The Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) proposed a $46.5 million campaign for improvements to Centennial Olympic Park in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 1996 Summer Olympics, according to Creative Loafing.
GWCCA Director of Communications Jennifer LeMaster said the goal was to have five to 10 different ideas on how to transform the park, and GWCCA envisions for the project to be completed by 2020.
The original architects and planners of Centennial Olympic Park have worked in tandem with AECOM, TVS, and GWCCA Board of Governors and Staff to develop the park’s design, according to LeMaster.
Executive Director of GWCCA Frank Poe said one major change will be the opening of the park to the surrounding community, according to Creative Loafing.
“The goal really is to open the park,” Poe said to Creative Loafing. “When it was initially constructed, the area surrounding it looked a lot different than they do today. So we’re really trying to open the park back up to the neighborhood and not make it as closed off in that regard.”
Other improvements include expanding the park up Marietta Street through the hopeful acquisition of the Metro Atlanta Chamber building, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
The proposed plan took three years to develop but cannot move forward until funding is secured, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Poe told Creative Loafing the GWCCA has begun approaching multiple metro-Atlanta foundations for contributions towards the intended goal, and they hope to obtain funding by 2016.
LeMaster said $60 million has already been invested into the park since 1996.
“Since the park opened, the nearly $60M referenced what the state has funded, ie. annual operations, ongoing maintenance, capital projects, etc.,” she said
GWCCA’s feasible funding study, which covers components related to the proposed projects, will be available sometime next month, according to LeMaster.
“[The study is] simply looking at what possibilities exist as each project is significant in scope,” she said.
Georgia State student Patrick Friend said the overhaul of the park sounds like a good way to improve upon Atlanta’s current attractions rather than constructing novelty items, but he is still hesitant about the decision.
“I suppose I don’t really see a problem with it at first glance,” he said. “It sounds like a solid idea, more so than the streetcar or the ferris wheel, considering that it’s improving upon the city instead of slapping something new and novel down.”
