BeltLine’s Best Restaurants: TWO Urban Licks

TWO Urban Licks is one of America's best outdoor restaurants according toTravel + Leisure. The accolade is earned from a patio that opens up to the BeltLine Eastside Trail, bocce ball courts, an herb & vegetable garden, and killer skyline views of downtown Atlanta. Inside is quite dramatic, too. The dining room's central feature is a high energy kitchen with a floor-to-ceiling rotisserie and open wood-fire pit where the meats and fishes are grilled to perfection. A few of the more … [Read more...]

Happy Trails to Trader Joe’s Midtown

Three years ago we were in a pickle. We had started 2009 with the mantra “On the BeltLine in ‘09!” I wanted to relocate to a BeltLine neighborhood and focus my real estate career on what I saw as the evolution of Atlanta. By Thanksgiving we had relocated to the Old Fourth Ward, but my real estate business had virtually flat lined due to the financial aftershocks of 2008. Then we decided that my wife couldn’t continue her employment in a toxic work environment at a southside nursing home. She … [Read more...]

Four Loans to Get Your Greenovation Done

Working with Home Buyers on historic home greenovation projects has been a specialty of my real estate career. The greenest properties in Atlanta are those that are already built in the 45 historic neighborhoods that touch the BeltLine. A search of FMLS today for homes classified as “Fixer Uppers” shows a total of 155 on the market, many of which are in said nabes. So there’s plenty of stock available to purchase and renovate for those kindred spirits out there. Of course, to pull off a … [Read more...]

Our Atlanta Botanical Gardens Adventures

There are many wonderful advantages to living just two blocks from the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, one of them being an enjoyable bike ride to The Atlanta Botanical Gardens! It first occurred to us to pedal to the petals this summer when we took a little “stay-cation” to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. Turns out it was a very good idea. We rode the Eastside Trail to Monroe and stopped for lunch at Woody’s. We each had a Polish Sausage Dog and a Sweetwater 420 - DEELISH!  Then, … [Read more...]

Saturday Morning on the Eastside Trail

That's Sugar pictured above. She loves to walk...and meet people….and eat. So do I!  That’s why we spend our Saturday mornings on the BeltLine Eastside Trail.. We start our morning routine on Auburn Avenue in the King Historic District in The Old Fourth Ward which is just a couple of blocks west of the BeltLine. We stroll past Lotta Frutta offering a nod and a “Good morning” to the folks sitting outside enjoying their Latin American fruit cups, smoothies, and breakfast fare. Then we cross over … [Read more...]

A Circle of Forest in the City in a Forest

Typically when you think urban, you think of concrete, asphalt, iron, glass, stone -- lots of hardscape and not-so-many trees. Rarely do you think of any metropolitan space as a green oasis, but Atlanta has long held a unique position in large metropolitan areas as the “City in a Forest” due to it’s abundance of trees. National Geographic recently gushed: For a sprawling city with the nation’s ninth-largest metro area, Atlanta is surprisingly lush with trees—magnolias, dogwoods, Southern … [Read more...]

7 “Rubber-Hits-the-Road” Tips for OTPers

“It’s so much better than I expected!” I hear over and over again as I take friends and family members, predominantly from Outside the Perimeter (OTP), on their first bike rides on the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail. Some of these people hadn't ridden bikes in years. Some didn't even have bikes. Some weren't even sure they could ride. Yet they did. If you’re an OTPer who wants to be an Eastside Trail insider, too, this little article is intended to give you some rubber-hits-the-road … [Read more...]

Smart and Fancy Living at LEED Certified Oakland Park

Just south of one of Atlanta's most unique and cherished green spaces and a couple blocks west of the BeltLine Eastside Trail southern extension sits Oakland Park Condominiums -- the first in Atlanta to garner LEED certification. Oakland Park help set the standard early for what smart growth should look like for the BeltLine corridor. The mixed use complex currently has four condominiums on the market in 1 bedroom/1bath and 2 bedroom/2 bath floor plans. Prices range from $148K - $240K with … [Read more...]

What’s Up With the Weeds on the Eastside Trail?

After volunteers planted over 109,000 native grass plugs earlier this year, it may appear that the weeds are winning the war along the Eastside Trail corridor. But careful attention to the signage Trees Atlanta has staggered along the way tells a different story. Apparently this is all part of the process of replacing a "damaged urban ecosystem" with low-maintenance (no mowing!) prairies and meadows that will leap to life in 2015. Doctor Seuss couldn't have said, or illustrated it, … [Read more...]

MetroFresh: a Home Grown Restaurant Success

Located in the Midtown Promenade on the corner of Monroe and Virginia and just steps away from the Beltline is MetroFresh, one of the corridor’s most unique restaurants. MetroFresh was founded in the fall of 2005 with the notion that fresh, healthy, creative food is not out of reach for the casual diner. MetroFresh is “Fresh Food, Fast,” specializing in prepared gourmet soups, salads, side dishes, sandwiches, dinner entrees and light healthy breakfast.  They use the freshest in-season … [Read more...]