Streets of Buckhead

Location: Atlanta
Developer: Ben Carter Properties
Financial Backers: Ben Carter; Private funding; CB Richard Ellis

Streets of Buckhead, touted as the Madison Avenue of the South, is a $1.5 billion mixed-use community under construction in an affluent Atlanta neighborhood (images here from the "live cam" streamed on the project's Web site.) Designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Bottega Veneta will open up shop on the promenade, flanked by high-rise condo buildings and upscale restaurants. However, the opening of the first phase of the project has been postponed from November 2009 to fall 2010, and construction company Balfour Beatty just laid off several employees assigned to the project. The developer is renegotiating construction contracts, and rumors are swirling that some retailers have terminated their leases. Developer Carter remains optimistic, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Retail usually leads us out of a recession and luxury is usually first."