Marooned: The Upwardly Mobile Find Hopes Dashed On Suburban Plateaus --- Gwinnett County, Ga., Was A Booming Way Station Until the Growth Stopped --- A New Industry: Pawn Shops
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- This was once the land of great expectations.</br></br>A white-collar haven and one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the country, Gwinnett County, on Atlanta's northern rim, seemed like just the ticket for ambitious couples like Steve and Jean Alhadeff. When the Alhadeffs bought their $70,000 starter home in the brand-new Oakbrook Station subdivision in 1984, it was as much an investment as a place to live. The nearby hum of route I-85 didn't bother them much; it was only a matter of time before Mr. Alhadeff's accounting job would lead to a top finance position and they'd buy a bigger house in a better neighborhood. Ms. Alhadeff didn't bother to read the local paper. After all, they'd be moving on soon.</br></br>But now, two corporate cutbacks and a real-estate slump later, the Alhadeffs are stuck. They're in the same house, which is worth roughly the same amount. Mr. Alhadeff, 37, is earning the same income, selling insurance. And Ms. Alhadeff, 41, is trying to accept that they might be marooned in Oakbrook Station for some time. A "For Sale" sign is stashed in their garage.</br></br>"To expect that we're going to have this, and in five years that, and in 10 years this -- maybe it doesn't make sense," says Ms. Alhadeff.</br></br>The Alhadeffs were among millions of people who gambled on booming suburbs like Gwinnett County as the ideal places to advance their lives. The 1980s saw an explosion of such communities, like Tyson's Corner near Washington, D.C.; Aurora, near Denver; Plano, near Dallas; and Contra Costa, near San Francisco.