Midtown landmark Atlanta Botanical Garden opened 50 years ago this year and hasn't expanded its footprint since. That is about to change.
Three and a half years after the plan first came to light, demolition has started to make way for a 25 percent increase in size, which will turn the Garden into what officials call Atlanta's "first major arts and cultural institution directly accessible from the Beltline."
Construction crews have begun tearing down buildings along Piedmont Avenue that were acquired for the nearly 8-acre assembly. Once those properties are cleared, officials plan to break ground by late summer, according to Garden spokesperson Danny Flanders. The revised target is to finish construction and open the expanded attraction by late 2028 or early 2029.
Garden officials are in the final stages of a $160 million capital campaign funding the project. The new acreage will sit at the convergence of Piedmont Park, the Beltline, and the Garden, which the Garden's planners describe as a "botanical greenway."
The work keeps one of Midtown's most-visited destinations investing in place even as the Beltline corridor keeps reshaping how visitors and residents move through the neighborhood.
