Community Corner

Ga. 400 Trail Through Buckhead Is a Go

Buckhead CID CEO announces funding for project

A trail along the Ga. 400 corridor from North Buckhead to the Atlanta Beltline will move from the drawing board to reality, Buckhead Community Improvement District CEO Jim Durrett announced Tuesday night.

Speaking at the special tax district's annual reception at the tony Buckhead
Club, Durrett said that several of Buckhead's leading groups are joining forces to give funding for the trail, which will begin near Loridans Drive and head through "the heart of Buckhead" to Midtown. The trail will be the first piece of a major initiative to provide more green space and public plazas to Buckhead, which has the least amount of parks acreage in the city.

Durrett said that the project will use public right-of-way along Ga. 400 "to create green space so that we're not so dependent on cars." After his talk, Durrett said that the trail could be completed in a year and a half.

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The PATH Foundation is on course to build two of five segments of the trail, Durrett said, with its board expected to give final approval in June. The CID and Atlanta City Council will donate $200,000 each for the trail, with the Buckhead Coalition also to provide a not yet determined amount.

The project will also receive a boost from the Buckhead Business Association's "Bucks on the Street" program, in which businesses can purchase Buck statues to be painted by artists. The completed Bucks can then be displayed at the business or auctioned off. Durrett said that proceeds go into the BBA's Foundation, and that all money has been pledged to green projects. So far, the program has raised $32,000, which will go to the trail, he said.

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Durrett said that with the commitment of the Bucks on the Streets program to green projects, he expects the statues to "start selling like crazy."

The Ga. 400 trail will be the first fruition of the "Buckhead Collection" project to identify places in Buckhead's central core where public plazas, parks, trails and playing fields can be developed. The Buckhead CID  through Livable Buckhead is spearheading the green-space initiative, inspired by District 7 City Councilman Howard Shook after studies showed that his district has the least amount of parkland in the city. 

Durrett said the key question for the program is "should we have more open space than we have right now?" 

Giving an affirmative answer is a 30-member program steering committee, many of whom attended the reception. Durrett praised the committee's work in identifying areas where green space and public plazas can be placed, even among the high-rises along Peachtree Road.

Durrett also said that construction will begin on a $24  million pedestrian bridge over Ga. 400 that will also provide "a new entrance into the Buckhead MARTA station."  The bridge will give pedestrians from Tower Place Drive and Stratford Road access to both sides of Ga. 400 and the MARTA station without having to walk to Peachtree Road, according to the CID's Web site.

Buckhead CID board Chairman David Allman, president of Regent Partners, also announced changes to the board membership, with Larry Gellerstedt and Claude Petty leaving the board. Gellerstedt is the CEO and president of Cousins Properties and Petty the general partner of PC Associates. They will be replaced by Thad Ellis, senior vice president of Cousins Properties, and Jeremy Meredith, project director of the Buckhead Atlanta project for San Diego-based OliverMcMillan.


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