City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Shopping

Telephone: (404) 733-1221

Description: In fall 2005, a 138-acre polluted steel mill site had its coming-out party as Atlantic Station, the metro area’s largest and most magnetic live/work/play city-within-a-city. The planned community, with the clean, color-coordinated look of Disney’s EPCOT Center, includes thousands of upscale condos and apartments, small parks and public art, a combination martini bar and bowling lanes, and a 16-screen cinema. Retailing is headed by the Southeast’s first immense Ikea store, as big as three football fields, with everything from Swedish furniture to Swedish meatballs (404-745-4532, www.ikea.com). Shoppers also have a choice of Dillard’s department store (404-879-0635, www.dillards.com), and scores of boutiques and chain stores. Atlantic Station dining ranges from quick food at Moe’s Southwest Grill (404-844-6637), and California Pizza Kitchen (404-262-9221), to white tablecloths at Rosa Mexicano (404-347-4090, www.rosamexicano.com); steaks, sushi, and seafood at two-level Strip (404-385-2006, www.stripatlanta.com); and Dolce Enoteca, an Italian trattoria opened by actor Ashton Kutcher and his Hollywood friends (404-872-3903, www.dolcegroup.com). The Fox Sports Grill (404-207-1369, www.foxsportsgrill.com) has pub food, a full steak and seafood menu, and wall-to-wall flat-screen TVs. The community hosts a number of year-round events from professional outdoor volleyball; ethnic, crafts, and food festivals; and seasonal celebrations. Atlantic Station is linked to Midtown by the 17th Street Bridge over I-75/I-85. MARTA operates shuttle buses from the Arts Center Station.