Upgrades for Atlanta’s signature park on tap in new year

Josh Green

Wed, 12/18/2024 – 16:18

With its snazzy new direct Beltline connection, André 3000 flute-a-palooza, and lack of Music Midtown damage, 2024 has been a significant year in the annals of Atlanta’s most-visited greenspace. But positive happenings at Piedmont Park are just getting started, according to its official stewards.

The Piedmont Park Conservancy this year celebrated its 35th anniversary and 120th for the park by raising funds and putting together the first Comprehensive Plan for upgrades, expansions, and upkeep in a quarter-century.

Exactly how those changes will be rolled out in the short term is now coming into clearer focus.

Earlier this year, the nonprofit launched the Piedmont Park Conservancy 35th Anniversary Appeal, a campaign to raise $3 million for a masterplan to add new greenspace and acreage, implement enhancements and needed improvements, and generally help reimagine the park’s more than 200 acres.

“Thanks to several extremely generous donors,” conservancy officials wrote in an email to Urbanize Atlanta this week, “we have raised nearly $2 million in support for park improvement projects, several of which are underway.”

January volleyball in Atlanta’s marquee greenspace. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Here’s a rundown of what’s happening—and what’s to come as a new year dawns.

• Warmer welcome: Where the new Beltline segment meets Monroe Drive and 10th Street, work is expected to begin early next year on “a great new entry experience” to the park, the conservancy reports. That includes a new park sign near Park Tavern’s entrance, a stone sitting wall, and a large new planting bed.

• They urned it: Like other planting vignettes, all historic stone urns built for the Cotton States Exposition of 1895 have been replanted around Piedmont Park.

Example of reinvigorated, historic park planters. Courtesy of Piedmont Park Conservancy

• Runners, rejoice: In early 2025, the conservancy plans to resurface the park’s popular Active Oval with new crushed composite and then level it for heavy use come spring.

• Pool refresh: A thorough refurbishment of the park’s pool and aquatic center kicked off before Thanksgiving that’s prepped the pool for new tiling and a pump room overhaul. Additions will include new shade structures, furniture, a fresh sound system, and other changes before the pool reopens on Memorial Day next year, per the conservancy.

• Firmly planted: An initiative to plant flowering shrubs and native annuals at 12th and 14th Street entrances and several others along 10th Street and Park Drive has recently wrapped.

• Root causes: Set for completion in early 2025, a comprehensive health assessment and inventory of more than 7,000 trees throughout the park is underway now. The conservancy plans to partner with the City of Atlanta for a three-year tree care initiative with a goal of planting several thousand new trees and preserving mature, historic ones.

• Widespread upkeep: Maintenance projects scheduled across Piedmont Park will include repair and painting of park buildings and railings, drainage and erosion control projects, plus paving and curb repair.

• Future vision: Details are still being finalized, but the conservancy is preparing to unveil its first Comprehensive Plan in more than 25 years in 2025. “The plan,” according to the conservancy, “will guide the future of Piedmont Park, ensuring it remains a thriving urban oasis for generations to come.”