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The Buckhead Village, which in recent years has ridden a boom-and-bust cycle from being the city’s wildest party zone to a faded collection of half-shuttered storefronts, is about to experience its biggest transformation yet.

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While the change has long been predicted by Buckhead boosters, it comes far sooner than expected and at the hands of a seemingly unlikely character.

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Ben Carter, the Atlanta developer best known for planting the Mall of Georgia in Gwinnett pastureland, plans to overhaul about four blocks of prime Village real estate, turning it into an ultra-high-end retail district, according to officials who have seen the plans.

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Carter, who could not be reached for comment, has spent recent months quietly buying property and making deals with major Village landowners. He intends to redevelop the area into upscale streetscapes reminiscent of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Washington D.C’s Georgetown neighborhood, officials say.

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“The plan is a good one because it’s a pedestrian scale, with two- or three-story buildings and good-looking architecture,” says City Councilman Howard Shook, who represents the area.

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Carter’s ambitious plan involves most of the land bounded by the curving Peachtree Road to the west and north, Pharr Road to the south and North Fulton Drive to the east, including stretches of Buckhead Avenue and East Paces Ferry Road, as well as the entire length of Bolling Way. “Basically, it’s everything that most folks would consider to be the Buckhead Village,” Shook says.

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Carter is expected to file a development application with the city in the next few weeks, but Shook says much of what he intends to do will not require rezoning approval and none of it conflicts with the city’s comprehensive development plan.

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“That’s half the battle right there,” Shook says. “I don’t see any red flags in the plan now. I believe the neighborhoods are going to fall all over themselves in support of it.”

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So far, few details have emerged about the impact of the redevelopment project on existing nightclubs and businesses. Likewise, no prospective tenants have been confirmed, but insiders say there has been strong interest in the Village from high-end retailers who typically avoid mall locations, such as gourmet grocers Dean & Deluca and Prada fashion stores.

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One familiar night spot that is likely to remain is Tongue & Groove, located on a portion of Peachtree Road between East Paces Ferry Road and Buckhead Avenue that sources say is not part of Carter’s assemblage. Owner Michael Krohngold told CL that he has no intention of relocating his 12-year-old club.

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Other features of the plan include three parking decks tucked behind buildings so as to be less visible from the street; a mid-rise boutique hotel and at least one mixed-use high-rise in the neighborhood of 20 stories.

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“When you look at the overall plan, it’s amazing how well thought-out it is,” says an official familiar with the project.

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Although largely known as a mall developer, Carter actually turned his back on the ‘burbs shortly after launching the Mall of Georgia. He has proposed several versions of a plan to turn the former downtown Macy’s into an urban mall topped by a hotel and, in 1997, he announced a massive redevelopment of an old strip shopping center at Northside Drive and West Paces Ferry Road at I-75, a project that later fell through.

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Carter’s current redevelopment plan is, in many ways, the realization of years of wishful thinking — and vocal campaigning — concerning the Village by the Buckhead business community. In the late ’90s, Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell began to call for a crackdown on the rollicking nightlife and to advocate a rollback of bar hours. In response to the growing late-night violence, Aaron Rents President Robin Loudermilk launched a behind-the-scenes effort in early 2004 to persuade property owners to stop renting space to bars and nightclubs.

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By late last year, many of the most notorious clubs in the Village — Chaos, BAR, World Bar — sat boarded up. But Shook says the area will remain an entertainment destination, if not quite as it was before. “This will be a maturation, that’s for sure, representing a big shift in the peak hours of operation,” he says. “But I’m sure the Buckhead Village isn’t going to become a temperance center.”