Springintoyour new home!

April 21-23, 2017

By Collin Kelley

Spring is here and that means Intown homes will be opening their doors and garden gates for tours. Throughout April and May, these tours will offer a glimpse inside some of the city’s most beautiful homes as well as raise money for the organizations sponsoring them. Mark your calendars for these upcoming events.

DRUID HILLS TOUR OF HOMES & GARDENS

The event marks its 49th year with six homes and one garden that feature the work of master renovators and landscape designers. The tour, which runs April 21-23, will also feature a series of events open to the public at Emory Village and throughout the neighborhood including the Makers Market on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Slice & Pint parking lot, local bands, the Patch Dash 5K Run/ Walk, CDC Museum Tour, and the Lulllwater Preservation Garden Plant Sale. Tour hours are 1 to 5 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Proceeds from the tour, events and merchandise benefit the Druid Hills neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Advance tickets are $25 for an individual and $20 per person for a group of 6 or more. Purchase tickets and learn more at druidhillstour.org.

Inman Park Tour Of Homes

As part of the annual Inman Park Festival, this year’s tour runs April 28-30. Details were still being firmed up at press time, but expect to see more than a half-dozen of the neighborhood’s most unique homes, including Victorians, Four Squares, bungalows and renovated, modern spaces. For updated information on the tour, visit inmanparkfestival.org.

Gardens For Connoisseurs Tour

Benefitting the Atlanta Botanical Garden, 10 lush gardens at private homes in Buckhead, Midtown, Brookhaven and Sandy Springs will be on view May 13-14. Featuring a range of styles and sizes – from tranquil woodland settings to intimate urban oases, the professionally designed to “gardener’s gardens” –the event will delight both green thumbs and the “garden curious” alike. Tickets for the self-guided tour, held rain or shine each day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., go on sale April 1 at atlantabg.org. Tickets are $28 in advance (garden members $22) and $35 on days of the tour, and are valid both days.

INTO THE WYLDE: A TOUR OF GARDENS

The Wylde Center will present some of Decatur and Atlanta’s most beautiful private and public gardens and greenspaces on May 6-7. The tour will be held rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $15 for Wylde Center members, $20 for non-members in advance and $25 the day of the tour, and may be purchased at wyldecenter.org or at the Oakhurst Garden, 435 Oakview Road in Decatur. Children under age 12 will be admitted for free. Proceeds benefit the Wylde Center.

As The Residences at Mandarin Oriental Atlanta in Buckhead approach sellout, iStar Inc. has released The Maisonettes, a set of three villa-style homes starting at $2.8 million. The homes offer all the amenities of the luxury hotel brand with comfortable multi-level living and a high-capacity garage. The units also include large front yards and outdoor terraces.

Apartments and retail are coming to MARTA’s King Memorial Station as part of a transit-oriented development. MARTA announced today that it is entering a partnership with Place Properties/H. J. Russell & Company to develop 400 apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail on property located behind the station near Oakland Cemetery. The $51.3 million joint venture replaces the one MARTA announced with Walton Communities in 2014.

Construction on the multi-story modular project – the first of its kind in Atlanta to be co-located with a transit hub – will begin later this year. Twenty percent of the apartment units will be earmarked for affordable housing.

A new high-rise apartment tower overlooking Piedmont Park plans to break ground this summer. Lennar Multifamily Communities is behind the 26-story tower at 195 13th Street, which will have 300 apartments.

The current home of the United Way and other nonprofit organizations at 100 Edgewood Avenue is on the market to be transformed into student housing. According to Atlanta Curbed, the Robert W. Woodruff Volunteer Service Center Building has served as offices since it was constructed back in 1965.

Knock, online home selling platform that provides homeowners a guaranteed way to sell their home in six weeks or less without risk, has launched in Atlanta. Created by founding team members from Trulia.com, the company uses data science to price homes accurately, technology to sell homes quickly and a dedicated team of professionals to guide homeowners through the selling process. For more information, visit knock.co.

AMLI Piedmont Heights has been awarded LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 375-unit luxury apartment community located in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood uses Energy Star windows and appliances, eco-friendly plumbing fixtures, stormwater irrigation and is 100 percent smoke-free inside and out.

Top Photo: Our contributing photographer Asep Mawardi was on hand for the 135th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Peachtree Street and caught this hilarious image from the day.

Bottom Left: More than 500 African American runners took part in last month’s Publix Georgia Marathon and HalfMarathon through the streets of Intown. Known as Team Take Down, some of the runners who took part in the race posed for this photo taken by Da’Rel Patterson.

Bottom Right: Rap superstar and entrepreneur Ludacris talked with ChooseATL campaign director Kate Atwood during the SXSW festival in Austin, TX last month. ChooseATL was at the festival to recruit new tech talent to the city and showcase all Atlanta has to offer for business start-ups.