I was just wondering whatever happened with the idea of moving the Zoo to Lakewood Fairgrounds and I found this chain of AJC articles. What does everyone think about the decision to stay in Grant Park? It doesn't seem to me that there's much room for a world-class zoo there. It'd be awesome if Atlanta had one to match our world-class aquarium.
Zoo Atlanta may move to Lakewood Fairgrounds
Decision about Grant Park expected in the spring
By MARK DAVIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/26/07
Zoo Atlanta, a mainstay at Grant Park for more than a century, may move to the old Lakewood Fairgrounds south of downtown, the zoo's top official said Friday. It also will embark on a multimillion-dollar fund-raising campaign to add more animals to its collection, he said.
The 120-acre site where bargain-hunters most recently prowled for antiques is more than triple the size of the zoo's 35-acre tract at Grant Park, said Dennis Kelly, Zoo Atlanta's president and chief executive officer. The site contains a floodplain and lake, which would make good exhibit space for some animals, he said.
If the zoo decides to remain at Grant Park, it likely will "reconfigure parking" — adding a parking deck is one possibility — to create more space for the zoo's animals, he said.
Zoo officials and consultants are working on a master plan that will recommend whether the zoo should move or remain at Grant Park, where it has been since 1889. It will be ready in the spring, Kelly said.
The zoo also is planning a campaign to raise between $150-$175 million from public and private sources over a 10-year period, Kelly said. "We've got to raise money, no matter what we do," he said.
Zoo or zydeco at Lakewood? Public gets say
By ADRIANNE MURCHISON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/06/07
An expanded zoo and an amphitheater that caters to the neighborhood's musical tastes are some of the ideas to be discussed at a public meeting Tuesday night on redevelopment plans for the old Lakewood Fairgrounds.
Among those expected to speak are representatives from Zoo Atlanta.
Last month, Zoo Atlanta announced interest in moving the 118-year-old facility to the Lakewood site, where it could have room to expand. Since then, City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd has received several telephone calls from residents who thought the zoo's move was imminent, but nothing has been decided, she said.
"For community-oriented residents, a zoo could be conducive to pulling the community together," she said.
"Based on residents' questions, I'm interested to know if the zoo can be compatible with the noise and traffic of the [HiFi Buys Amphitheatre]."
The zoo has hired a consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study on the move.
Representatives from the Atlanta Development Authority and Live Nation also are scheduled to speak at the 7 p.m. meeting.
Last July, concert promoter Live Nation, a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, bought House of Blues, which owned and operated Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre in Lakewood. According to Sheperd, Live Nation plans to overhaul the property and book more acts, such as jazz and R&B, that attract the local community.
"Over the years, the community didn't go to the concerts there," said Sheperd. "But [Live Nation] wants to offer a venue that the community embraces."
Community input is a major part of Lakewood's redevelopment plan, said Sheperd, who spearheaded the public meetings.
At the first meeting, held last November, residents suggested the redevelopment plan feature everything from a new music venue to a senior citizen recreational center. Many residents agreed the development should be family-oriented, not retail-oriented like Atlantic Station. They also expressed concern about neighborhood crime.
The Lakewood area is already being revitalized, as seen by the new and refurbished homes being built and the commercial developments going up. Sheperd expects the fairground redevelopment project to take about two years to complete.
The old fairgrounds is included in the Metropolitan Parkway Tax Allocation District, created to stimulate commercial growth. The Atlanta Development Authority would sell bonds to pay for improvements to the property in hopes of enticing developers, whose projects would increase the neighborhood's commercial tax base.
The district spans the commercial corridor north and south from Clair Drive to the Hapeville city limits and east and west along portions of Cleveland Avenue and Macon Drive to the East Point city limits.
The meeting will take place at Atlanta Technical College, Academic Complex auditorium, 1560 Metropolitan Parkway at 7 p.m.
Zoo Atlanta staying in Grant Park
By Mark Davis | Wednesday, February 28, 2007, 09:33 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Zoo Atlanta will remain in Grant Park and not move to the old fairgrounds at Lakewood, the zoo’s board chairman said today.
Instead, the zoo will redesign its current site and possibly add a few more acres from parking lots and a tract of city-owned land adjacent to the zoo, said Mickey Brown, who oversees the board.
Board members on Tuesday agreed to keep the zoo at Grant Park, its home since 1889.
Redesigning the zoo could cost as much as $175 million, Brown estimated.
Zoo officials, consultants and others had considered moving to Lakewood, south of downtown, so that the zoo could expand. After reviewing the site, they decided it wouldn’t be worth the money, Brown said.
Some also felt an attachment to the current site, where generations of people have come to gaze at gorillas, elephants and other creatures.
“I tried to keep my personal feelings to myself, but I told people from Day 1, If there’s any way we can keep the zoo at Grant Park, that what we ought to do,” Brown said.
The zoo has scheduled a press conference later today.
Zoo to stay put, but redesign may include parking deck
By MARK DAVIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/01/07
In deciding not to leave Grant Park for the Lakewood fairgrounds, Zoo Atlanta officials have answered one question — and created scores more.
What would a reconfigured zoo look like? What would it cost, and who will pay for it?
And, perhaps the thorniest query of all: Will the zoo want a parking deck to accommodate more visitors? One park advocate already wonders if it's necessary.
Dennis Kelly, the zoo's president and chief executive officer, said Wednesday that the zoo will remain at Grant Park, its home for 118 years. Zoo officials want to redesign its 35-acre site to make more room for animals and visitors. The proposal could cost $175 million or more in public and private funds, Kelly said.
The zoo will begin working on a year-long master plan detailing how it should change, Kelly said in a conference call from Africa, where he's leading a photo safari in Kenya.
"We'll take a fresh look at everything," Kelly said. That look includes parking — and, perhaps, a deck.
In 2005, a plan to build a deck for the Atlanta Botanical Garden at Piedmont Park infuriated area residents.
A deck to serve the zoo, said Phil Cuthbertson, director of the Grant Park Nature Conservancy, "is not something we'd be happy with."
The zoo's directors met Tuesday afternoon and agreed that moving to Lakewood would be too expensive, said Mickey Brown, Zoo Atlanta's board chairman. They voted not to send a letter signifying their interest in Lakewood to the Atlanta Development Authority. The city agency is overseeing the former fairgrounds' redevelopment.
"I tried to keep my personal feelings to myself," said Brown, "but I told people from day one, if there's any way we can keep the zoo at Grant Park, that is what we ought to do."
City Council Member Carla Smith, whose district includes the zoo, cheered the decision.
"It's always been: What's best for the zoo?" she said. "I'm glad they're staying."
City Council Member Joyce Sheperd, who represents the Lakewood area, said she understood the directors' decision.
"Now," she said, "our question still is: What's best for the Lakewood fairgrounds?"
Officials last year asked themselves if the zoo, a Grant Park mainstay since 1889, ought to move to a larger place to keep pace with Atlanta's growing population. Aided by consultants, they focused on Lakewood, encompassing more than 100 acres. The city-owned plot, just south of downtown, most recently had hosted an antiques mart.
On paper, Kelly said, the site looked good: a tract three times larger than the current space, close to interstates and MARTA, with a lake and a floodplain that could accommodate some animals.
But two findings in a development authority study changed that perception.
First, Atlanta Public Schools uses 23 acres, meaning less land for zoo development. Second, Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre, which hosts concerts at Lakewood, controls more than 60 acres. The zoo, Kelly said, either would have to buy out the amphitheater lease or build on a site slightly smaller than its current one.
"It just didn't make sense for us to pursue that," Kelly said.
Yet staying at Grant Park means the zoo may revise its parking. At present, the zoo offers parking for about 800 vehicles on 13 acres of blacktop. In an earlier interview, Kelly said the zoo might convert some of that space to exhibit area and redesign the remaining parking area, possibly building a deck.
"I think we're one of the last venues in the city where parking is free," he said Wednesday.
When city officials several years ago proposed a deck at Piedmont Park, area neighbors' reactions were fast, furious, and, ultimately, futile. The Atlanta City Council approved building a six-story, pay-to-park deck in November 2005 to serve visitors to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The city may get a comparable response if zoo plans suggest building a deck at Grant Park, said Cuthbertson, whose organization oversees tree planting and other improvements in the park.
"If the city hopes to move to a more greenspace, quality-of-life situation, [a parking deck] clearly does not move us in the right direction," he said.
Keeping the zoo at Grant Park is right, said Sharon Milton of Lithonia. Wednesday morning, she and a handful of friends and children gazed at a zebra, its striped haunches twitching in the sun.
"It needs to stay here," she said, "but they need to upgrade it."
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