Eye on the Street
Decatur Metro | February 9, 2011
230 Melrose Ave, Decatur GA (pic submitted by JB)
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230 Melrose Ave, Decatur GA (pic submitted by JB)
Sharron
DEM
The Walrus
AMB
Curious
At Home in Decatur
Mic
Decatur Metro
DEM
Chris M
Fred Boykin
J_T
At Home in Decatur
stearns
J_T
Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to crush a house I go!
Replacement house for sale at $579,000! My son lived in the rental being demolished 1 year ago and the rent was $800. Another sign of the end of diversity in that neighborhood!
There’s not a lot of houses in the $600k range in that neighborhood. Adding one actually increases the diversity.
Please, TeeRus, DO NOT try think about stuff like that. It’s the WRONG kind of diversity.
I disagree. I don’t know about this particular home, but most of those I see going down have been neglected and need to be rebuilt. And why is it the “wrong” kind of diversity?
Its called progress and improvement…
So now there is a right and a wrong kind of diversity?
Who comes up with this?
Knowing Left Wing, I believe he was being sarcastic.
My bad.
My tin ear didn’t pick up the sarcasm.
But that is always the case isn’t it?
Isn’t “diversity” (at least as it relates to neighborhoods) just another word for “transitional”?
Oh wow, that’s right down the street from me!
By the way, what is the water/hose used for when demolishing a house? Just in case there’s a fire? To keep down the dust? To ward off any attacks by the elusive coyotes in the neighborhood?
You got it on your second guess: to keep down the dust.
Aw, man– I was totally hoping it was for coyote-repellent!
Asbestos.
hahahahaha
My parents moved to Decatur in 1947 from up north. My father came early and bought a house on Melrose Avenue without consulting my mother. Many years later, she told me that when they first drove to Decatur, she cried because according to her, there were too many dirt roads! But she learned to love Melrose Avenue, Decatur, and the South. A few weeks ago, the grandmother of one of my students told me that she use to babysit my older siblings at the Melrose Avenue house. It’s still there. I wonder if the basement still floods after a strong rain.
I lived on Melrose for 7 years. Love that neighborhood.
Signs of life that the economy is improving! Let’s hope so.
Thanks for putting my pic up!
A few thIngs about the house.
Without mentioning names, it was owned by someone who has/does own a large amount of properties in this neighborhood as well as throughout downtown Decatur. Everyone I’ve seen has had so many code violations [edited: no personal attacks]
There have been instances of holes in floors while people lived in them and waking up to finding raccoons in the house. Crazy i know but that’s the least of it!
I’m glad to see them gone, however I wish they would be replaced with similar sized and styled houses, not McMansions.
As a resident of Melrose, this is great to see. We have several rental houses on the street. Some are well cared for and bring welcome diversity (age, income, etc.). Nevertheless, we have several (probably 8-10) that are neglected eyesores and it would be great if every one was demoloshed and replaced with a higher end home.
I do not disagree. As one of the first homeowners on that street who restored my home way back when, I finally decided to sell, because of one individual who owns many rundown, slummy looking houses in that neighborhood. He still does, 30 years latter!
Why are codes not being enforced?
That is a good question. Interesting aside: A few years ago, the City Judge sentenced the owner of the tarpaper shack on Melrose to live in it until he repaired the code violations. That is a true story. He did spread out a bedroll on the floor. The “house” is still vacant and looks the same today as it did 30 years ago. I assume the rats and homeless people who had occupied it are gone. As the neighborhood association president for several years when I owned a home on that street, I finally grew tired on the constant battle, and moved out of Decatur (for a while, now I am back!)
Regarding the codes question, I’m not sure why they are not enforced. My personal opinion is that the city codes folks are only interested in enforcing codes on new construction and renovations requiring permits.
On the micro, Decatur level…the economy has certainly seemed back real estate wise. Builders are crawling out of the woodwork to find something to renovate or tear down lately. I work with a lot of them and right now they can’t seem to find enough houses to go around. Hooray for the renovators though…every house doesn’t need to be 5 bedrooms/4 baths and 600k or more.
I concur with Decatur Agent. More importantly, there is actually funding again for builders and renovators. A lot of it is still in the private sector, but there seems to be a growing optimism out there.