Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies is moving to a new Downtown location.
In the new location, the Andrew Young School has six and a half allocated floors. The school will share the 55 Park Place building, which used to be the Georgia Pacific Plaza location, with the Robinson College of Business.
“When you walk into the building, there’s a huge atrium. To the left side, there are banks of elevators that go to the Robinson College of Business, and on the right side, there are banks of elevators that take you to the Andrew Young School,” Dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Sally Wallace said.
With the funding they received for the move, the School of Social Work, the Criminal Justice department, part of the Economics department, and one of the Urban Studies Institute’s research centers have already moved to 55 Park Place.
Students, faculty and staff can expect to see lots of new technology, collaborative spaces, lounge spaces, a new designated Career Services and a new office of Academic Assistance.
There isn’t an official date for the entire building’s physical move, but Chief Administrative Officer for Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Avani Raval estimates that it will be sometime in 2023. Architects for the new floors’ design have to be hired, and a construction firm to renovate the floors after that.
Georgia State purchased the 55 Park Place building in 2013 after negotiations with Georgia Pacific that owned the building.
“The building was predominately vacant, and Georgia State was in need of space and eventually purchased the building,” Raval said.
The plan for the Andrew Young School’s move began when Georgia State purchased the new building.
“Georgia State has been trying to find ways to move both the College of Business and the Andrew Young School to 55 Park Place over time, depending on funding,” Raval said.
Georgia State owns the entire building and leases out two ground floor spaces to a restaurant and a delicatessen. Both entities are not associated with Georgia State University.
Currently, the State of Georgia is leasing the current Andrew Young School location on Marietta Street to Georgia State. Georgia State plans on making the complete move to the 55 Park Place location around 2023 when their lease with the state is up.
“We don’t know if there will be a state agency that comes in or what, but the State is also in need of space, as we heard. It will be interesting to see who comes in after us,” Wallace said.
The Andrew Young School is currently located at 14 Marietta St., which is the previous location for the Fourth National Bank, built in 1905. The new location for the Andrew Young School is only half a mile from the original site, making it accessible for students on campus.
The Andrew Young School is home to the Criminal Justice and Criminology department, Public Management and Policy department, Economic department, Social Work department and the Urban Studies Institute.
The school initially started in 1996 with only two departments: Economic and Public Management and Policy. In 2011, the school integrated the Criminal Justice and Social Work departments into the building.
The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies gets its name from civil rights leader Andrew Young. Young was the 55th mayor of Atlanta, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and a U.S Representative for Georgia’s 5th district.
Wallace hopes that the new Andrew Young School building at 55 Park Place can be a very welcoming and collaborative space for students to interact, work and come together on campus.
“There’s a little bit of sadness in leaving [the current location], but we’re going to a place that we are going to be able to recreate that so we’ll be all together again,” Wallace said. “It’s significant that we’re moving from a place that we were all together to a place where we will be all together again.”
Close to the new Andrew Young School building’s future location is Woodruff Park, Highland Bakery, Landmark Diner, GSU Writing Studio, Walgreens, and Starbucks for students to visit, eat, shop, and study while on campus at the Andrew Young School.
