ATLANTA — Piedmont Park is set to undergo major expansion, according to a report from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
According to their story, the park is looking to purchase four acres of land at Monroe Drive and Piedmont Avenue.
Right now, that area has a Shell gas station and pizzeria. A new Morningside entrance that connects to the Beltline and the botanical garden.
“It’s going to be transformative: a local entry point at the corner, connecting the whole park with the BeltLine and the Botanical Garden expansion,” said CEO Doug Widener, who stepped into his role this fall. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the park and make it complete.”
The garden is working on a 7-acre expansion, which will add a visitor’s center and other uses to a site occupied by a self-storage building and small commercial building along Piedmont Avenue. The deal involves a land swap with Public Storage, which is building a controversial facility at Monroe Drive and Kanuga Street as a replacement for its existing one.
A contractor is now building segment one of the BeltLine’s Northeast Trail, which will extend from 10th Street and Monroe Drive to Westminster Drive with much of the paved path running alongside Piedmont Park. The car-free route between the park and the Eastside Trail could arrive by fall 2024.
Park officials said they are going to start working on the plan beginning in 2024.
This story is part of a partnership with the Atlanta Business Chronicle. To read the rest of this story and others like it head here.