(POLLING HAS CLOSED AFTER 48 HOURS. Thanks to all who participated in this tournament, and congrats to ALPHARETTA, which is officially the inaugural Suburban Smackdown CHAMPION! Trophy presentation coming to the homepage soon. Also, hat-tip to proud runner-up Duluth for a valiant tourney performance.)
It all comes down to this, metro Atlanta.
After two weeks of criteria-free, March Madness-style competitions, shocking upsets, close finishes, blowouts, effusive love of place, and thousands of votes, two contestants have risen above the rest to sniff Suburban Smackdown Mount Olympus. But only one can be proclaimed the greatest in Urbanize’s first-annual Best OTP Downtown tournament.
Without further ado ... Welcome to The Championship!
This being the final contest, voting will be open until 3 p.m. sharp on Friday, allowing anyone who’s been OOO, on Spring Break, or living in a cave sufficient time to chime in. We ask that you keep the tourney fun, positive, and fair as one great OTP place surges to everlasting glory—with people across the metro watching.
Now, let’s go!
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ALPHARETTA (1)
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Estimated city population: 66,000
Distance from downtown Atlanta: 25 miles
Secret sauce: 120-acre Wills Park is the crème de la crème of city greenspaces, with a large dog park, 18-hole disc golf course, and an equestrian center considered among the Southeast’s best
Tourney performance: Top-seeded Alpharetta bounced upstart Trilith in Round 1; squeaked by Tucker in a true Elite Eight nail-biter; trounced Newnan in the Final Four
How fitting the No. 1 seed in this quest for OTP Downtown greatness (as determined by reader nominations) is not only one of the largest cities but also has “Alpha” in its name. But ask locals, and they’ll say downtown Alpharetta was sleepy—if not outright boring—not too long ago. That all changed in 2019, when the final components of Alpharetta City Center were opened on former parking lots and strip centers, lending the North Fulton city an open-container central green, dozens of new shops and restaurants, upscale apartments—and a new identity. Outward growth has only continued, with the city’s first boutique hotel, new mixed-use ventures, and now wildly expensive condos popping up on the Alpha Loop trail en route to nearby Avalon.
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DULUTH (7)
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Estimated city population: 32,000
Distance from downtown Atlanta: 27 miles
Secret sauce: A pioneer in downtown open-container districts—and the development of city center greenspaces
Tourney performance: Duluth showed Stone Mountain the exit in Round 1; overcame Roswell in Elite Eight; edged Gwinnett homie Suwanee in the Final Four
Built around an important railroad route (and named for the Minnesota city where those tracks led), Duluth in this century was an early adopter of suburban downtown regeneration/creation efforts—all anchored by a versatile, centerpiece greenspace with an amphitheater and splash pad. Today the growing slate of attractions in Gwinnett County's second-largest city includes the Red Clay Music Foundry (from Eddie Owens of Decatur’s Eddie’s Attic fame), Good Word Brewing and Public House, and former intown favorite O4W Pizza. Duluth is also known for making good use of its downtown, with festivals and events for virtually every season.
(POLLING HAS CLOSED AFTER 48 HOURS. Thanks to all who participated in this tournament, and congrats to ALPHARETTA, which is officially the inaugural Suburban Smackdown CHAMPION! Trophy presentation coming to the homepage soon. Also, hat-tip to proud runner-up Duluth for a valiant tourney performance.)
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