Buckhead is proving once again that it's not a big fan of dillydallying. Preliminary plans for a park to cap Ga. Highway 400 in the heart of Buckhead have been released, just three weeks after an announcement that a study was going to take place — and just two months after the idea was initially floated. Stretching more than 1/3 of a mile and covering nine acres, the park would connect Lenox and Peachtree roads, capping the highway and MARTA line and providing access to Buckhead Station.
From a pragmatic standpoint, the park would make the Lenox Road corridor at Ga. Highway 400 a safe space for pedestrians for the first time, creating a link between two of the area's main roads. It would form a part of PATH400, connecting the trail through the heart of the Buckhead commercial district, bringing it just a stone's throw from Lenox Square. The park would include large gathering areas, restaurants, new access to the MARTA station and even a dog park.
The park drawing shows boxes indicating what appears to be new development on the site of parking lots and low development that surrounds the park, which is not all that surprising considering the construction already under way in the vicinity.
Not too far from the the most expensive neighborhood to rent in Atlanta, the area surrounding the park has been overtaken by high-rise residential development in the form of Cyan, SkyHouse and the just announced Related Group development, which could collectively bring another 700-plus units. At the other end of the proposed park, along Lenox Road, Post Alexander Phase II has just topped out.
All of that development doesn't include the adjacent sites where high-rise offices are going up, including Three Alliance Center and a proposed office at Tower Place, both of which would sit adjacent to the park.
Holy skyscraper!
Initial estimates put the implementation of the park at around $200 million, according to BuckheadView. Even as the area booms, it's best to not get too overwhelmed with the pace of park planning. Despite the frenzied approach, Buckhead CID Director Jim Durrett told Curbed it could take at least a decade before the park is built. Here's hoping that, somehow, the current pace continues and that Durrett's unofficial timeline is, say, cut in half.
· CID presented 1st vision for 'park out of thin air' over GA 400 [BuckheadView]
· Phase II Study for Park Atop Ga. 400 is Already Beginning [Curbed Atlanta]
· New Park Could Cap Ga. Highway 400 in Buckhead [Curbed Atlanta]
· Goodbye, Concrete Church. Hello, 386 New Apartments! [Curbed Atlanta]
· Buckhead CID Director Talks Growth, Traffic & Planning [Curbed Atlanta]
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