Upgrades to Arts District Plaza Officially Begin
Published: 07/01/21
A rendering of the southeast corner of Arts District Plaza, outside Colony Square's 500 Building.
BY ELLIE HENSLEY
Crews are turning dirt at Arts District Plaza to make way for big maintenance improvements.
Arts District Plaza, the intersection of Peachtree and 15th Streets, will get upgrades on its southeast and southwest corners. Its northwest corner is home of the Woodruff Arts Center, and its northeast corner is home of First Church of Christ Scientist.
The outer edge of the southeast corner’s public plaza will be repurposed in support of the new Building 500, a recently completed six-story office building at Colony Square anchored by Jones Day. Improvements to the plaza include new seating, new landscape and hardscape improvements. Space for activities will accommodate programming jointly sponsored by Midtown Alliance and Colony Square’s developer North American Properties. Follow the progress of this maintenance project here.
A rendering of the southwest corner of Arts District Plaza.
The southwest corner of Arts District Plaza will feature new lighting, casual seating and expanded planting areas. The centerpiece of this space will be the Sabine Woman, a 1968 sculpture by Dorothy Berge that is returning to Midtown.
Plaza upgrades on this corner dovetail with Cousins Properties’ proposed site improvements to 1200 Peachtree Street, the building that currently serves as Norfolk Southern’s headquarters. As Norfolk Southern prepares to move to its new campus on the southern end of the district, Cousins looks to improve accessibility and curb appeal at the site with new hardscape and landscape elements. It will also rebuild an existing structured covered walkway that connects to the neighboring Promenade building. See details of these renovation plans here.
Maintenance work on both corners will continue over the next several months.
“Upgrades to Arts District Plaza have been more than a year in the making,” said Ginny Kennedy, director of urban design at Midtown Alliance. “New landscaping, lighting, seating and art will add to the energy of Midtown’s creative epicenter and enhance connectivity with adjacent developments. We are excited to welcome the Sabine Woman back to Midtown where her bold presence on Peachtree Street will put an exclamation point on the Heart of the Arts.”