As part of ongoing Best of Atlanta 2023 coverage, Urbanize’s third-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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(1) Summerhill
Recent aerial of Summerhill's residential buildout south of Georgia Avenue. Carter
Round 1 action concludes with the crème de la crème, the Big Kahuna, the head honcho—No. 1 seeded Summerhill—taking on a contender that had barely enough nominations to squeak in this year. Back in 2021, Summerhill came this close to Best Atlanta Neighborhood immortality by reaching the Finals, but ultimately falling to out-of-left-field powerhouse Mozley Park.
This year, Summerhill has hardly been idle, with construction on Atlanta’s first bus-rapid transit line finally ramping up and a fresh beer garden to brag about. The neighborhood’s long-awaited Publix debuted this past summer (before a temporary closure for a parking deck collapse) while another controversial parking deck took shape a few blocks away. Elsewhere, the maturation of adaptive-reuse favorite Georgia Avenue continued in 2023, with stylish townhomes claiming an empty corner, while—for better or worse—top-end housing prices crept ever closer to the $1-million mark.
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(16) Virginia-Highland
Va-Hi's tony housing stock near Piedmont Park. Google Maps
Believe it not, lovely, walkable, and vibrant old Virginia-Highland has never taken top honors in this criteria-free measure of neighborhood excellence, but it did rally behind a strong No. 4 seed last year to reach the hallowed Final Four. Not too shabby.
Clinging by its fingernails to the bracket with a No. 16 seed in 2023, Va-Hi has its work cut out for it, facing a sturdy foe like Summerhill so early. The neighborhood did make plenty of development-related headlines this year—most of them regarding prominent Atlanta firm Portman Holdings, which unveiled hugely ambitious plans for an overhauled Amsterdam Walk while curtailing the scope of Ponce development that had shocked many Atlantans in 2022. (On the bright side, The Local lives on!) Elsewhere in Va-Hi, the fabled BeltLine-Ponce connection is becoming reality, while rare for-sale condos have delivered right next to the Eastside Trail.
