Grant Park leader hatches fresh idea for never-occupied Gateway

For the entire lives of most Atlanta first-graders, the architecturally striking and well-located Grant Park Gateway building has been finished, ready for occupancy, and completely empty. 

But the head of community leadership group Grant Park Neighborhood Association has a fresh idea for potentially rectifying that situation—and just maybe, boosting literacy in the process.  

“To be honest, given the ongoing delays, my 2 cents is that the city should consider partnering with Fulton County to turn the space into a library branch,” Robert Selby, GPNA president, tells Urbanize Atlanta, stressing the idea is his personal opinion and not a consensus of the board. 

This week marks six months since our last coverage (story number 685, roughly) of the exhausting and perplexing Grant Park Gateway saga. The city’s media department and the office of Atlanta City Council member Jason Winston, whose District 1 covers Grant Park, have yet to respond to a request for an update, in terms of where efforts to finally fill the 7,050-square-foot blank shell space overlooking Zoo Atlanta stand. 

City of Atlanta procurement records show no activity at the Gateway since a Request for Proposals was cancelled in April 2024. Tumbleweeds are also blowing through the city’s permitting portal for the 759 Boulevard SE structure, which stands atop an award-winning, LEED-certified parking structure the Department of Parks and Recreation has described as “iconic.” 

Back in March, a GPNA community survey gathered 750 responses, seeking information on what residents of Atlanta would like to see become of the high-profile space. The top requested concepts for the Gateway were: “All-Day Café,” “Family Bistro” with direct lawn access, and “Micro Food Hall” with shared seating. The top write-in request, however, was clean restrooms, and a high demand for programmatic uses (think: events and wellness gatherings) was also apparent.

Winston, the councilmember, told Grant Park leadership at the time the city’s departments of Public Works and Procurement would include the survey findings in an exhibit for prospective Gateway tenants. Winston in March said the city hoped to issue another Request for Proposals soon, spend the typical 90 to 100 days vetting responses, and then select a Gateway occupant by sometime this fall. 

Selby, the GPNA president, said the last he heard from the councilmember was that Procurement officials were working with an outside advisory firm to determine how best to utilize the Gateway space and move forward. 

Which brings us back to the library branch idea. 

Selby says a library would fulfill requests outlined in the survey for a “community third space” while guaranteeing public access and restrooms—and finally activating the Gateway building “in a way that’s accessible to all.”

“We haven't had any discussions around books,” noted Selby via email. “I’m just hoping to spark some creative problem-solving to help get that beautiful space activated for the community.”

The Gateway’s grapple with vacantness has stretched for nearly six years at this point.  

The distinctive building—finished in 2020 but officially opened in January 2021—overlooks a 2.5-acre park atop a parking garage, with city views. Controversial from the outset, the $48-million Gateway project replaced a parking lot (and mature trees), and a year after opening, it earned the Atlanta Urban Design Commission’s Award of Excellence for sustainable design. 

City officials took ownership of the Gateway space from the Atlanta and Fulton County Recreation Authority two years after it opened, which project leaders called a key first step in getting it occupied. The city’s first RFP issued in February 2023, however, didn’t attract a single bid from prospective tenants; inflation was blamed. The second stab at an RFP, originally issued in February 2024, was a more detailed pitch to businesses that could fill such a large space.

But the city’s original pick to fill the Gateway’s retail portion—Savi Provisions, a regional gourmet market chain—officially backed away in May last year. After that, the city’s Community Development/Human Resources Committee voted to endorse an alternate Gateway plan put together by Terminus Commercial Real Estate Partners that had initially lost out to Savi. 

Terminus’ plan called for a micro food hall and public programming idea, “Gateway Park and Market,” with three fresh food vendors, plus a grab-and-go market, coffee and tea options, a full-service bar, and a deli counter, among other facets. But that team’s bid was eventually cancelled by the city last year, according to its perplexed leadership, for reasons that were never publicly explained.  

A GPNA task force was formed in response to the second axed Gateway concept of 2025. And the recent survey sprang from that. 

So is it time to turn the page—literally—again?  

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• Grant Park news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)