Buckhead is a wealthy uptown district of Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia comprising approximately the northern fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown. The district’s highrise office buildings, hotels, and condominiums form an urbanized core along Peachtree Road. Surrounding this dense core are Buckhead’s residential neighborhoods, which feature large single-family-homes situated among dense forests and rolling hills.
EARLY HISTORY
In 1838, Henry Irby purchased 202 1/2 acres surrounding the present intersection of Peachtree, Roswell, and West Paces Ferry roads from Daniel Johnson for $650. Irby subsequently established a general store and tavern at the northwest corner of the intersection. The name “Buckhead” comes from a story that Irby killed a large buck deer and placed the head in a prominent location. Prior to this, the settlement was called Irbyville. By the late 1800s, Buckhead had become a rural vacation spot for wealthy Atlantans. In the 1890s, Buckhead was rechristened Atlanta Heights but by the 1920s it was again “Buckhead”.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Since at least the 1950s, Buckhead has been known as a district of extreme wealth, with the western and northern neighborhoods being virtually unrivaled in the Southeast. In 2011, The Gadberry Group compiled the list of the 50 wealthiest zip codes in the United States, ranking Buckhead’s western zip code (30327) as the second wealthiest zip code in the South (behind Palm Beach’s 33480) and the second wealthiest zip code east of California and south of Virginia. The Robb Report magazine has consistently ranked Buckhead one of the nation’s “10 Top Affluent Communities” due to “the most beautiful mansions, best shopping, and finest restaurants in the Southeast United States. Due to its wealth, Buckhead is sometimes promoted as the “Beverly Hills of the East” or “Beverly Hills of the South”.
ECONOMY
At the heart of Buckhead around the intersections of Lenox, Peachtree and Piedmont Roads, is a shopping district with more than 1,500 retail units where shoppers spend more than $2.96 billion a year. In addition, Buckhead contains the highest concentration of upscale boutiques in the United States. The majority are located at Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza, sister regional malls located diagonally across from each other at the intersection of Peachtree and Lenox Roads. The malls are home to designer boutiques, mainstream national retailers, as well as six major department stores. This commercial core also has a concentration of “big-box” retailers. The “Buckhead Atlanta” Mixed Use Development brought even more exclusive boutiques, restaurants, hotels, condos and office space to the heart of Buckhead in 2014
Buckhead is also a center for healthcare, and is home both to Piedmont Hospital and the private, catastrophic care hospital Shepherd Center which specializes in spinal cord injury and acquired brain injury. The two hospitals are located adjacent to one another along Peachtree Road.
Buckhead is also the location of a large share of Atlanta’s Diplomatic Missions. Consulates in Buckhead include the Consulate-General of Australia and the Australian Trade Commission, the Consulate-General of France and the French Trade Commission, the Consulate-General of Brazil, the Consulate-General of Japan and the Consulate of Greece.
EDUCATION
Public schools in Buckhead are administered by Atlanta Public Schools. The following public elementary schools serve Buckhead:
E. Rivers Elementary School, Garden Hills Elementary School, Morris Brandon Elementary School, Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary School and Warren T. Jackson Elementary School.
The area is served by Sutton Middle School and North Atlanta High School.
There is an area charter school, Atlanta Classical School.
Local private schools include the Atlanta International School, the Atlanta Speech School, Christ the King School, the Atlanta Girls School, The Galloway School, Holy Spirit Preparatory School, Trinity School, The Lovett School, Pace Academy and The Westminster School.
To find out further information regarding all public and private schools, ratings and reviews we recommend www.schooldigger.com.
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business’ Buckhead Center is located in the heart of Buckhead. This facility houses Georgia State’s Executive MBA program. Its “Leadership Speaker Series”, which showcases an agenda of executive officers from prestigious, well-known companies is also hosted at their Buckhead Center.
The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business Executive Education Center is located in Buckhead. This facility houses the University’s executive MBA program and Terry Third Thursday, a lecture series featuring business leaders.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Buckhead has a myriad of parks located within and near the surrounding area including Chastain Memorial Park, the largest city park in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a 268-acre (1.08 km2) park near the northern edge of the city. Included in the park are jogging paths, playgrounds, tennis courts, a golf course, swimming pool, horse park and amphitheater.
Other parks include Tanyard Creek Park, Peachtree Hills Park, Little Nancy Creek Park, Atlanta Memorial Park, Shady Valley Park and the Duck Pond. Several of these have been described as hidden gems within the bustle of a big city.
REAL ESTATE
If you are interested in purchasing, selling, investing, or just getting more information about Buckhead real estate, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to serving you with all of your real estate needs.
Sincerely,
Tony Morris
The Meridian Group
678-631-1723
*Information and data compiled from various sources via Google Search