Highlights unique to Unit 6

Interior Highlights: Unit 6
True loft features include:

First floor (20-, 12- & 10-foot ceilings)

• 20- and 10-ft. ceilings in living/great room with 20-ft. floor-to-ceiling windows facing east and west invite lots of light.
• 12-foot ceiling kitchen/dining/breakfast areas look out through 20-ft. floor-to-ceiling windows to sunny courtyard.
• Hardwood floors have a “pickled lime” finish that tones down pine’s golden hue.
• Spiral staircase to loft.
• Freshly painted walls.
• Freshly primed and painted exterior doors.

Details:
• Granite windowsills accent the steel, glass and block construction.
• Under-cabinet kitchen lighting.
• Hi-end appliances.
• Utility/laundry room shelving.
• Inside main jack; wired for two lines.
• Wireless security system throughout.
• Powder room mirror.

Second floor (10-foot ceiling)

• Huge master bedroom with east-, west and south-facing windows make this a serene place amidst sweeping vistas.
• Large walk-in closet with floor-to-ceiling Elfa shelving.
• Loft extension: office or extra sleeping area with tree top views from 3 southerly exposed windows. Yes, the 2nd floor is a peaceful, well-lit end unit. (Unit #7 is not 2 stories.)
• Master bath with floor-to-ceiling Elfa shelving and hi-end sconces and plumbing fixtures.
• Lush carpeting and padding throughout.
• Freshly painted walls.

Details:
• Ceiling fan extension.
• Bathroom mirror.
• Track lighting on separate dimmer switches.
• Wired for two lines.
• Wireless security system throughout.

Exterior Highlights: Unit 6
The garden courtyard is a rare condo find. What started off with a concrete slab stoop, some non-descript, evergreen shrubs and bark-covered soil now boasts:

• 1" thick Vermont slate patio...relax and alfresco dine!
• Raised Vermont slate fire pit with storage nook for wood.
• Beautiful dogwood and perennials soften the ambiance.
• Eastern exposure means great morning light.
• Freshly primed and painted exterior doors and awning.

Y’all stop by now...

Where it’s at.
Location. Location. Location. Trite but spot-on true! Central to the happening neighborhoods that make Atlanta city living so appealing, Unit 6 is less than a mile from Poncey-Highlands, Inman Park, Downtown and Midtown and 12-15 minutes away from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Wait...it gets better!

You’ll be moving into the hands-down, hottest, up-and-coming neighborhood inside the perimeter. The Old Fourth Ward is aggressively undergoing impressive growth and transformation. Witness its catchy moniker: O4W. Don’t live on the sidelines of the excitement that is rapidly (and literally) building. This is not a flashy area. It’s a place with roots and real character, a genuine assortment of personalities, places and progress. No matter where you look these days, inspiration and energy look back at you here. The gentrification is not short-lived; it is gaining momentum like I’ve never seen before, economy be damned.

Sounds good, huh?
Drive around and get your feet wet. Put on your “seriously looking” hats, and check out the competition. Make sure you first pop your head into a few dozen cookie-cutter, “Eastern-bloc style” condo monstrosities. One of them will allow you to check off the “roof over my head” on your to-do list, but they will lack any style, personality (or the potential for either), boring you and your friends and family in no time. Satisfying a primal need, they are nothing more than glorified apartments with paper-thin walls and time-consuming hauls between your car and elevator or to walk the dog. It won’t take long, and they will all look alike. While they might be bigger, is bigger better than bland? Imagine returning from your cube to such sterile and impersonal surroundings (another cube), or inviting someone over (“Hey, which box are you in?”). When you’ve had enough, direct yourself to Unit #6 at 542 Ralph McGill Blvd., an oasis of creative design and construction...a unique sense of place, as individual as you are. You will then be home.

For a private showing

To truly appreciate the distinct features of this home and how it stands out from the competition, you must take it in live. To arrange a personal viewing of Unit #6, please contact:

Debbie LeShane
Cell: 770.331.9022
Office: 404.814.9000
debbie.leshane@harrynorman.com

Oh, the places you'll go!

The neighborhood is Seussically quirky, yet everything comes together! It will not take you long to appreciate the convenience of your new home and neighborhood.

Shopping
Within blocks, you will find grocery stores (Kroger, Publix, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods), drugstores (CVS, Rite-Aid), banks (they’re merging too fast to list them but branches are numerous), places of worship, independent boutiques and other manners of retail persuasion. The entrepreneurial spirit is at every corner and blends well with the big box solutions (Borders, Home Depot, Staples, PetSmart, etc.). A few blocks away, there’s Inman Park. For more about shopping along the lower North Highland corridor, see the “O4W-Adjacent” post.

Green Space
The development of Freedom Parkway and the surrounding park space have given residents an area to take bike rides, walk their dogs and enjoy the outdoors. Alongside Edgewood Avenue runs a bike path; imagine that! In October 2008, the Atlanta City Council unveiled images of a new 35-acre park to be located northeast of here (just off North Avenue and behind City Hall East). Historic Fourth Ward Park, whose eastern portion abuts the proposed BeltLine, will include a lake with a pedestrian boardwalk and natural vegetation.

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go
Atlanta is headquarters to nine Fortune 500 companies (those right down the street are below) and other world-class businesses. In addition, well-regarded institutions of higher learning, medical facilities and entertainment venues are within a few-mile radius, if not closer. Here’s a sampling of the commercial activity nearby:

Atlanta Medical Center
Creative services agencies galore
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Fernbank Museum of Natural History
Georgia-Pacific
Law offices (more than you can shake a stick at)
Southern Company
State Capitol
SunTrust Banks, Inc. (among many banks and banks of banks)
The Carter Center
The Coca-Cola Company
Turner Broadcasting System

Emory University
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
Georgia State University
Morehouse College
Spelman College

Atlanta Merchandise Mart
Centennial Park
CNN Center
Georgia Dome (NFL)
Georgia World Congress Center
Philips Arena (NBA and NHL)
Turner Field (MLB)
World of Coca-Cola®

While people are moving back into town to cut down on the horrendous commute, you'll also realize how many work from home...all the more reason to have that garden patio for a much-deserved break.

Revitalizing Old Fourth

O4W is movin’ on up.
The Old Fourth Ward is an urban, residential community located at the heart of Intown Atlanta. Located west of Poncey-Highlands and south of Midtown, adjoining neighbor-
hoods include Little Five Points, Virginia Highlands and Inman Park.

Only a few years back, Old Fourth Ward’s singular draw was its location, with the trend-setting action happening all around us. That has dramatically changed, with the historical environs currently experiencing an unprecedented revival. Now, you’re right in the thick of things — from down the street, to the block over — everything the city has to offer surrounds you.

Affectionately dubbed O4W, Old Fourth Ward is brimming with dynamic people and a range of architectural styles, from beautifully restored Victorian and Craftsman-style homes, to contemporary lofts and loft conversions, new construction, mixed-use retail/residential apartment and condo complexes to visually bland commercial properties that have been here for what seems like forever.

The neighborhood owes its revitalization to many factors. City Hall East, once the location of Sears and Roebuck Co., is under development as a 2 million square foot mixed-use complex, which will ultimately provide retail, office and residential loft spaces. Across the street is the forthcoming Historic Fourth Ward Park. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Visitors Center and the Carter Center were initial economic pivots.

Are you “in the ward?”
Sections of the Old Fourth Ward once had colorful names, like Buttermilk Bottom, at the entrance to Georgia Power and the Civic Center's parking on Ralph McGill Blvd., where (you guessed it) the hill bottoms out. East of there was once a scad of movie theaters. Historical markers are rare, but as you drive around, note the brown street sign toppers that let you know you are “in the ward.”

For years suffering from economic blight, O4W’s unprecedented comeback is being fueled by agile money and avant-garde minds that generously dot the landscape with renewed energy. Those seeking to ditch the hellish commutes have also shape-shifted the vibe. O4W now boasts an ever-growing selection of influential restaurants, bars and cafés. Long-established businesses draped by non-descript buildings anchor the buzz of the architectural, high tech and creative firms that also call this ward home. To live here is to experience it first-hand.

Note regarding searching by neighborhood names: Not every broker uses the name "Old Fourth Ward" when entering properties into the MLS. For listings specific to "Old Fourth Ward,” you may also search by the two zip codes (30308 or 30312) that serve this area.

A Little History Never Hurt Anyone

Don’t know much about history?
Here’s a quick lesson. Old Fourth Ward is a historic, African-American community just east of Atlanta’s Downtown. The neighborhood is famous as the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born and raised, as well as the location of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his father preached. In the ward’s Sweet Auburn District, you’ll also find the Martin Luther King. Jr. Memorial, a well-visited National Historical Site. The Carter Center and Presidential Library is nearby.

Present-day Old Fourth Ward is a smaller version of the historic Fourth Ward political area. Atlanta's Ward System was a series of political divisions used by the city for 100 years beginning in 1854. From these first five wards, the system eventually grew to a total of 13, when the city changed to a district system starting in 1954. Some of the 13 wards were carved out of the original five, while others were add-ons, as the city limits expanded from a radius of one square mile to one and a half square miles.

Changing landscape, changing hands
The Muscogee-Creek Indians once lived here before the State of Georgia created the ward’s original land lots in 1821. At mid-century, southern pioneers co-existed with northern newcomers. On the grounds of what is now the Carter Center in July 1864, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman set up camp during the Battle of Atlanta, a bloody confrontation that took place 2 miles southeast of what is now Freedom Parkway. Not far away from Union headquarters, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood established his own base just north of Oakland Cemetery.

For a quaint and unusual reenactment of that deadly engagement, visit the Cyclorama and accompanying diorama, where the world’s largest oil painting (42 ft. high by 358 ft. in circumference) depicts the fateful summer day. From 1885-1886, German artists in Milwaukee labored on what was once an even larger canvas. This revolving cylindrical storytelling format brings bloody July 22, 1864 to life, as it left 12,000 killed, wounded or missing.

The Old Fourth Ward once had beech, hickory, oak and pine trees a plenty. But pre-Civil War military fortifications and the campaigns during the War of the South left deep trenches and mounds of earthen walls. Mortar shells, fires and felled trees from that decisive battle left visible wounds to the rolling hills. Old Fourth Ward has had its highs and lows. The community was riding high about 100-130 years ago, thriving as a racially and socially diverse and peaceful part of the city where many prominent leaders from all disciplines had residences. The Great Fire of 1917 stormed the calm and precipitated a long decline.

Auburn Avenue was the spine of black self-sufficiency when Jim Crow laws severely restrained opportunities for black businesses and geographically confined individuals seeking employment to behind the color line. Along this commercial street lived most of the black elite. Having once worked for the white community, black professionals and tradesmen had only their own people from which to carve out a living. Nevertheless, their shadow economy was in its stride for thirty years up until the end of segregation.

Old Fourth Ward is redefining itself again, reflecting a renewed vibrancy... reaching out and deep like the roots of many still-standing trees that witnessed the neighborhood’s first heyday over a century ago. A do-over is upon us!

Yummended!

There's no excuse for going to ball-and-chain eating establishments. From restaurants that are light on the wallet to those that are sophisticated on the palate, these are a few of my favorite haunts. More spring up on a regular basis...some of the latest being a patch of finds along Edgewood Avenue, which is fast making a name for itself as a culinary destination. If you go hungry, it’s your own fault.

Lunch, Dinner and long into the Night
— restaurants, bars + dessert —

4th & Swift
Cacao Atlanta
Dogwood
Kevin Rathbun Steak
Krog Bar
Park's Edge
Rathbun’s
Repast
Serpas True Food
Shaun's
South City Kitchen
Tamarind Seed
The Bureau Bar
Top Flr
Trois
Wisteria

All-Day Breakfasts, Lunch Spots and Diners
— budget fare + bonus people-watching —

Dynamic Dish
Eats
Java Jive
Miso Izakaya
Noni’s Italian Deli
Ria’s Bluebird Café (across from Historic Oakland Cemetery)
Six Feet Under (the original...where else but next to the boneyard?)
Thumbs Up Diner

Directions

The access afforded to you from the 04W neighborhood (particularly 542 Ralph McGill Blvd.) to places of interest in all directions cannot be emphasized enough. All interstates are within minutes: I-75 and I-85 have numerous on- and off-ramps nearby, and access to the east-west I-20 is equally close south of here.

Heading north from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Yessiree, and in no time. It’s about 10.3 miles (12-15 minutes of freeway drive time) from ATL. Go north on I-85. (I-85 merges with I-75 south of downtown). Once you come upon east/west running I-20, move over quickly into the right lanes. The exit is 248-C (Freedom Parkway/Carter Center). It shares an exit with Andrew Young International Blvd.

Move to the left lane as you exit the off ramp. Turn left onto Boulevard. Go about 2/10 of a mile (3 lights in close succession). At the third light, turn right onto Ralph McGill. The loft is halfway down the block on your left past a few bungalows. Look for cinder block construction and mint-green doors and awnings, and you’ve arrived!

Heading south on I-75/I-85
Take exit 248C (Freedom Parkway/Carter Center) once the interstates takes a left bend. It's beyond North Avenue and after you've passed a few more downtown exits.

Move to the left lane as you exit the off ramp. Turn left onto Boulevard. Go about 2/10 of a mile (3 lights in close succession). At the third light, turn right onto Ralph McGill. The loft is halfway down the block on your left past a few bungalows. Look for cinder block construction and mint-green doors and awnings, and you’ve arrived!

Public transportation
You are steps away from MARTA bus connections to MARTA railway stations, which will even take you to the airport.

Map it!