Editor’s Notes
John F. Schaffner
I have spent a good bit of time recently learning to live in Buckhead.
It’s not that I actually live in Buckhead….At least not yet. But, my wife and I will be moving to Buckhead in December, when our condominium in The Gallery on Peachtree is completed.
We have lived in Roswell—at two different locations—since 1985. But our daughter had a baby girl a couple of months ago and Grandma decided we needed to move a little closer to Peachtree City where they live.
We had thought about moving to a more urban environment from time to time over the past few years. But each time, those discussions ended because there was no compelling reason to move from Roswell. The grandchild became the compelling reason.
We spent weekends looking at Buckhead condominiums but were in no hurry at first, thinking it would take some time to sell our home in the real estate market we were hearing about. To our surprise, we had a contract on the home in 21 days and have to be out before the end of this month.
All of a sudden there was an urgency to our search for what would be our new home, and hopefully our home for a long time to come.
Rather then settle for something we were not totally happy with, we opted to purchase a fourth-floor condo in The Gallery, a home that we couldn’t even see, because the building is still under construction. So, until December, it will be apartment living.
Last week, we got to take a hard-hat tour of part of the building and, most importantly, our condo unit. No, it is not finished. But, we were able to get a real feel for our new home and we liked the feeling.
We loved the view we will have up Peachtree Road from our two balconies and the living areas. We love that we can walk north to the Peach Shopping Center to shop or turn south out of the lobby and walk into fine old Buckhead single-family home neighborhoods.
We look forward to shopping at the rejuvenated Buckhead Village in years to come and dining in fine restaurants just a short walk away.
On May 12, I visited the inaugural Cathedral Market in the parking lot of The Cathedral of St. Philip—directly across the street from where I will be living—and thought what a wonderful opportunity it will offer next summer for shopping the vendors and meeting new neighbors.
Don’t misunderstand me. Roswell has been a wonderful place to live and raise our children. It has many of the same amenities, but an auto is often required.
I don’t think either my wife or I will be giving up our cars anytime in the near future. We may ride the Peach bus every so often, but I still think the Peachtree trolley would be a folly. But we are looking forward to walking more and enjoying a new environment.