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The equivalents to Buckhead are the suburban edge cities. So Paramus, NJ, Tysons Corner, VA, Costa Mesa, CA, King of Prussia, VA, Aventura, FL, Troy, MI and the like.
Buckhead isn't really comparable to an urban neighborhood, at all. It's malls and office parks, and basically no pedestrians. Buckhead is mostly just woodsy lots with big homes, like any rich suburb.
This thread doesn't specify urban vs suburban.
There are 2 parts to Buckhead, the woodsy big lots big homes area you refer to, and the "Buckhead CBD", which is a vertical suburb 5-6 miles from Atlanta's main CBD.
King of Prussia is a lone gigantic mall. Aventura has a mall. Troy has a mall and is a much smaller office district than Buckhead with limited vertical residential, hotels, entertainment options, etc. Costa Mesa is kind of comparable because the general area isn't just South Coast Plaza, there is other upscale shopping nearby, and a mix of uses.
But Buckhead is Atlanta's sole and primary shopping area. It's leagues ahead of the other places you list in almost every way. It has more retail in a more confined space (Lenox and Phipps are across the street from each other and Oliver McMillan's project is 1 mile away, with plenty of options in between).
Listen, there are few moments where I'll defend or praise Atlanta, so it means something when I do. Buckhead is not the same has King of Prussia, Aventura, Troy, Costa Mesa, Tysons Corner (which is perhaps closest to it, though I definitely prefer Buckhead, which is sadly more pleasant, walkable, and interesting than Tysons Corner), etc etc.
~17 million SF of mostly class A high-rise office in buildings that routinely exceed 400 ft, which along with residential high rises in frequency ranging from 10-50 floors produces a skyline that exceeds most core CBDs in this country.
Thousands of hotel rooms (including Westin, the original Ritz Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, St. Regis, Embassy Suites, flagship Intercontinental seeing as how IHG North America is based in Atlanta, JW Marriott attached to Lenox, etc etc).
And nearly every department store and major label of mid-range to uber luxe represented in quite a confined area that isn't much larger than the Back Bay, an urban and walkable district in Boston.
Lenox Square has 1.6 million SF itself, and is anchored by a 274,000 SF Bloomingdale's (large, almost as large as SF's, which is 2nd largest), 433,000 SF Macy's (one of the largest Macy's), and 205,000 SF Neiman Marcus, which is very large for Neiman's.
*Across the street* is Phipps (821,000 SF), anchored by Saks, Nordstrom, and Belk flagship, along with an AMC theater, includes mostly high end stores such as Bottega Veneta, Valentino, Trina Turk, Jimmy Choo, etc etc. Lenox has a lot of high end stores, as well, but also contains traditional higher end mall stores such as Lacoste, Kenneth Cole, Urban Outfitters, Pottery Barn, etc etc.
Shops Around Lenox is adjacent to Lenox Square, and is 125,000 SF anchored by Crate & Barrel and includes well known boutiques. It just sold for $600/sf and is essentially a fancy strip center, so it has fetched a high price point for sunbelt suburban shopping, indicative of rents, credits, and submarket pricing assumptions (lower cap rate, etc).
So on what is equivalent to probably 15 city blocks (small for a sunbelt area) you have over 2.5 million SF of very high end shopping. That is more square footage than King of Prussia Mall(s).
A mile away you have this development being mentioned, with the 28 stores mentioned out of 80, for an additional 320,000 SF. That's almost 2.9 million SF of mostly high end shopping between 2 malls, an outdoor master-planned mixed-use development, and a high end strip, within 1-2 square miles.
In between you easily have another 1,000,000 SF of shopping (ULTA, Whole Foods, North Face, Orvis, Container Store, etc etc). Restoration Hardware is constructing a 6 story flagship.
In a nutshell, Buckhead is leagues ahead of most, if not all other "fringe suburban" shopping areas. But I still wouldn't put it ahead of the urban world-class shopping districts of this country.
There are 2 parts to Buckhead, the woodsy big lots big homes area you refer to, and the "Buckhead CBD", which is a vertical suburb 5-6 miles from Atlanta's main CBD.
King of Prussia is a lone gigantic mall. Aventura has a mall. Troy has a mall and is a much smaller office district than Buckhead with limited vertical residential, hotels, entertainment options, etc. Costa Mesa is kind of comparable because the general area isn't just South Coast Plaza, there is other upscale shopping nearby, and a mix of uses.
But Buckhead is Atlanta's sole and primary shopping area. It's leagues ahead of the other places you list in almost every way. It has more retail in a more confined space (Lenox and Phipps are across the street from each other and Oliver McMillan's project is 1 mile away, with plenty of options in between).
Listen, there are few moments where I'll defend or praise Atlanta, so it means something when I do. Buckhead is not the same has King of Prussia, Aventura, Troy, Costa Mesa, Tysons Corner (which is perhaps closest to it, though I definitely prefer Buckhead, which is sadly more pleasant, walkable, and interesting than Tysons Corner), etc etc.
~17 million SF of mostly class A high-rise office in buildings that routinely exceed 400 ft, which along with residential high rises in frequency ranging from 10-50 floors produces a skyline that exceeds most core CBDs in this country.
Thousands of hotel rooms (including Westin, the original Ritz Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, St. Regis, Embassy Suites, flagship Intercontinental seeing as how IHG North America is based in Atlanta, JW Marriott attached to Lenox, etc etc).
And nearly every department store and major label of mid-range to uber luxe represented in quite a confined area that isn't much larger than the Back Bay, an urban and walkable district in Boston.
Lenox Square has 1.6 million SF itself, and is anchored by a 274,000 SF Bloomingdale's (large, almost as large as SF's, which is 2nd largest), 433,000 SF Macy's (one of the largest Macy's), and 205,000 SF Neiman Marcus, which is very large for Neiman's.
*Across the street* is Phipps (821,000 SF), anchored by Saks, Nordstrom, and Belk flagship, along with an AMC theater, includes mostly high end stores such as Bottega Veneta, Valentino, Trina Turk, Jimmy Choo, etc etc. Lenox has a lot of high end stores, as well, but also contains traditional higher end mall stores such as Lacoste, Kenneth Cole, Urban Outfitters, Pottery Barn, etc etc.
Shops Around Lenox is adjacent to Lenox Square, and is 125,000 SF anchored by Crate & Barrel and includes well known boutiques. It just sold for $600/sf and is essentially a fancy strip center, so it has fetched a high price point for sunbelt suburban shopping, indicative of rents, credits, and submarket pricing assumptions (lower cap rate, etc).
So on what is equivalent to probably 15 city blocks (small for a sunbelt area) you have over 2.5 million SF of very high end shopping. That is more square footage than King of Prussia Mall(s).
A mile away you have this development being mentioned, with the 28 stores mentioned out of 80, for an additional 320,000 SF. That's almost 2.9 million SF of mostly high end shopping between 2 malls, an outdoor master-planned mixed-use development, and a high end strip, within 1-2 square miles.
In between you easily have another 1,000,000 SF of shopping (ULTA, Whole Foods, North Face, Orvis, Container Store, etc etc). Restoration Hardware is constructing a 6 story flagship.
In a nutshell, Buckhead is leagues ahead of most, if not all other "fringe suburban" shopping areas. But I still wouldn't put it ahead of the urban world-class shopping districts of this country.
Thank you for reading my initial post and responding accordingly. Reading is fundamental.
Let me thank you two times because I think you're one of like 10 posters out of this entire thread that understood the topic from the beginning.
The cities with upscale urban shopping are as follows, in order-
NYC
LA
SF
Chicago
Boston
Miami
Philadelphia
DC
Seattle
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