As part of ongoing Best of Atlanta 2023 coverage, Urbanize’s third-annual Best Atlanta Neighborhood tournament kicked off last week with 16 places vying for the prestige of being called the city’s greatest.
Now, for each Elite Eight contest, voting will be open until noon on Tuesday, allowing anyone time to chime in who’s currently traveling or enduring their family. Please, let’s keep the tourney fun and positive, as one neighborhood rises above the rest in very public fashion. The quest to crown a champion resumes now!
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(1) Summerhill
Recent aerial of Summerhill's residential buildout south of Georgia Avenue. Carter
Being the No. 1 seed in 2023—as determined by pre-tourney nominations—swingin’ Summerhill made quick work of Virginia-Highland in the first round, snagging more than 60 percent of 1,031 votes. The neighborhood’s track record suggests more good tidings could be in store, too.
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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(9) Cabbagetown
After beginning construction in late 2018, the 764 Memorial project replaced a weedy lot and abandoned, Recession-era foundations with 24 condos and five townhouses. Photography by Cyndi Benson/InFocus Virtual Tours; courtesy of PalmerHouse Properties
As the 2023 contest’s potential Mighty Mouse, Cabbagetown came out swinging in first-round action, clobbering tourney virgin Cascade Heights with 68 percent of votes.
Cabbagetown might be Atlanta’s undisputed per-capita PBR consumption champion, but unit now, it’s never managed to collect enough nominations to actually make the Best Atlanta Neighborhood showdown. (Are those two facts related? Probably.) That’s all changed in 2023, with C-town sliding into a comfy No. 9 seed after another year of… well, generally being awesome. For starters, 2023 saw Krog Street Tunnel’s chronic flooding (and left-turn) headaches finally be addressed, while a celebrity real estate flipper swooped into the neighborhood and finally landed a buyer for an eye-popping Cabbagetown condo renovation. The Chomp & Stomp festival, meanwhile, continued its post-COVID run of excellence in November. Cabbagetown is known for having a big heart, but could its small stature hold it back, now that it’s facing a Goliath like Summerhill? Only time (and votes) will tell.
