Best Atlanta Neighborhood 2022, 1st round: (3) Reynoldstown vs. (14) Decatur

As part of ongoing Best of Atlanta 2022 coverage, Urbanize’s second-annual Best Atlanta Neighborhood tournament is kicking off with 16 places vying for the prestige of being called the city’s greatest. (Note: Seeding from 1 to 16 was determined by reader nominations this month, so no pitchforks, please.)

For each Round 1 contest, voting will be open for just 24 hours. Please, let’s keep the tourney fun and positive, as one neighborhood rises above the rest in very public fashion. The eliminations begin now!

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REYNOLDSTOWN (3)

Highest home sale of 2022: $1.19M, for a five-bedroom traditional near the BeltLine

Lowest: $230K, for a 1920s fixer-upper on Kirkwood Avenue

Median sales price increase year-over-year: 13.4 percent (November)

As an Eastside Trail-connected neighborhood and perennial development darling, Reynoldstown already counts one similar neighborhood crown on its shelf (2014), but conquering the brackets between here and 2022 glory will be no easy feat. That’s despite it being a truly big year for R-town, as large-scale investments go. Affordable housing is making inroads, with a BeltLine-adjacent mid-rise coming out of the ground and a truly affordable motel conversion in the pipeline. Creative adaptive-reuse continues in R-town, as a staple auto business bowed out (and cashed out) on booming Memorial Drive. Meanwhile, hundreds of new housing options are popping up in projects such as Gibson by Radius and Stein Steel.  

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, The Eastern, in the estimation of nominator BearDrivingCar, is “easily the best new music venue in maybe a decade or two in town.” And as nominator RoadRunr notes: “R-town is finishing a neighborhood-funded renovation of their Lang Carson Park, which will now be adjoined to the BeltLine thanks to the new [Stein Steel] development. Great walkability and community spirit. [Also] the neighborhood has funded the Neighbor in Need 501-C-3 to help legacy residents stay in their homes and provide assistance during COVID.” Sounds like the makings of a top neighborhood.

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DECATUR (14)

Highest home sale of 2022: $2.75M, for a six-bedroom 1940s remodel near Oakhurst Village

Lowest: $129K, a renovated two-bedroom condo near Agnes Scott College

Median sales price decrease year-over-year: -8.2 percent (November) 

Yes, like its neighbor Avondale Estates, Decatur is most certainly a DeKalb County city and not a neighborhood, but we’re trying to be inclusionary around here—and besides, proud Decaturites got out the vote during the nominations phase. To recap: Decatur in 2022 improved its bicycling infrastructure, updated an architecture landmark, welcomed a slate of stylish new townhomes near transit, and neared completion on almost 200 new housing options at the cusp of downtown, among other happenings.  

In the words of nominator PJ, Decatur counts “some of the best walkability in Atlanta, [a] thriving restaurant and retail scene around Decatur Square, a balanced mix of high-density apartments/condos at the center surrounded by leafy [single-family home] neighborhoods, [and] the best public school system ITP.” Another Decatur booster, Tim O’Keefe, points out that happening nearby places such as Oakhurst also technically fall under the Decatur umbrella. Which means Decatur is “home to Porchfest, the BestFest in the region,” per O’Keefe.

For all its virtues, Decatur didn’t make it out of the first round in last year’s tourney. Why? Because its Round 1 competitor, Reynoldstown, got more votes. Could that be motivation for revenge in this 2022 rematch? We shall see. 

Now, please cast a vote below!  

(POLLING HAS CLOSED AFTER 24 HOURS. Thanks to all who participated, and congrats to Decatur!)