Where to live in Atlanta near Emory University? North Druid Hills

Hey this is Parker Smith with Palmer House Properties in Atlanta. If you’re moving to Atlanta and you’ve been checking out the area around Emory University stick around because we’re going to talk about North Decatur.

So what’s so great about the North Decatur area?

Well number one we talked about the proximity to some of Atlanta’s largest employers: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is currently moving all of their buildings along the I-85 corridor between North Druid Hills and Clairmont Road and the Centers for Disease Control has a campus at Emory University, and also one over off Burford Highway, both of which are very close to the area.

So where is the North Decatur area? North Decatur is comprised of three zip codes:  it’s 30329 3033 and 30345. It’s roughly the area that you see on the map – it is north of Emory University, slightly east of the Toco Hills shopping center, to the east of I-85 and south of i-285. Atlanta has three major highways: you have 75 and 85,which make an x through the city, and then you have I-285, which is called the perimeter which makes a ring around the city. In Atlanta, people refer to locations as either being ITP, which is inside the perimeter, or OTP, which is outside the perimeter. North Decatur is all – ITP inside the perimeter and it’s located in the northeast part of town – that’s a very desirable location for the reasons we’ve always already talked about: it’s close to employers and it’s very easy to get around to all the great spots in Atlanta.

So let’s take a little tour of the zip codes in North Decatur which again are 30329, 30033 and 30345. We’ll start at Toco Hills shopping center, which is located on the westernmost edge of North Decatur. Toco Hills was recently renovated and has attracted boutique shopping and high-end chain restaurants. There are also two large grocery stores: Publix and Kroger, which are at the shopping center and Toco Hills is just north of Emory University. Toco Hills is in the 30329 zip code and just east of there is Sagamore Hills. Sagamore Hills is full of larger ranches on large lots. There are two swim tennis clubs: Briarcliff Beach Club and the Sagamore Hills pool.

The neighborhood swim tennis clubs are a big part of the social life in North Decatur. All the clubs have very active swim teams, year-round tennis teams and most clubs have a lot of very fun social events during the year. Okay our next stop is going to be the Oak Grove area located at Oak Grove road and LaVista Road. The Oak Grove plaza is kind of the crossroads of the North Decatur community – it’s where all the locally owned shops and restaurants are, and it’s the place everyone knows about – even the people who don’t live here. If someone asks you where you live you can say you know where the Oak Grove Market is, and they say oh yeah that’s a great neighborhood. Even people who live a mile down the road in briar lake say they live in Oak Grove. It’s a convenient landmark that represents the whole community and the Oak Grove Market is really the center of the the area it originally started as a meat market has evolved into a great little 1950s style diner. The Oak Grove Market is a great place to grab lunch – they grill chicken and burgers every day, you can also pick up pre-made dinners there which is very popular. Just down from there is a fine dining and cocktails restaurant called Kitchen Six and a great Mexican food restaurant called Taqueria el Vesino and out front is a terrific sports bar known as The Grove –  all these restaurants stay very very busy.

Continuing east down LaVista Road takes you to Briarlake Elementary – it is a wonderful school. It has a hearing impaired inclusion program, so many of the teachers there use sign language. Right next to Briarlake Elementary is a true local treasure which is David’s Produce. David’s has been in business since 1933 –  they have fresh boiled peanuts, fresh produce, all sorts of hot sauces and relishes and the best variety of gourmet sodas in the area. We love to get our peaches from David’s during peach season. They’re very picky about what they sell and the peaches are always fantastic. The North Decatur area is full of fun things to do, whether it’s eating out or just getting outside. Like i said before tennis is huge – if you don’t belong to a swim tennis club don’t worry right in the area is the Dekalb tennis center. The Dekalb tennis center is part of the Mason Mill complex which has the Avis G Williams library, a senior center, a large playground as well as the boardwalk trail called The Path that goes directly to Emory University and Medlock Park. I think what makes the North Decatur area so special is that it just has a great small town feel. It has a really incredible diverse and vibrant community of people that all really care. It’s just a really special place to live it really does feel like living in a small town in a big city. If you need more information about the area feel free to call me text me send me an email i’m here to help!