Buckhead: From Bullets to Bulldozers

 
The old CJ's Landing on Buckhead Avenue was partially demolitioned on Friday, Aug. 3, as part of the festivities launching The Streets of Buckhead project. (Photo by Collin Kelley)

The invitation said "Groundbreaking," but, at 9:30 a.m., it felt more like a cocktail party. Limo out front of a big white tent, mimosas flowing freely, outfitted servers passing canapes, young women in bare summer dresses and young turks wearing purple ties.

In the end, the groundbreaking shovels lost out to the spectacle of demolition. It was the first round of goodbyes to Buckhead Village, as digniteries took turns swiping at C.J.’s Landing on Buckhead Avenue, from the cab of an orange track hoe with a big red claw attachment.

The event produced by Ben Carter Properties but was kind of co-hosted by Ben Carter and Robin Loudermilk. It’s been only three years since Loudermilk found a bullet in the parking lot of his Aaron Rents office building and said, enough. He then started acquiring property as did his friend Ben Carter — wresting control of the hard-drinking, sometimes violent scene from the bar owners and out-of-town rowdies. All told, Ben Carter Properties ended up with eight acres over seven city blocks ($210 million in real estate) for a shiny, new Streets of Buckhead, the $1.2 billion project that got underway today.

Before the demolition began, there were lots of introductions, announcements, commitments and applause.

• Mayor Shirley Franklin: Very excited about the $3 million seed money for a public art foundation that will place works by well-known artists on the streets, starting with a piece by Frank Stella.

• Councilman Howard Shook: "Remind me not to play Monopoly with Ben Carter. He owns the streets, and has a hotel on every street!"

• Former Mayor Sam Massell was on one of his beloved cruises but sent his hellos: "...This will be a destination that will make the entire City of Atlanta proud."

• Sally Silver was widely praised for her work and activism on the NPU B.

• Scotty Green, executive director of the Buckhead Community Improvement District: "If there is this much interest in a groundbreaking, I don’t know what’s going to happen at a grand opening [expected in 2009].

• Frank Stella whose colorful and playful outdoor sculpture was on display and will be mounted outdoors after construction is complete.

• Robin Loudermilk who acknowledged playing and partying on the streets of Buckhead with Ben Carter — decades ago — long before the Streets of Buckhead became a vision.

• Ben Carter whose family and friends celebrated the linen-suited real estate guru all morning. He leaves tomorrow for a family vacation to Croatia.


The main entrance to the Streets of Buckhead project will face Peachtree Road and include the new 1 Hotel & Residences.

Announcements of committed retail and restaurants to come:

• Hermes: French luxury scarves and goods will leave its current Lenox Square shop for SOB.

• Bottega Veneta: leading luxury leather goods and ready to wear (also in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston).

• AG Adriano Goldschmied: men’s and women’s boutique featuring vintgage-inspired denim.

• Domenical Vacca: classic Italian styling for men and woman (other stores in New York, Miami, Palm Beach and Beverly Hills).

• Etro: fashion forward for men and women.

• Bottega del Vino: upscale Northern Italian cuisine.

• La Goulue: intimate French bistro and sidewalk cafe (think Madison Avenue).

Atlanta’s first 1 Hotel & Residence complex — a partnership of Barry Hotel Partners and Starwood Capital Group -- will be located at the intersection of Peachtree and Pharr Roads and will include 100 condos, a 175-room hotel, a spa and restaurant. The hotel, billed as the world’s first green global luxury hotel, is expected to open in 2010. The project will be LEED certified, approved by the U.S. Green Building Council, a benchmark for design, construction and operation of green building.

Balfour Beatty Construction will raze and reconstruct the former village into a new mixed-use community. The firm is also working on The Prado in Sandy Springs.

Another conceptual view of Buckhead Village once the Streets of Buckhead project is completed in 2009.

For more information, visit www.streetsofbuckhead.com.