Piedmont Park begins work on $200 million upgrade plan

By Tyler Wilkins – Staff Reporter, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Apr 10, 2026

Piedmont Park Conservancy is raising funds to expand the park to Piedmont Avenue and Monroe Drive. In the meantime, it has also been focused on maintaining and improving what already exists within Atlanta's most-visited park.

Piedmont Park Conservancy

Refreshed entrances. Tree maintenance. More lighting.

Those are a few of the initial investments underway at Piedmont Park, about a year after its conservancy unveiled an ambitious plan to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into improvements over several decades.

Big-ticket items in the comprehensive plan include expanding the park’s boundaries, installing a series of canopy walkways, revamping Lake Clara Meer and redesigning the Active Oval.

It could take upwards of $200 million to complete the entire plan. While working to raise funds for the first phase, the conservancy has also been maintaining and improving what already exists within Atlanta’s most-visited park.

We heard loud and clear from the public that what looks good needs to look great," said Doug Widener, president and CEO of Piedmont Park Conservancy, in an interview with Atlanta Business Chronicle.

'Just getting started'

The conservancy has stepped up baseline care around the park, like maintaining manicured spaces such as flower beds and improving park entrances. For example, a garden has been planted along 10th Street near Park Tavern.

The park’s pool and aquatic center has been renovated, with remaining work on the project scheduled to wrap up this year. Legacy Fountain has been revitalized with the splash pad at its “full glory,” Widener said, and lights will be added to it this spring.

Lights will also be added this summer to the Active Oval, a popular spot for running and group sports. The area is set for a major overhaul in coming years, with new basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts among the plans.

The conservancy launched its Seeds for the Future campaign about a year ago to help care for the park’s tree canopy. Since then, an inventory has been taken of 3,500 mature trees. Thousands of trees have been pruned, limbed and mulched.

With the help of Trees Atlanta, approximately 50 trees were planted during a March event. Oak Hill, an area to the northwest of the park, is a target for so-called succession planting. Understory trees have been added to replace existing large oaks once they reach their natural lifespan.

A stewardship program was launched last year allowing volunteers to help keep up the park every other Saturday from early March through mid-December. It fills up every weekend, Widener said.

The conservancy has also hired additional operational and landscaping staff. A supervisor is now at the park every day of the week to provide more appropriate coverage, Widener said.

The park is hosting more and more events, adding one-third more public programming compared to 2024 and doubling the number of attendees, Widener said.

“We’re just getting started,” Widener said. “We’ve gotten a lot done in a year ... and when you add those things up, it’s a substantial pace that will continue in the future.”

Fundraising begins for big projects

The capital campaign to raise $87.5 million for property acquisition, design, construction and maintenance of the first phase of the comprehensive plan is in the early stages, Widener said.

The conservancy is securing the board’s commitment to the campaign, working with the city to finalize an initial gift and meeting with larger corporations and foundations, Widener said. The public phase is expected to launch toward the end of the year, he said.

Piedmont Park would add a new park entrance at Monroe Drive and Piedmont Avenue.

Byron E. Small

A big part of the first phase is expanding the park boundaries to the corner of Piedmont Avenue and Monroe Drive. Known as Piedmont Commons, the area now consists of the city-owned Clear Creek shopping center, as well as a privately owned Shell gas station and Octopus Kitchen & Hookah.

Negotiations have advanced with one of the property owners to sell for the expansion, Widener said. He hopes to reach an agreement to purchase both of the remaining properties by the end of the year.

The collection of commercial buildings would be replaced with new amenities such as a rock scramble, adventure trail, playgrounds, large lawns for events and public restrooms. An existing building used by Harry Norman Realtors would be repurposed into administrative offices and programming space for the conservancy.

To free up space at Piedmont Commons, a maintenance shop is planned to be relocated to a site near existing city facilities off Monroe Drive. In the same area, Evelyn Street will be redesigned, with an entrance plaza and pedestrian path to take people into the park.

A series of canopy walkways known as Clear Creek Walk will also be built as part of the first phase. It would provide access points to the creek bed, as well as ease congestion on the relatively new segment of the Beltline’s Northeast Trail that runs through the park.

The first phase with the park expansion is scheduled to be completed by 2030, Widener said.

The comprehensive plan is divided into three phases. But the various pieces of the plan could come together sooner than expected, Widener said, based on the desire among stakeholders for certain projects. For example, the conservancy received a $100,000 donation for dog park improvements, allowing that work to begin this year, he said.

One of Widener's priorities to set in motion before the end of the decade is the planned revamp of the 11.5-acre Lake Clara Meer. The lake would undergo intensive dredging to restore water quality, and a boardwalk loop would be built around it.

“We will do Lake Clara Meer proud by the time we’re done with it,” Widener said. "I'm hoping that a decent amount of the plan [will be] done. After that, which will probably be the early 2030s, we’ll reassess what else is there left to go."

This story was written prior to the April 4 shooting at Piedmont Park.

A 16-year-old girl was killed, and a 15-year-old girl was injured. A preliminary investigation indicates that the incident stemmed from an unpermitted gathering, after the 404 Day celebration held at the park on the same day, according to Atlanta Police Department.

Extra officers will be in and around the park for the upcoming Dogwood Festival April 10-12, according to APD.

The Piedmont Park Conservancy provided the following statement to Atlanta Business Chronicle:

“We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred over the weekend. Our thoughts are with those impacted and their families. While event permitting, public safety and general Park administration decisions are under the City’s authority, we will continue to support efforts that promote a safe, well-managed environment for all who visit Piedmont Park. We defer further questions to the event organizers and our partners at the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Department as they continue their investigation.”