mill Road. There's a Kroger and Wal-Mart there and a bus line. For Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, he's going to want to be near Monroe Drive/Ponce de Leon, east of midtown, but still accessible by bus. I wouldn't want to live on Ponce near Boulevard, but other parts are fine.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:03 PM on July 8

Northside Drive and Howell Mill Road

There has been a rash of armed robberies and assaults around the Tech campus over the last four months. I highly suggest searching the AJC for the stories and avoiding the areas directly around campus when looking for living areas, at least for now.

That said, he can live anywhere on the MARTA train line and have a reasonably easy commute into Tech. Midtown and Poncy-Highlands are going to be fairly expensive without a roommate, although Poncy-Highlands (which is the Emory University area) may be doable. Decatur would be my first suggestion for cost and access to the MARTA train line, and it's a great area.
posted by elfgirl at 7:32 PM on July 8

Atlanta without a car is going to be an experience that requires a lot of creativity and determination. Given your price range, and for MARTA availability, I'll second elfgirl's recommendation of Decatur. I lived there for a good long time, and it's just a great city (feels like a neighborhood within Atlanta, but it's actually an independent city). Around the Avondale or East Lake stations the rents would be even lower than right around the Decatur station, and the neighborhoods are still great. I have a friend who still lives in Decatur and takes MARTA to Tech (she's a grad student there), and who finds it completely doable. However, she winds up doing a lot of long days at the lab because it's not easy to go back and forth.

From Decatur, bike/MARTA access to a Whole Foods is tough, but it would be extremely easy to get to the DeKalb International Farmer's Market, which is dramatically superior to Whole Foods regardless (and a lot friendlier to a postdoc's budget). There are great pubs around there (Thinking Man, Brickstore, Twain's), good coffee shops (Java Monkey is one), plenty of parks and a lot of city-sponsored activities. It's also incredibly safe. Basically, Decatur is what would happen if you took a midwestern college town and plopped it down into the middle of a huge metropolis.
posted by amelioration at 7:54 PM on July 8 [2 favorites]

Hi, I live in Midtown. Biking distance from Tech. And much of what you've heard about Midtown & Ponce is true. Within a few blocks there are drug-infested bad neighborhoods, but they're also 750k (and up!)single family homes in the neighborhood. I love my neighborhood!

I have a 1BR for less than 900 in a former (big!) single family house. I love being near Piedmont Park and I can walk to Trader Joe's. I do have to drive to the big Farmer's Market but Piedmont Park has a green market in the spring & summer on Saturday mornings with some stuff.

Frank Grimes has it nailed with a tasty coffee joint and fab brew pub.

There are many "for rent" signs in Midtown right now, feel free to memail me if you want more specific info.
posted by pointystick at 8:03 PM on July 8

Can't nth amelioration enough about Decatur. As soon as we sell out house in the burbs of Atl, we are moving there (memail me if anyone is interested!) . No advice about transportation to Tech but I LOVE Decatur and the Farmer's Market is the best anywhere. Fabulous goods and a trip is a wonderful experience for anyone!! Midtown is very nice but pricey. I would look toward the Decatur/Avondale area. Welcome to Atlanta!!
posted by pearlybob at 8:07 PM on July 8

Howdy, future neighbor-visiting MeFite!

I live down the street from pointystick, south of Piedmont Park in Midtown [my geoinfo in profile is tied to zipcode, not to location]. I have a big 2+BR/2BA apt for which I pay more than your budget, but there are all sorts of options in this neighborhood and a wide range of prices. pointystick and I share a landlord who has a number of properties although I am not sure if he has anything coming available in the next couple of months, and our shared property manager is not exclusive to our properties so he might also know of something. MeMail if you want contact info.

It is hard to overstate how completely car-centric Atlanta is. If you are currently living in a city with decent public transportation, you may be startled by MARTA. Tech offers a shuttle called the Stinger which picks up at the 10th street MARTA station, about a mile from my house and definitely walkable.

Also, depending on when you and/or he are in town, let someone know. A few of us have discussed having more frequent Atlanta meetups, so your visit would be a lovely excuse.
posted by catlet at 8:20 PM on July 8

I moved from Atlanta to Athens some years back so I'm a bit out of touch, but I would look at (in order of increasing distance from Tech) the Piedmont Park/10th Street area, Little Five Points, and Decatur, especially near Emory University. While attending Georgia State University (which is smack downtown) I lived in a garage apartment near Emory so I could work at Emory U. hospital. However I'm not sure I'd try that commute on MARTA, either bus or train. I did it on a motorcycle, which except for a very few of the worst rainy/sleety winter days turned commuting into a twice-daily pleasure instead of drudgery. Is there any chance your friend would consider a motorized two-wheeler of some sort? That would widen the circle of possibilities for him so very much.
posted by jfuller at 9:52 PM on July 8

Decatur is a wonderful place to be. It just feels good. Luckily it's on the MARTA rail line too. Everybody else figured this out in the past 15 years, however, so prices have gone way up, at least for buying. Not sure about renting. But if I were sans car, I wouldn't want to be that far out. Train's fine, but I definitely wouldn't want to commute 7 miles on my bike twice per day along a major artery with alternately very fast and stop-and-go traffic. But since you can only go east-west on the train from there, and there's almost nowhere he'd want to go to the east, his non-commuting travel could be tough from there.

Everyone's right about Atlanta being a total car town. It's difficult to be there without one. Here's one writer's experience with it from a while back. If your partner's anywhere on the rail line, commuting to Tech won't be bad, but rail coverage citywide is sparse. I never rode the bus growing up there or living there later. Getting to the parts of the city not served by the north/south or east-west rail lines, or really even to spots between their stops, will take some effort and planning. This trip planner site may help.

For my money, if he's got no car, I think he should do Midtown. If he can base himself near the Midtown MARTA station, which is just east of campus, he'll be in a prime spot. It's right there by downtown and Tech. It's right by Piedmont Park - a wonderful place to exercise, nap, canoodle, walk the dog, go to outdoor movies, go to festivals, or just be around people in a quality of life kind of way. Keep an eye out for local character and lovable nut Baton Bob - you'll hear his whistle before you see him. On the park grounds is the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which sounds lame but is really neat, especially the orchid house. At the park's southeast corner is the Park Tavern, a bar/brewpub/restaurant/music venue. Caddycorner to that is the Trader Joe's (go on, click) at Virginia and Monroe. The city's main museum - the High Museum of Art, is fairly nearby. There is plenty of great and varied food and nightlife, both fine and casual. For cheap takeout, I love local burrito chain Willie's, which has a location at the southwest edge of the park. Just south of there at Piedmont and 10th is a quirky fun breakfast place called the Flying Biscuit. Plus you're just three stops north of from the central MARTA rail station for access to the east-west line. That's handy for getting to and from the airport way south too. The bike commute from this neighborhood to Tech would be reasonable and would be along less busy streets than coming from Decatur.

When I was looking several years ago, there were all sorts of places to rent south of 10th St. between Monroe and Piedmont. I don't know what kind of stuff is to the west of the park north of 10th but I'm guessing it's more expensive. Can't hurt to check. 10th is the east-west street that forms the south border of Piedmont Park and then eventually becomes the north border of campus farther west. The neighborhood south of the park is older, wonderfully forested, with many of the houses converted to multi-unit rentals, and the odd cluster of nonstandard apartments here and there. We're talking Charles Allen, Durant, Argonne, Penn, 9th, etc. Some of those places (in your price range and even above) are downright shitty while others can actually be charming if you squint. The way renovations have gone you can have gross outside with very nice inside (minus dishwasher and laundry) in your price range or charming outside with squatter-primitive inside. That neighborhood is just fine as far as I'm concerned and has a good vibe. Plenty of people with champagne taste and beer budgets biding their time and having fun until they go upwardly mobile. And mixed in are the actually upwardly mobile and well off.

That neighborhood is bounded by Monroe to the east and Ponce de Leon to the south. Once Monroe crosses Ponce going south, it becomes Boulevard, which is a Bad Place. Things I saw on Boulevard starting 1 block south of Ponce and heading south, not all in one visit: regular obvious drug deals, prostitutes doin' their thing(s) in the semi-open area behind the fast food chicken restaurant, and a teen getting shot on the sidewalk at night. :(. But it's like a world a way when you're up near the park or east of there. Ponce is a natural buffer I guess.

If you're at Ponce and Monroe/Boulevard and you head east on Ponce just a few blocks, you get to the entrance to Midtown Place on your left, where there's a Whole Foods, Home Depot, Staples, PetCo, Borders/coffee, and numerous smaller things. Along Ponce itself right around there you'll get some colorful characters, panhandlers, and the odd hobo, but they fall off the farther east you go. I guess I wouldn't want to always be walking on Ponce at night, but I've never felt any danger hanging out at places along there. I'm a car person though so I'm not walking the street. I guess I could imagine a random mugging here or there over time in sketchy stretches.

Heading east from Whole Foods a few blocks there's a great but nondescript bar on the left called The Local. Wonderful pulled pork BBQ and ribs. Not a brewpub but good beers and slightly bohemian staff.

Continuing on east to Highland, you've got trendy/pricey/nightlifey Virginia Highland on your left to the north and catching-up Poncey Highland on your right to the south. Might be a stretch to call Poncey the Emory area but depends on your radius. Another possible option for him is south of there. Inman Park, Little 5 Points, Edgewood, and Candler Park form a west to east band there. If he based himself near the Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA station, he'd have access to a big mixed use retail village near there called Edgewood something. Target, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Barnes & Noble, Kroger grocery, Office Depot, etc. Can't remember about coffee shops, but I know there's a sushi place amongst the many smaller places there. Much of that immediate area is shabbier than that Midtown neighborhood, but is gentrifying. It's still transitioning out of what used to be a malaisey scrub area. Given the uneven mix of redevelopment there, there could be some rent bargains.

One stop east on the rail line from there is the Edgewood/Candler Park rail station. That area starts to get a bit nicer but he could probably still find a rental in range. Between those two stations and a bit north is the Little 5 Points area. That used to be THE bohemian/punk area of town, but has been mostly tamed and neutered. That could be a fun area to live. Going much east of there I'd start to feel farther away from the action and from the center of things than I'd want to be as a Tech-bound pedestrian.

Back up to Ponce from there and a bit farther east on the way to Decatur, you pass the Fernbank Museum of Natural History on the left. They do a Martinis and IMAX thing on the weekends, which can be a fun and casual date.

Wait, back up a mile west along Ponce to Briarcliff Rd. This guy, an awesome local character, stands on the southbound side of Briarcliff just north of Ponce. You must go have a look. Don't bother trying not to look.

The Dekalb Farmers Market is your mecca if you like farmer's markets. It's at 300 East Ponce de De Leon northeast of Decatur. It's a fairly big place humming with internationals and all the world's produce and other lovey food and drink. Avondale MARTA is the nearest station. I would guess a bus goes to it from the station. Not sure.

Happy hunting.
posted by Askr at 11:58 PM on July 8 [2 favorites]

Lots of great tips above.

I'll second that without a car, your SO is restricted to a couple of neighborhoods: Midtown, Marietta Street, and Decatur. Decatur would mean a MARTA ride each day. It's great during rush hours (6-9 am and 3-6 PM, but if you leave after 6, trains are *much* less frequent .... like 3 times an hour or some such nonsense).

I would recommend looking around this area (google map link). There are many apartments converted from single family homes in on Piedmont, Myrtle, Penn and Argonne, as well as on the surrounding cross streets (4th, 5th, and up to 10th which is the park). Prices rise as you go north toward the park. Below North Ave, things get a bit dicier, but are not really dangerous. I wish these apartments were 10 minutes from campus, but they're more like 15, especially to the "south" edge of campus.

This area is crawling with GT graduate students (and probably Post Docs), and is also near the epicenter of gay Atlanta. So all in all, a great area for him to consider.

Another option is to look closer to campus on Juniper, West Peachtree, and Peachtree streets. There are no single family homes here, it's all condominium buildings. However, the huge glut of construction from 2000-2007 means that there are a lot of empty condominiums that are being rented out. I don't know if he'll find something below $900, but he could probably get close; I think that 1 bedroom or large studios probably range from $900 - $1250, though my data on this is a couple years old and maybe he'll luck out. These condos are about 10 minutes from GT.

Walking to the Whole Foods is going to be a bit tough. It's close to this area, but you'd have to walk through a very small "bad section" (couple blocks) of Ponce de Leon. I think it'd be fine in the daytime, but it's dicey at night. Walking to the art house movie theater which is behind the Trader Joe's in midtown would be a lot easier (and, if you're industrious, you can scramble up an embankment to cross into the Whole Foods parking lot). The map is here at 'Midtown Place' though no one I know has ever said those words.
posted by zpousman at 6:09 AM on July 9

Welcome to Atlanta!

I currently live in Lenox (North Atlanta) and I take Marta to Decatur everyday for work. Yes, Atlanta is not a very car-less friendly city. But you can make it work with enough determination.

I'll admit that I'm only familiar with the rail system...I have not yet braved the buses! But the rail system is very reliable and economical.

Decatur is a lovely neighborhood and an oasis of counter-culture (albeit, slightly expensive counter-culture) in Atlanta. It has a good number of music venues, pubs (the Brick Store is highly regarded for its amazing selection of beer), and shops.
posted by fantine at 7:03 AM on July 9

Nthing Decatur. Try to rent in zip codes 30030 or 30033, on the safer side of the tracks. I've lived there for more than 10 years. Also, recommend avoiding Buckhead, Little Five Points, and the Highlands.
posted by heather-b at 7:54 AM on July 9

Oh, I forgot to mention! Atlanta is a Zipcar town, and there are several Zipcars parked throughout Midtown and on the Tech campus. It might be a good bridge before your partner decides whether to commit to a car or not - as Askr says, it can be tough to manage trips without an intermodal MARTA planning session.
posted by catlet at 9:06 AM on July 9