Folks, the Final Four round has arrived, and it’s a battle between top seeds and a true dark horse in ’24!
Following more than 520 votes last week, the top four vote-getters in this March Madness-style quest to be crowned the Best OTP Downtown are now facing off. All three top seeds—as determined by reader nominations—made the cut, with a feisty No. 16 seed also in the mix.
Those are the reigning 2023 champ, Alpharetta, followed by Roswell, Marietta, and Trilith, the growing southside mixed-use and TV/film studio hub, which raked in nearly one-fourth of all Round 1 voting.
Voting for this round will close promptly at 11 a.m. Friday.
The top two finishers in the Final Four will earn a spot in the Championship early next week, with the winner to be crowned in front of thousands across the metro.
Now, let’s quickly meet our Suburban Smackdown Final Four contestants—and then cast a vote:
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ALPHARETTA (1)
Blocks of recent development around formerly sleepy Alpharetta City Center. Courtesy of Awesome Alpharetta
Estimated city population: 68,000
Distance from downtown Atlanta: 25 miles
Secret sauce: 120-acre Wills Park boasts a large dog park, public pool, 18-hole disc golf course, and an equestrian center considered among the Southeast’s best
How fitting the No. 1 seed in this quest for OTP Downtown greatness (as determined by reader nominations) is not only one of the largest cities but also has “Alpha” in its name. (Kismet?) Ask locals, and they’ll say downtown Alpharetta was sleepy—if not outright boring—not too long ago. That all changed in 2019, when the final components of Alpharetta City Center were opened on former parking lots and strip centers, lending the North Fulton city an open-container central green, dozens of new shops and restaurants, upscale apartments—and a new identity. Outward growth has only continued, with the city’s first boutique hotel, new mixed-use ventures, and now wildly…
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