Atlanta Parks

[smArTaLlone]

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...nt&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin

After nine years of planning, the Atlanta Botanical Garden will finally break ground on its eight-acre expansion in late Fall 2025, the garden says. Upon completion, the Atlanta Beltline will have a direct connection to the garden.

Set to be completed by 2027, the ambitious $150 million project is a part of the Atlanta Botanical Garden's plan to redefine urban connectivity in the city. The 30-acre garden would add eight acres, stretching north along Piedmont Avenue Northeast and the Atlanta Beltline’s new Northeast Trail.

[shivtim]

Via Urbanize, Full vision for upgraded Piedmont Park emerges

"They depict the park’s centerpiece Lake Clara Meer with a new boardwalk loop and other enhancements; a remade section along the Beltline’s recently finished Northeast Trail segment with new pathways and chances to experience Clear Creek up close; and perhaps most substantially, the long-planned North Park Expansion that would swap a commercial node where Piedmont Avenue meets Monroe Drive with park space, including an amphitheatre and new play features."

[Sojourner_Terminus]

I think the upgrades look great. Especially like the boardwalk theyre adding to Lake Clara Meer.

[smArTaLlone]

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...nt&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin

Local officials are preparing to begin construction next year on the Stitch, a 17-acre park proposed above a section of the Downtown Connector.

Atlanta City Council's Amir Farokhi, Jason Dozier and Jason Winston introduced legislation Monday to advance the $700 million project. At full build-out, the park would sprawl across a platform capping the interstate between Piedmont Avenue and Ted Turner Drive.

The legislative package includes the creation of a special service district, in which commercial property owners would pay a special tax to fund maintenance and operations. The tax would amount to an additional $200 for every $100,000 of a property's assessed value. The same kind of mechanism is used to support the Atlanta Beltline.

Georgia’s Department of Transportation could start the process this summer to find a private partner to construct the first phase of the interstate tunnel, Cebe said, above which would rise a 5-acre park at Ralph McGill Boulevard between Peachtree and Courtland streets.

The first phase also includes 8 miles of Downtown street improvements. Funding is in place to complete the first phase, which is estimated to cost $200 million. The bulk of the dollars come from the federal government, including a $157 million grant from U.S. Department of Transportation, Cebe said.

[megalopolis]

Hopefully the Stitch is the catalyst for something to finally happen with the Medical Arts building, which will be directly adjacent to phase 1 on the west side of the park.

The massive parking lot on the south side of phase 1 is also ripe for development. It looks like the owner is the same owner as the Truist building across the street.

[megalopolis]

Damn, if they do everything in this Piedmont Park Comprehensive Plan, then it'll be such an upgrade to the existing park!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hyad12rz7k1v6JwvB8HvV0zjxy9PzaZT/view

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by megalopolis

Damn, if they do everything in this Piedmont Park Comprehensive Plan, then it'll be such an upgrade to the existing park!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hyad12rz7k1v6JwvB8HvV0zjxy9PzaZT/view

Wow, that looks amazing.

[megalopolis]

The Atlanta Botanical Garden expansion will begin construction this fall, to be completed in 2027.

And 2027 is when (if fundraising goals are achieved) phase one of this Piedmont Park comprehensive plan would begin, starting with the Piedmont Commons expansion at the corner of Monroe and Piedmont. The Piedmont Commons expansion would be complete by 2029.

Between these two projects, what a transformation that will be to Piedmont Avenue from Westminster to Monroe! I'm hoping the city comes to a purchase agreement with the owners of the Shell station and Octopus Kitchen soon.

[Julien]

What a deal at only $46M for a humongous 4 acer park. And all that's needed now is a little water and a diving board and it will be perfect.

I'm all for green spaces but this just doesn't make too much sense to me. It just seems like the site is too small for much of a park and paying full on "skyscraper" land prices seems excessive. Also small public parks like this can easily turn into homeless camps.

Hope to be proven wrong a couple of years and there be something special there.

[Metrophile]

There needs to be organized opposition to this ill-conceived vanity project.

[edg1]

That area shouldn't be a park IMO. PP is a few blocks away. They should save that space until it is developed into a high-rise

[testarossa50]

If they did it right, it could be truly awesome: create underground parking and remove the Promenade II parking deck, connect the parks for Promenade II, One Atlantic Center, and Symphony Tower, and redevelop Arts Center station with the goal of establishing several new highrise plots and connecting a huge chunk of Midtown via a walkable greenspace (14th/Crescent up to Arts Center Way/West Peachtree) with subterranean parking.

But I would imagine what they'll do instead is far less ambitious, only accessible from 14th Street, and a weird dodgy little park.

[Sojourner_Terminus]

Originally Posted by testarossa50

If they did it right, it could be truly awesome: create underground parking and remove the Promenade II parking deck, connect the parks for Promenade II, One Atlantic Center, and Symphony Tower, and redevelop Arts Center station with the goal of establishing several new highrise plots and connecting a huge chunk of Midtown via a walkable greenspace (14th/Crescent up to Arts Center Way/West Peachtree) with subterranean parking.

But I would imagine what they'll do instead is far less ambitious, only accessible from 14th Street, and a weird dodgy little park.

The only way I would think this park is a decent idea is if they did that, but i have absolutely zero faith they will. So instead, we will get a bizarre, hard to access, $80 million dollar park. It will be a boondoggle.

[shivtim]

Originally Posted by Sojourner_Terminus

The only way I would think this park is a decent idea is if they did that, but i have absolutely zero faith they will. So instead, we will get a bizarre, hard to access, $80 million dollar park. It will be a boondoggle.

It's being managed and built by Midtown Alliance. They do excellent work. I personally would prefer more housing (high-rise apartments) here, but I have no doubt this will be a stellar park. Just check out some of their previous projects.

[Sojourner_Terminus]

Originally Posted by shivtim

It's being managed and built by Midtown Alliance. They do excellent work. I personally would prefer more housing (high-rise apartments) here, but I have no doubt this will be a stellar park. Just check out some of their previous projects.

I love MA and what they have done. I guess I just can't see how they can address the physical limitations of the space as it stands today. How will they be able to address that parking deck?

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

I think people are a little cucu about this park. Midtown only has Piedmont Park currently and that is quite a ways for people on the western edge of Midtown to get to. If you compare to Downtown which has many parks sprinkled throughout its urban area. Midtown does seem to have an anti-homeless attitude so a lot of folks are anti-(any public amenities) purely because homeless people might use them to camp out. Majority of the public benches in Midtown were removed due to this with condo towers pushing for it.

Instead of kneecapping the public realm because of homeless concerns would be nice to put that same energy into finding solutions to the problem, although I'd say its a byproduct of capitalism so good luck with that.

[Metrophile]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeanuts

Midtown only has Piedmont Park currently and that is quite a ways for people on the western edge of Midtown to get to.

Horse feathers. I make the walk from the western edge of Midtown to Piedmonth park all the time and it don't take long. And there's already a nice little park "sprinkled" immediately next to the site of the proposed MA vanity project, open to the public.

[megalopolis]

View this video replay of Midtown Alliance President and CEO Kevin Green's remarks about how the future public space at 98 14th Street can act as a lever to unlock adjacent spaces, vital connections, and experiences

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMOjcIHTt1c

Midtown Alliance is looking for a multi-disciplinary design team to help us develop a compelling concept and realistic cost estimate for this city-defining project. Respond to our Request for Qualifications by August 22.

https://www.midtownatl.com/midtown-allia...reet-request-for-qualifications-bid-reso

See Plans for Temporary Site Improvements. Midtown Alliance is working to clean up the site, re-grade it and make it usable in the interim while long-range design plans and fundraising efforts ramp up.

https://www.midtownatl.com/project/interim-improvements-98-14th-street-public-space

[shivtim]

Memorial Drive Greenway starts design phase

"...the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation is officially launching a fresh Memorial Drive Greenway design phase in partnership with Pond & Company... Broadly speaking, Greenway plans call for remaking half a mile of underutilized land between Oakland Cemetery and the eastern edge of downtown into an accessible, leafy linear park. The land in question totals 8 and ½ acres sandwiched by Memorial Drive (the southern border) and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive (northern border)."

Previous plans that will be updated:

[bryantm3]

The freeway cap that makes the park "a thing" isn't happening. If they can't do that, they should leave it as-is, and use the money in areas where it's needed much more. We have large swaths of the south and west sides of the city that need the kudzu removed and replaced with native wildflowers and grasses— including all throughout Shirley Franklin (formerly Westside) Park. That can be accomplished without extensive design fees. The State should fund the Capitol Greenway.