Record swath of storied Buckhead land acquired for new Atlanta park

Greenspace advocates of Atlanta—it’s time to rejoice!

A scenic, creekside, 30-acre slice of Buckhead that neighbors have feared could be subdivided and redeveloped into palatial homes will instead be preserved as a new City of Atlanta park, officials tell Urbanize Atlanta.

The Conservation Fund’s $13.5 million acquisition of the estate formerly owned by the late and beloved philanthropist, photographer, and arts community supporter Lucinda Bunnen officially closed Tuesday.

The deal sets two high-water marks: It’s the highest residential land sale in Atlanta in 2024—and by far the largest park addition TCF has notched in Buckhead over two decades of adding greenspaces to the city’s parks portfolio.

Stacy Funderburke, TCF’s regional vice president and Georgia state director, said the acquisition will protect mature tree canopy “in the most intensely developed part of Atlanta” by eventually creating a nature preserve named for Bunnen that honors her legacy.

Larger than downtown’s Centennial Olympic Park and Woodruff Park combined—and marketed as a “once in a lifetime opportunity”—the 3910 Randall Mill Road property is set among Buckhead estates just east of Interstate 75 and south of I-285.

Bonneau Ansley of Ansley Real Estate Christie’s International, who represented the Bunnen family in the sale, called the deal “historic” in an announcement, noting “there hasn’t been anything like this available in decades, and it’s not likely we’ll ever see this much land available [again] in this area.”   

According to TCF officials, an additional $3.4 million in funding needs to be secured before the Bunnen property can be protected permanently as a city nature preserve. The organization is planning to work with city officials and other partners in coming months to achieve that.

The property originally listed a year ago for $15 million, offering a rare undeveloped swath of Buckhead larger than a few acres.

Bunnen, the “godmother of Southern photography” who helped build the High Museum of Art’s photo collection, died in 2022 at age 92.

In 1956, Bunnen and her husband Bob commissioned Cecil Alexander, architect of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and many other iconic local buildings, to create a family home inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work on 5 acres. That eccentric, throwback-modern structure still stands, surrounded by a swimming pool, a tennis court, and so many trees. (Bunnen's personal home was included in the sale, totaling seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, and more than 7,000 square feet.)

According to Ansley Real Estate, famous Atlantans who played tennis on the grounds or swam in the pool included Andrew Young, Dick Rich (of Rich’s department story), tennis great Nancy Richey, and early Braves owner Warren Hellman, among others.

As the decades unfolded and Bunnen’s photography career took off (the downstairs photographic darkroom installed in 1970, where she developer her technique, became her sanctuary), the owners continued to buy contiguous land, eventually expanding to roughly 30 acres.

Around the year 2000, Bunnen installed a two-mile trail around the property for soaking in nature, walking dogs, hiking, and yes, taking photos of it all.

“When you’re there, you don’t even feel like you’re in Atlanta—it’s a slice of the mountains,” Atlanta resident Nick Stinnett, who’s hiked his dogs many times along the property's creek, told Urbanize last year.

At the time, Stinnett worried the property would be redeveloped as residential, which he called “sad… because it would be an incredible nature park.” 

In the gallery above, have a closer look at TCF's property today (including the residential portion on site), no hiking boots required.

[CORRECTION: 1:13 p.m., Oct. 23: This article has been corrected to reflect that just one home property was included with the sale, not two residential structures. City officials expect to determine sometime next year what will become of the house, per Ansley Real Estate.]

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