Residents like Glenwood Park's 'new urbanism'

Metro Atlanta

Residents like Glenwood Park's 'new urbanism'

Photos: Glenwood Park in southeast Atlanta was built from scratch five years ago on New Urbanist principles.

It wasn't so long ago that Glenwood Park was a 28-acre patch in southeast Atlanta filled with rubble, ditches and busted concrete. Now the 400-home community, built on New Urbanist principles, has townhouses, condos, houses and a park. Colin McKay takes a swing in the playground.

Glenwood Park sacrificed big yards for more public space and walkable streets and avoided familiar chain stores, preferring locally owned business.

Five years in, residents agree that the community-from-moonscape experiment worked. Belinda Ferrell, who walks past Vickery's bar as she delivers mail in Glenwood Park's retail area calls the place 'fabulous.'

Residents' biggest complaints are about empty commercial spaces. A gym, coffee shop, dry cleaner and some restaurants have lasted, but some businesses, including a boutique, spa and pizza spot, have shut down.

Eric Wilson has lived in Glenwood Park two-and-a-half years. His Victorian-looking home represents one of a variety of architectural styles in the neighborhood.

Glenwood Park was developed on the ideal of community and sustainability. The residential part of the development has been a success, according to the developers, but the retail portion has lagged.

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It wasn't so long ago that Glenwood Park was a 28-acre patch in southeast Atlanta filled with rubble, ditches and busted concrete. Now the 400-home community, built on New Urbanist principles, has townhouses, condos, houses and a park. Colin McKay takes a swing in the playground.