Piedmont Park is slowly getting bigger. In recent weeks, crews have begun the expansion of Atlanta's marquee green space in earnest, digging away to extend parkland to the intersection of Piedmont and Monroe near Ansley Mall. The work is part of a $41-million "Phase I" of Piedmont's growth, renovating and adding about 41 acres ($1 million per acre?) to the 189-acre park. The under-construction Piedmont Commons section will boast a walking bridge, a trail, easy connection to (the eventual corresponding stretch of) the Beltline and a "pick-up field that can be used for games or picnicking," spokesman Terrell Henderson told Curbed Atlanta this week.
An illustrated map of the new section seems to show one added park entrance right off Monroe Drive, just a bit down from its intersection with Piedmont, and another "Dutch Valley Gate" just a few blocks south. It's all slated to be finished sometime near June, Henderson said. But those plans are, as always, "depending on the weather and construction," he said.
Eventually, the park hopes to add another 12 acres or so dubbed Piedmont Gardens, a little further south between Monroe and (again, the eventual corresponding stretch of) the Beltline.
Here's the whole master plan — in technicolor, and with explainers!
— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep