Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles has a new owner. The newly formed Buckhead Crown Media, founded by the magazine’s current publisher, Elizabeth Ralls, acquired the home design publication and media brand from Esteem Media for an undisclosed amount.
Ralls, who will remain the brand’s publisher, says that the timing was fortuitous. “I was at a point in my career where I felt ready to take a bigger stake in the brand, and [Esteem Media CEO] Adam Japko was looking to focus on other things—while still leaving Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles in the hands of someone who would continue to treat the staff like the family that we are, and who would really honor its roots and retain everyone who has made it such a success over the years,” she says.
Founded in 1983, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles is the city’s only monthly home and garden magazine. The brand has passed through multiple owners over the decades, but has been under the Esteem umbrella for the last 10 years. “We are selling the business to ensure that the Atlanta-based team on whom Esteem has relied all along, led by Elizabeth Ralls, becomes the ultimate stakeholder for the next 20 years,” said Japko in a statement. “I look forward to watching our nimble and capable team continue developing this uniquely successful media brand at Buckhead Crown Media.”
Ralls previously served in multiple editorial roles at the title, including a seven-year stint as editor in chief before moving into the role of publisher in 2020. In her tenure as publisher, Ralls has expanded the brand’s experiential events, adding the Tour of Kitchens, in addition to two new showhouses—one in Florida’s 30A region in 2023 and a second on Georgia’s Lake Burton this fall—which joined its mainstays, the Southeastern Designer Showhouse and the Home for the Holidays Designer Showhouse.
Under her new Buckhead Crown venture, Ralls hopes to continue to expand the magazine’s footprint with new experiential events in the Atlanta area as well as in dominant second-home markets for Atlantans. “We want to explore luxury regional activities outside of showhouses, but that are in our community, where connection is the driver,” she says. Another long-term goal is to acquire other niche regional media properties, but her current focus is on growing Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles.
The new company’s name refers to the neighborhood where the magazine is based, which Ralls points out has become a design destination in recent years. “We’ve got the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center in our backyard, in addition to top regional retailers and antiques dealers,” she says. “The trade and the high-end consumer both come to Buckhead to shop. I wanted to nod to that. Part of what makes AH&L so special is that it’s loved by homeowners and designers equally and it serves both audiences faithfully.”
Bringing ownership back to Atlanta (Esteem is based in Newburyport, Massachusetts) feels like an important milestone for Ralls. “We’re such a niche brand, and I wanted the name Buckhead Crown Media to home in on the sense of place Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles is known for,” she says. “We engage in a dedicated way with our community here in Georgia. It’s not just a magazine that you get in the mail each month. We have an anticipated 5,000 people coming to our Southeastern Designer Showhouse in the spring, many of whom will source suppliers and tradespeople directly from their experience at the house. We interact with our audience in a real way, and that relationship pays dividends with both the trade and the consumer. Again and again, I find that so rewarding.”
