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Parks department unveils gorgeous renderings of Grant Park Gateway plans

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But the fight to save trees on the project site rages on

By Sean Richard Keenan
A rendering of the park’s makeover
The Grant Park Gateway plans.
Renderings: Smith Dalia Architects, via @ATLParksandRec Twitter

There’s still some uncertainty over how many trees will be axed to advance the Grant Park Gateway project, but fresh renderings unveiled by the City of Atlanta’s Department of Parks and Recreation show no shortage of green.

The $48 million Gateway plan—an effort to replace 8 acres of surface parking with a parking deck for 1,000 vehicles—kicked off soon after a $38 million expansion was announced for Zoo Atlanta in early 2016.

It joins several in-progress green space initiatives across Atlanta that promise to be transformative.

The project’s backers say the additional parking should help accommodate the continuing growth of both the zoo and surrounding neighborhoods.

A summary of what Save the Trees of Grant Park was able to achieve, per the conservancy group:

  • The city agrees to preserve 10 additional Grant Park trees. Five are in the bowl, five are down by the pond;
  • The city agrees NOT to stockpile dirt in the bowl during construction. This will minimize damage to the surrounding trees and the four specimen trees which are to be preserved in the middle of the bowl;
  • The city agrees to attempt to save #2745, the large water oak on the corner of Boulevard and Confederate. The city also agrees to attempt to save #2731, the 100-year-old white oak in the southern end of the Boulevard lot;
  • The city agrees to redesign the flyover bridge to make it ADA compliant and to make it friendly for use by cyclists. There will be future design meetings about this;
  • The city agrees to turn the southern end of the current Boulevard lot into green space. They will cover the remaining asphalt with dirt and greenery. (Ripping out the asphalt would likely damage the roots of the remaining trees, more than leaving it in). This area will not be a bus parking lot;
  • The bandstand on top of the deck will be redesigned as a pavilion. There will be future design meetings about this.

Source: Save the Trees of Grant Park

Opponents were up in arms that initial blueprints for the park’s additions called for the felling of 131 mature trees. Community outcry actually put the cutting plans on hiatus in October 2017—about a year after the Grant Park Gateway project was announced, according to Atlanta INtown.

But after a legal melee with the city, activists with Save the Trees of Grant Park were able to claim only a few small wins. Most of the trees earmarked for removal will fall.

It’s worth noting that the planned four-story parking deck is slated to be covered in green space—and equipped with a 4,000-square-foot restaurant—along the park’s eastern edge.

Last September, one of just two parking lots serving Grant Park and Zoo Atlanta was shut down as construction fencing was erected around the 500-space lot in preparation for site work.

Those spots are expected to be out of commission until 2019, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Meanwhile, the Zoo Atlanta expansion launched construction in February, led by Winter Johnson Group, which is also helping with the Grant Park parking overhaul.

The Gateway project is being designed by Smith Dalia Architects and landscape architect HGOR.

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