Every time Brett Tobin left Gainesville to pursue options in other cities, something kept pulling him back.


The 32-year old director of account management at tech start-up Eventplicity came to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida in 2005. He moved away twice before returning in 2015 to permanently establish roots.


“I left town in 2013 because I wanted to try out things on the West Coast,” Tobin said. “I explored different work opportunities and checked out potential landing spots, looking at cities across the country such as New York and San Francisco. But I found myself continually drawn back to Gainesville.”


It wasn’t the cost of living – at least by itself – that deterred Tobin from living in these major metropolitan cities.


“It was more about proximity,” he said. “I have a dog, and being able to have areas to walk him and play with him in the same neighborhood where I worked, ate, hung out and exercised was a big differentiator compared to those other places.”


While you might not think of Gainesville as a city that has these walkable, dynamic urban neighborhoods to live, work and play, several areas of town already offer this living experience for young professionals – and there are more of these developments on the horizon.


Greater Gainesville’s developers and urban planners are taking note of the tendency among young professionals to rent apartments in urban locations, and they are working to create these “live, work and play” neighborhoods throughout the city by adding multifamily developments in growing areas near major employment centers, popular nightlife and shopping destinations.


Re-Printed from https://www.businessmagazinegainesville.com/young-professionals-favoring-luxury-live-work-play-multi-family-lifestyle/