The hot mess known as Fulton County’s ‘front door’ is getting a $3.4 million renovation
‘It is important that the county practices what it preaches’
The Fulton County Government Center’s plaza facing Pryor Street has seen better days. The 26-year-old water garden no longer works, leaving the water with a brownish hue. Pedestrians step over sidewalk cracks that are sprouting weeds. People using wheelchairs can have a hard time moving around. If the plaza is considered the county’s “front door,” well, you most likely don’t want to knock, much less go in.
Keep Atlanta Beautiful has partnered with Fulton to raise $3.4 million to transform the entrance and plaza into a more inviting space. KAB Chairman Brent Brown says he sees the plaza’s current disarray as an opportunity, and that turning it into “a welcoming and relevant space will benefit the county, city, and surrounding neighborhood for years to come.”
This revitalization includes a $1.4 million renovation of the water garden that was designed by world-renowned landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg in 1989. At the time, North Fulton Republicans used the plaza and indoor botanical garden, replete with $8,500-a-pop palm trees, as an example of Democrat’s wasteful government spending.
Brown says the original design will remain intact, while the makeover will primarily focus on optimizing water efficiency and ADA accessibility, which the garden currently lacks. The other $2 million will be used to renew the streetscape. This means sprucing up surrounding sidewalks, building edges, and removing and replanting trees around the building. Brown says the trees that surround the building currently are reaching the end of their life spans.
“These trees…are planted too close together, and don’t have enough space to get enough water,” said Brown. “We definitely are going to be replanting all of the trees in a more appropriate way.”
Brown said funding will come from private donors who “have a interest in seeing the whole neighborhood thrive.” He also said that the renovation plans are coming at a pivotal moment in Downtown’s evolution, with more than $3 billion in investments in the surrounding area.
“Because of what is happening in the neighborhood, and because this building is an important part of the city, this project has become very important to a lot of people. Timing has allowed this project…to have tremendous amount of interest,” said Brown. “In many cases, timing is everything.”
Brown says that the project is necessary to fit the government center into the neighborhood as it’s evolving.
“It is important that Fulton County practices what it preaches,” said Brown. “And wants to create an front door environment that is safe and welcoming… That’s a good neighbor.”