Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Atlanta is a city of resurgence. The latest catalyst for growth was spurred by Atlanta’s hosting of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. With the eyes of the world looking on, it rose in status as the capital of the New South to a city of international significance and a pioneer of the American luxury property marketplace.

Today this former railroad town is home to one of the nation’s highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies--13 in all with Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS and Delta Airlines among them. Its economic engine is fueled by a diverse economy and a solid infrastructure that includes the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International. One survey named the region a top metro pick for entrepreneurial activity. Atlanta is also a “brain gain” city. Young, college-educated professionals are moving in and making their mark here.  

Atlanta is noted for its low cost of living as well as its low cost of doing business compared other major metropolitan areas. Foreign investors are taking notice and increasingly seeing this gateway city as a safe haven for their real estate dollars.

This is a dynamic city that balances development with a reverence for the past, especially when it comes to historic luxury architecture. Dozens of distinct neighborhoods make up Atlanta’s core. Its cultural attractions are vast, from the landmark Fox Theatre and the High Museum to sites like Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and the Margaret Mitchell House, where the author wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Gone with the Wind.”

Located at the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains, Atlanta enjoys a mild four-season climate. Locals take advantage. Parks, hiking trails and bike paths are busy year round. It is also golf-friendly with more than 100 public and private courses in the region including ones with skyline views.

Homes here are traditional as well as contemporary takes on Georgian, Federalist, Victorian and neo-Mediterranean styles. The destruction of Atlanta during the Civil War left a dearth of authentic antebellum architecture. Luxury real estate close to the action, or “intown” as locals call it, are in high demand. Many members of Atlanta’s established elite make their homes in Buckhead. Tuxedo Park is Buckhead’s most prestigious neighborhood. Estates selling in the eight-figure range are routine. The area of Brookhaven is Atlanta’s first country club community.  Pretty Druid Hills is noted for its early 1900s estates and small vest-pocket parks. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, as is the impeccable neighborhood of Ansley. Brookwood Hills was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, best known for New York's Central Park.

Newcomers to Atlanta are cautioned to bring a GPS. No fewer than 65 streets have Peachtree incorporated into their name.