Moving to Kirkwood? What to Know First

People move to Kirkwood for a hundred different reasons, but the practical questions come out the same every time: which school, how long is the commute, and what the block actually feels like at 7 a.m. After 20 years and more than ‎500 sales across Metro Atlanta, I have a standard answer for all three. Here is what I tell buyers who are weighing the move.

The schools

Kirkwood is served by Atlanta Public Schools. Most blocks feed Fred A. Toomer Elementary,then Martin Luther King Jr. Middle, and Maynard Jackson High. Toomer runs an IB program with Mandarin instruction,and it sits about a mile and a half from most homes. Charles R. Drew Charter is the public K-12 charter option in the neighborhood. As with all of Atlanta, zoning can be street-specific, so I always tell buyers to confirm the exact assignment with APS before they commit.

The commute

There is no MARTA rail station inside Kirkwood itself, but East Lake Station and Edgewood/Candler Park Station, both on the Blue Line, bracket the neighborhood. From either one,trains to downtown run about a quarter hour. The Route 24 bus covers the neighborhood, and I-20 runs along the southern edge if you drive. My honest advice: do the evening commute twice, once from the office and once from wherever you actually park, before you sign anything.

Walkability, block by block

Kirkwood was laid out in 1899 as a streetcar suburb,and it shows: sidewalks that actually get used, a main street on Hosea L. Williams that holds coffee, restaurants,and the Saturday market, and parks at the center of the grid. Bessie Branham, roughly seven acres,has tennis courts, a walking loop,and a playground;; Coan Park carries the Trolley Line Trail, and the Eastside Trolley Trail, the 1.1-mile link under construction,will tie the whole thing into the Atlanta Beltline. Walk Score readings for Kirkwood addresses land from the high 50s to the mid 80s depending on the block,which is another way of saying the neighborhood walks where it is built to walk.

The vibe

Kirkwood keeps a real mix: longtime owners who remember when,new families, painted Craftsman bungalows next to newer townhomes,and a community calendar that fills up. The Spring Fling, the Wine Stroll, the farmers market,and the path keep people outside,and the front porches do the actual work of neighborliness. It is intown living with a porch-and-sidewalk pace, and the Beltline link is only going to deepen it.