As part of ongoing Best of Atlanta 2024 coverage, Urbanize’s fourth-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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(4) East Atlanta
ABV Gallery's airy main interior space.Photography by Dave Roland; designs, Kronberg Urbanists + Architects
Usually a tough out in year-end neighborhood tournaments, East Atlanta garnered enough reader nominations this year to land a big-boy No. 4 seed. Which makes sense, given the buzz around several EAV projects this year (and what could have been the most rollicking East Atlanta Strut festival to date in September). Celebrated artist Greg Mike transformed a 1980s church in the village to a modern-gothic temple to creativity, while commendably old-school designs for mixed-use development on a small scale came to light on a vacant East Atlanta corner. Elsewhere, frequent village investors Pellerin Real Estate are bringing an infill project with dozens of new homes to a site where little more than a void in EAV’s vibrancy existed before. Not too shabby.
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(13) College Park
The institute's revised facade at 3605 Main St. in College Park today. The Promise Career Institute; photos by Noel Mayeske
Marking its first tourney appearance since 2022 (when it was unceremoniously booted in the first round by Howell Station), prideful College Park has traditionally fared better in these criteria-free contests, especially when haters rally around the fact it’s not a neighborhood but a city. (ITP cities are allowed, as always.) Development wins this year included a $40-million school renovation with tons of heart and purpose, The Promise Career Institute, which revived the former College Park High School to become a vocational launchpad. Previous nominators have described this contender best: “College Park is like a little Mayberry, but close to downtown… Diversity, arts, greenspace, affordability, accessibility, opportunity, amenities—we have all that plus a close-knit community that's like family for myself and others who have been here for years.”
