Grant Park

My take

Grant Park grew up around Atlanta’s first city park, deeded in 1883 and now 131 acres with Zoo Atlanta inside it. The streets around it are lined with Victorians, cottages and bungalows from the 1880s into the early 1900s, and Memorial Drive at the north end has become a real restaurant row. The first thing I tell buyers: most of the neighborhood is a City of Atlanta historic district, so exterior changes go through city review, and I check whether each address is in it.

On foot

The park is the center of everything. Restaurants are on Memorial Drive at the north end, and since 2026 the BeltLine has run along the south and east edges. I-20 cuts across the north side, so how walkable it feels depends partly on which side of the highway you’re on.

1. The park loopPast Zoo Atlanta, the 1896 Erskine Fountain (Atlanta’s first public fountain), and the site of Fort Walker, an 1864 Confederate battery by the Boulevard and Atlanta Avenue entrance.
2. Oakland CemeteryAt the top of the neighborhood, across Memorial Drive. Founded in 1850: gardens, Victorian monuments, and the graves of Margaret Mitchell, Bobby Jones and Maynard Jackson. The visitor center is open 10 to 5 daily.
3. The BeltLineThe trail along Grant Park opened in 2026 and is part of almost 17 continuous miles, north toward Krog Street Tunnel or west across the Southside. Get on at Boulevard, the Ormewood Avenue ramp, or Glenwood Avenue. A Grant Street ramp by The Beacon is planned but not built yet.
4. Sunday marketThe Grant Park Farmers Market, Sundays 9 to 1, year-round, at The Beacon on Grant Street.

What I’d walk to

Coffee

Bellwood Coffee at Boulevard and Rosalia, open since spring 2026, and Grant Park Coffeehouse on Georgia Avenue.

Breakfast

Ria’s Bluebird on Memorial Drive. Daytime only, closed Wednesdays.

Dinner & drinks

Das BBQ, Birdcage and Firepit Pizza Tavern, all on Memorial Drive.

Every year

Summer Shade Festival in the park in late August, Oakland’s Capturing the Spirit tours in October, and the Candlelight Tour of Homes in December.

What it’s like

Housing stock

Mostly 1880s to early 1900s. Two-story Victorians face the park, Queen Annes fill the surrounding streets, and one-story cottages and Craftsman bungalows sit to the east.

Prices

Prices depend heavily on the street and the house. Ask me for current sales on the blocks you’re looking at.

Commute

About 3 miles to Downtown, 4.5 to Midtown and 11 to the airport by car. King Memorial station is just past the north end, about a mile from the park.

Schools

Almost all of Grant Park is zoned for Parkside Elementary, King Middle and Maynard Jackson High (King and Jackson are IB schools). APS votes on new attendance zones December 7, 2026, effective August 2027, and Parkside’s zone is changing, so check your address with me.

Worth knowing

• Zoo Atlanta began in 1889 with animals bought from a failed traveling circus. Its new giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, arrived from China in September 2026 and go on view November 6.
• The park once had a 500-by-200-foot swimming pool, added in 1917, and a lake called Lake Abana. Both were drained in the 1960s, and the land became zoo parking.
• The L.P. Grant Mansion on St. Paul Avenue, finished around 1856 by the man who gave the city the park, is one of the few antebellum houses left in Atlanta. It’s now the Atlanta Preservation Center’s headquarters.

What to watch for

About 70 percent of Grant Park is in the city’s Grant Park Historic District. There, new construction, additions, demolition and many exterior changes need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Urban Design Commission. Parts of Memorial Drive, the east side near Glenwood Avenue, and the BeltLine edge by The Beacon are outside the district, so I check the exact lot. I also look at I-20 noise on the north side, parking on festival weekends, and the flood map.

Homes for sale here

Live listings for Grant Park land here once the listings page is up. See what I have listed in the meantime.