'Streets of Buckhead' now called 'Buckhead Atlanta' (Lenox: tenant, mall)

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by NYbyWAYofGA

The sad part is that renderings often look better than the finished product. Rarely does a development end up actually looking better than the sketchings, so it seems.

You know, this is arguably Atlanta's premier neighborhood and this development will be in the very heart of it; IMO the developers should be building this for the ages. London's Covent Garden? Paris' Champs-Elysees? Barcelona's Place Catalunya? Chicago's Michigan Avenue? They were, like this, developed at one time or another, and their development has withstood the test of time.

Covent Garden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Champs-Élysées - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michigan Avenue (Chicago) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[brent6969]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

You know, this is arguably Atlanta's premier neighborhood and this development will be in the very heart of it; IMO the developers should be building this for the ages. London's Covent Garden? Paris' Champs-Elysees? Barcelona's Place Catalunya? Chicago's Michigan Avenue? They were, like this, developed at one time or another, and their development has withstood the test of time.

Covent Garden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Champs-Élysées - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michigan Avenue (Chicago) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, but those developments were in a totally different economic era. I agree with you though.

[arjay57]

LD, I absolutely love all those places but I wonder if a city like Atlanta will ever have the economic muscle to build on a grand scale like that.

[tonygeorgia]

THis project will be fine. I'm sure other projects in the area will be announce once this is completed. This is only the beginning

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by arjay57

LD, I absolutely love all those places but I wonder if a city like Atlanta will ever have the economic muscle to build on a grand scale like that.

It took time, patience and vision in every case; the bottom line is that these areas were allowed to evolve instead of being thrown together almost overnight.
Barcelona is such an interesting example of master planning and private-public partnership. In the 1850's, its' very ambitious city fathers were determined to take it from a sleepy, medieval port town to an economic and cultural center for the region. The ancient city walls were pulled down and plans were drawn up for the 'new' city (with the help of the famed architect Antoni Gaudi), with the aforementioned Placa Catalunya as its' epicenter.
They knew that the process of creating this would continue well into the next century, but in hindsight the care and patience involved yielded fantastic results.

[BringBackCobain]

I didn't see any brick in the renderings. This place looks like it is going to be thrown up with some EIFS stucco. That is a mistake.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

It took time, patience and vision in every case; the bottom line is that these areas were allowed to evolve instead of being thrown together almost overnight.
Barcelona is such an interesting example of master planning and private-public partnership. In the 1850's, its' very ambitious city fathers were determined to take it from a sleepy, medieval port town to an economic and cultural center for the region. The ancient city walls were pulled down and plans were drawn up for the 'new' city (with the help of the famed architect Antoni Gaudi), with the aforementioned Placa Catalunya as its' epicenter.
They knew that the process of creating this would continue well into the next century, but in hindsight the care and patience involved yielded fantastic results.

Exactly this.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

It took time, patience and vision in every case; the bottom line is that these areas were allowed to evolve instead of being thrown together almost overnight.

Right, but isn't this an example of gradual urban evolution, too?

Look at these old photos of the Buckhead Village area from 100 years ago.

Then look at the photo from 50 years ago. There's some evolution from the early 1900s, but that's almost exactly what things looked like when Carter started his project.

In my opinion, it was high time for some additional renovation! And I"m not sure what "thrown together overnight" means. Every building project has a timeline and frankly this one has been excruciatingly slow due to the recession. It will be nearly 10 years from start to finish.

And let's not forget that this project is FAR from a redo of the entire Buckhead Village. While it's referred to in the news as an 8 block area, to me it looks more like 3 or 4 blocks. In either case, this is still just a small section of the Village, which continues to evolve on a piece by piece basis (what urban planners call "organically"). For example, it wasn't that long ago that Sears occupied the tract across the street where office towers and the St. Regis now sit.

The Village will undoubtedly continue to evolve and change. There are a ton of other projects on the books involving many other property owners with plans of their own. The new SPI-9 zoning is pretty specific about urban form and streetscapes, but I'm sure the Village will see a great deal of diversity as it continues to redevelop. The Oliver McMillan project is just one piece.

[coleer]

Atlanta Georgia is not in the same league as Paris, Chicago, etc. Here in City-Data land it may be, but not in the real world. You'd be more acurate if you comapred Atlanta to Philly or Baltimore.

These developers would be wise to make an educated guess of what the demographics in the area will be in 10 years. Right now Buckhead is a high dollar area, but that could change.

[billl]

Why not contribute to the prevalent abuse of English spelling and call it "Shoppes of Buckhead Towne".