Where to live now in Atlanta 2018

Pine Hills

Photograph by Josh Vick of Home Tour America. Listing agent: Sylvia Mallarino Bras, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty

They don’t call it Pine Hills for nothing.

Once the province of Creek Indians, this rolling, forested section of northeast Atlanta was mostly comprised of large farms until homebuilders descended after World War II. Later, as Atlanta’s population exploded, key thoroughfares girding Pine Hills, including Lenox Road, underwent expansions and zoning changes that allowed for the condo and apartment complexes that dot the neighborhood’s edges today. Despite the development, the pines and hills remain.

Among the roughly 10,000 neighbors who call the area home, a favorite pastime is simply walking around this quiet section of Buckhead (via sidewalks that locals take pride in), though Lenox Square and its adjacent MARTA station are a short stroll up the street, too.

Homes

A single-family oasis insulated by trees and yards from Buckhead’s towering skyscrapers, Pine Hills originally featured mostly ranch-style and midcentury modern homes (now priced from the mid-$400,000s, unrenovated). Beefier, newer houses can fetch seven figures, but deals can be found on one-bedroom condos (starting in the low $100,000s). Entry points are generally lower compared with nearby Buckhead nabes such as Peachtree Park.

Who lives here?

Generally speaking, a well-to-do range of young and old. But the recent expansion of preeminent Sarah Smith Elementary School’s district now covers most of Pine Hills, attracting more young families.

Photograph by Josh Vick of Home Tour America. Listing agent: Sylvia Mallarino Bras, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty

Pros

Tucked among these wooded streets is tranquil Shady Valley Park, with an extensive playground, tennis courts, and a soccer field, and it’s not far from a members-only swim-tennis complex. Pine Hills’s boundaries include a stretch of Buford Highway, which has attractions ranging from Pancho’s Mexican Restaurant to the fun-loving Rusty Nail Pub that locals describe as “the South’s version of Cheers.”

Con

Traffic on Lenox Road (and basically any surface-street feeder to Interstate 85) during rush hour.

Vital stats

Crime (Annual odds of becoming a victim in the Plantation Drive/Lenox Road neighborhood as defined by NeighborhoodScout.com)
Violent crime: 1 in 326
Property crime: 1 in 30

Georgia School Grade
North Atlanta High School: B

Crime ratings by NeighborhoodScout.com are based on data collected from more than 18,000 local law enforcement agencies and coded by location. NeighborhoodScout.com is the most widely used neighborhood search engine in the world. It is owned by Location Inc., a leading builder and source of location-based data and tools for businesses and consumers nationwide. NeighborhoodScout areas are based on Census tracts and don’t always exactly mirror neighborhood boundaries.

School grades were provided by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. The office’s Georgia School Grades Reports include “A-F letter grades based on school performance and other useful information about the school, such as performance on statewide assessments, the makeup of the school’s student body, the graduation rate, and additional academic information.” schoolgrades.georgia.gov

This article originally appeared in our February 2018 issue.