- published: 14 Dec 2013
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Atlanta ( /ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city." With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.
Buckhead Atlanta, until May 2011 called Streets of Buckhead[1] is a 9-acre (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 3.6421707798 | 1-0 }} ha) planned mixed-use development in the Buckhead Community in Atlanta, Georgia. The project is a redevelopment of part of the Buckhead Village neighborhood bounded by Peachtree Rd., E. Paces Ferry Rd., Pharr Rd., and N. Fulton Drive. It is located just 1.3 miles (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 2.0921472 | 1-0 }} km) from two of the region's most prominent and upscale malls, Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza.
As of May 2011, San Diego-based Oliver McMillan Inc. purchased the land from Ben Carter Properties and is now developing the project.[2] The project was renamed that same month.
In September, 2011, McMillan announced a further delay in the project, and that construction would not begin until the end of the first quarter of 2012. McMillan intends to invest $300 million to complete the project in which Ben Carter had already invested $400 million. The total planned development now is targeted at 370 apartments, 300,000 square feet (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 27,870.912 | 1-4 }} m2) of retail space and 90,000 square feet (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 8,361.2736 | 1-3 }} m2) of "boutique" office space.[3]
In early 2013 construction began after a hiatus of three years with the first phase of retail expected to open later in the year.[4]
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In 1838, Henry Irby purchased 202 1/2 acres surrounding what is now Buckhead Village from Daniel Johnson for $650. Irby subsequently established a general store and tavern at the northwest corner of the Peachtree–Roswell–Paces Ferry intersection.[5]
To reverse a downturn in the Village during the 1980s, minimum parking spot requirements for bars were lifted, which quickly led to it becoming the most dense concentration of bars and clubs in the city,[6] such as BAR, World Bar, Lulu's Bait Shack, Mako's, Tongue & Groove, Chaos and John Harvard's Brew House. By 1996 Buckhead Village nightlife was like "Mardi Gras, complete with nightly arrests, puking in the streets and [drunk] college girls".[7]
By the late 1990s the clientele was changing, street cruising and "hanging" was common, and crime was increasing, sometimes violent. To ameliorate the situation, the Atlanta City Council passed an ordinance to close bars at 2:30 a.m. rather than 4 a.m., and liquor licenses were made more difficult to obtain or renew. Most of the bars and nightclubs closed between 2000 and 2007.
In 2006–07, Ben Carter bought parcels in the area in order to develop the Streets of Buckhead. Demolition of existing structures began in August 2007.
Original plans by developer Ben Carter Properties, LLC[8] called for a $1.5 billion[9] upscale mixed-use development. The Streets of Buckhead was dubbed "Atlanta's new upscale shopping", as it was to feature 600,000 square feet (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 55,741.824 | 1-4 }} m2) of exclusive shopping, 14 fine dining restaurants, two four-star hotels, 350 multi-million-dollar condominiums and class-A office space.[10][11] It aimed to be the most exclusive shopping area in the Southern United States.
Originally scheduled for a grand opening of November 2009, by April 2009, work slowdowns pushed the projected opening back to Fall 2011.[12]
On May 2, 2011, San Diego-based OliverMcMillan Inc. purchased the land from Ben Carter Properties. Baupost Group LLC, a Boston hedge fund, is to provide $300 million of new equity.
OliverMcMillan plans to change much of the original plans: they are "not seeking a Rodeo Drive-type development" and "the level of restaurants and retail might be somewhat different". It is to be an "urban village" woven into the Buckhead Community.
The preliminary revised plans called for 300,000 square feet (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 27,870.912 | 1-4 }} m2) of retail and restaurants, 40,000 square feet (Bad rounding here{{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 3,716.1216 | 1-3 }} m2) of boutique offices and two 20-story luxury apartment buildings. Plans no longer include the two hotels. Rather than upscale restaurants, the development might target local chefs. A street grid system and street-level cafés and stores are to promote walkability. The first phase might consist of apartments.[2]
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