Buckhead's Lenox Boardwalk Gets Its First Holiday Rush, and It Stops at Peachtree Road

This year there's a new way to get to Lenox Square. A raised walkway 10 to 12 feet wide now runs along Lenox Road beside the mall. It has new pedestrian lighting, new landscaping and some tree shade, and it covers about 0.44 miles from Lenox MARTA station at East Paces Ferry Road to Peachtree Road. This is the first holiday season it's open. Lenox Square's whole December calendar is now a short walk from the train on a path built for walking. Everything north of Peachtree Road, including Phipps Plaza, is still past where it ends.

That changes how a Saturday of Santa photos, opera and hot chocolate works this year, and so does a MARTA construction detour at the station end of the boardwalk.

What Got Built Along Lenox Road

The Buckhead Community Improvement District calls the Lenox Boardwalk Section I of its Lenox Road Complete Safe Street project. The full project runs 1.25 miles from Lenox station to Piedmont Road. The district lists the boardwalk as completed in January 2026 at a cost of about $15.6 million. Urbanize Atlanta reported in late September that every part of the project was finished and open.

The CID describes the goal this way:

"This wide, elevated boardwalk enhances the visual character of the corridor while creating a safer, more direct connection between the Lenox MARTA station, Lenox Square and the surrounding retail, hospitality and business community."

Walking that stretch was a problem long before construction started. When the trail plans were first shown at a public meeting in 2017, Rough Draft Atlanta quoted a Buckhead Condo Alliance representative who said there was "really nowhere to walk." The boardwalk is the first fix for that, and the CID says it sets the design standard for the two sections still to come.

The Station Door You'll Use Into December

On Monday, Nov. 9, MARTA closed access to Lenox Station from Lenox Road for the next phase of skylight replacement on the southern concourse. The details:

• Riders coming from the Lenox Road side have to use the west entrance, which faces East Paces Ferry Road on the mall side.
• Station access and ADA access stay open.
• Rail and bus service aren't affected.
• MARTA expects the work to take four to five weeks.

Four to five weeks from Nov. 9 puts the reopening somewhere between Dec. 7 and Dec. 14. The detour covers all of Thanksgiving weekend and the first Saturday in December. It might still be in place for the second Saturday. The open entrance is on the mall side and faces East Paces Ferry Road, the same street where the boardwalk begins. MARTA's signs point you to it.

This isn't the last closure at the station. MARTA expects the southern skylights to be finished in early 2027, and it says later phases will close some stairs and escalators for stretches of time. If you ride for the holidays, check the Lenox Station Rehabilitation page before you go.

Holiday train schedules change too. MARTA's holiday operating schedule runs Sunday rail service on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, and a modified Saturday rail schedule on Friday, Nov. 27. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day also run on Sunday schedules.

The Lenox Square End of the Calendar

The boardwalk ends at Peachtree Road, so Lenox Square is where it pays off. Lenox's 2026 holiday lineup is at the mall itself, and there's plenty of it. Simon's "It's a Holiday Thing" listing has these dates:

If you're driving anyway, Lenox Square says its self-parking is free across the property, with 8,000 spaces. Valet is at the Peachtree Road main entrance and near Neiman Marcus. Free parking keeps the car tempting. On the busiest Saturdays, though, the train plus the boardwalk means you never have to circle the deck.

Saturday, December 5, Is When the Detour Matters Most

December 5 fills up more than any other day this season. It's also squarely inside MARTA's construction window. Lenox Square and the Buckhead Village District both have events, so a full day lines up like this:

1. Noon to 2 p.m. Livable Buckhead hosts Wreath Decorating for Atlanta's Heroes in The Veranda at Buckhead Village. Volunteers decorate wreaths and sign cards for all 43 Atlanta fire rescue stations and police precincts.
2. 1:30 p.m. The Atlanta Opera performs in Lenox Square's Luxury Wing.
3. 3 to 7 p.m. The Miracle on Peachtree Holiday Market opens at Charlie Loudermilk Park, with artisans, makers and specialty vendors.
4. 5 to 7 p.m. The Buckhead Village District Hot Chocolate Crawl. Admission is free, and a commemorative campfire mug costs $8 plus tax.
5. 7 p.m. The Holiday Tree and Menorah Lighting at Charlie Loudermilk Park, where Livable Buckhead lights a 24-foot tree from Traditions.

If you take the train, that day starts and ends at the mall-side station entrance on East Paces Ferry Road. Plan for that door both ways, since the Lenox Road side will still be closed.

Big John's Christmas Trees is in the Village too, at 302 E. Paces Ferry Road NE. The lot is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Big John's says fresh trees arrive Nov. 18 and lists its 2026 season as starting Saturday, Nov. 21. From Nov. 29 through Dec. 7, its School Spirit Week gives 10% of eligible purchases to North Atlanta Cluster PTAs. A tree is the one holiday errand that doesn't work on foot.

Past Peachtree Road

North of Peachtree is where the new infrastructure ends. Urbanize Atlanta reported that the second phase of the Lenox Road project, about $10 million, has entered final engineering. It will bring wider sidewalks, upgraded ramps and staircases, and more lighting between Peachtree Road and Phipps Boulevard. Until that phase is built, the boardwalk covers none of the walk to Phipps Plaza.

The new work closest to Phipps is the Wieuca Road and Phipps Boulevard roundabout, which is now finished. The CID calls it Atlanta's first multilane roundabout. The $4 million project added bike lanes, crosswalks, placemaking signage and an 85-foot landscaped island. That island replaced a stretch of asphalt Urbanize Atlanta compared to a small parking lot. It makes the area around Phipps easier to drive and walk through, but it doesn't connect to the boardwalk.

Phipps has its own calendar this season:

• Grinch on The Green, Dec. 3. Phipps Plaza is turning The Green into an outdoor movie night with seasonal food and drinks, plus free photos with the Grinch.
• Santa's Tavern, Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. A seasonal pop-up bar presented by Buckhead Bar.

Phipps offers free self-parking and $5 valet, and it says holiday rates may apply.

December 12 Covers Both Ends

On Saturday, Dec. 12, from 4 to 7 p.m., Livable Buckhead's Hot Chocolate Crawl in the Buckhead business district checks in at Lenox Square. From there it spreads to participating shops, restaurants and hotels across Lenox Square, Phipps Plaza and nearby businesses. Drinks come spiked and alcohol-free. Admission is free, and commemorative mugs are $8 each at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza.

Of all the season's events, the crawl puts the boardwalk's start and end to work most clearly. Get off the train, walk the boardwalk to Lenox Square to check in, and do the Lenox stops on the new path. The Phipps half of the evening is past Peachtree Road, beyond where the boardwalk ends. Dec. 12 also falls at the end of MARTA's four-to-five-week estimate, so check the Lenox Station page that morning to see which entrance is open.

If you take Lenox Road all December, you've watched this stretch change through the whole construction season. Ginger Pressley follows Buckhead projects like the Lenox Road Complete Safe Street because they change how a block works day to day and how a home near it gets used. If you want to talk about what the next sections toward Phipps Boulevard and Piedmont Road could mean for your street, call or email Ginger Pressley.