Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Transformed Community

More than anyone else, Bill Johnson transformed Buckhead from a community with a few impressive homes into the “Beverly Hills” of the South, as Sam Massell would say. The Atlanta native purchased the Ritz-Carlton in Boston in 1983, and with it the domestic rights to the name and the brand, including the iconic lion and crown symbol. He paid $75 million. That same year, he renamed his soon-to-be-open luxury hotel across from Lenox Square the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. The hotel and its restaurant The Dining Room lifted Buckhead to rarified air.