News from The Shumacher Group: Fall/Winter 2015

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Forty five years ago this past Labor Day, I arrived in Atlanta, a freshly scrubbed college graduate about to embark on a career teaching high school in the City of Atlanta. It would have been hard to imagine at that time that I would be spending the next almost thirty years in the real estate business.

Much has changed. In 1970, the population sign in front of the Darlington apartments on Peachtree Street had just topped the one million mark – an event highly lauded and publicized on the front pages of the Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. For those who may not know or remember, Atlanta at one time had two major newspapers, albeit sharing the same publisher, which at least created the illusion of competition.

The City of Atlanta claimed approximately 500,000 residents, about where the city population sits today, while the surrounding area had 500-600,000 citizens. Today, the explosive growth in the suburban areas has pushed metro Atlanta to over six million residents, the vast majority arriving in the past few decades. In fact, Atlanta may have the singular distinction of being one of the fastest growing cities in the history of the world with a five fold increase in population in less than 40 years. Far flung outposts like Cumming, Carrollton, Conyers and Locust Grove are now considered part of the metro area and the growth shows no sign of abating. Predictions show Atlanta with anywhere from eight to ten million residents by 2030.

The composition of the population has also changed. In 1970 Atlanta was essentially a bi-racial city; black and white and black politicians were few and far between. Maynard Jackson’s election, in 1973, as Atlanta’s first black mayor was a harbinger of significant political and social change throughout the metro area. Today, Hispanic and Asian populations are the fastest growing ethnic minorities. Atlanta soon, like the rest of the country will be a majority minority city. In fact, Gwinnett County, perhaps the most diversely populated county in Georgia, is already at or very close to that tipping point.

The commercial growth has been no less spectacular. Consider this: in 1970, virtually all the major banks, law firms and other professional firms were within walking distance of Five Points in downtown Atlanta. Midtown, along Peachtree Street from the Fox Theater to Pershing Point, was primarily a row of single story buildings featuring everything from peep shows to stores selling hippie clothes and paraphernalia. Long haired young people, from throughout the Southeast and points further walked the streets, some hawking alternative newspapers, recreational drugs, or general peace and love.

Buckhead was a quiet neighborhood. The main attraction was a Sears store at the intersection of Peachtree, Roswell and Paces Ferry. Lenox Square was built, but still had a Colonial grocery store as an anchor. Perimeter Mall, Cumberland, Gwinnett, if thought about at all, were glints in some dreamy eyed developers’ mind. The notion that metro Atlanta would one day claim fifteen regional malls would have been heartily laughed at.

The restaurant scene, what there was of it, mainly constituted a large number of “meat & threes”, the most prominent of which, Mary Mac’s, remains today. Better restaurants could be counted on two hands with a few fingers left over. Gene and Gabe’s, the Coach and Six, the Ambassador, Chateau Fleur de Lis, the Midnight Sun and Fan & Bill’s passed for fine dining. Ethnic restaurants were few and far between, and those that did exist stuck to the tried and true- dumbed down American versions of their native cuisines, often with sweet overtones to accommodate the Southern palate.

The daily newspaper did not review restaurants, at the time, and the newspaper’s food section generally consisted of profiles of society events and recipes for re-treaded southern classics with an occasional ethnic dish added for diversity.

It may be hard to believe that today as a Chinese, Mexican or Italian restaurant can be found in every neighborhood center and highly lauded chefs operate a large number of specialty restaurants, Atlanta has created one of the most diverse dining scenes to be found in the United States. Excepting a few hub cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and perhaps Washington D.C., Atlanta’s local eateries easily compete with, and often top most other cities you could name.

Numerous specialty food stores, gourmet grocers and large ethnic market can be found in every nook and cranny of the metro area. Several dozen neighborhood farmer’s markets are open every day of the week and some offer year around hours. Atlanta has truly become a bona fide foodie town.

Surprising Stats about Pizza Eaters 

Ask most people to describe a pizza customer and the clichés fly quickly: young, male, prone to excessive sports watching and beer consumption. But according to the Center for Generational Kinetics, that’s not the case. According to a recent study, 63% of pizza lovers (those who both bought frozen pizzas and ordered from restaurants) were women… but that  may be skewed by women doing most of the family shopping. The majority (59%) were 35 or older and most exercised at least twice a week. Perhaps most surprising: 78% claimed to have soft drinks with their pies rather than beer.

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