On Peachtree Street, landmark arts center unveils plans for fresh face

A Midtown arts institution is moving forward with plans to transform an underused, bunker-like section of its campus into a welcoming public greenspace and more engaging entryway to fresh programming within.

Woodruff Arts Center officials brought plans before the Midtown Development Review Committee last week for a glassy façade renovation that would open up a central portion of the Memorial Arts Building at 1280 Peachtree St., between the Alliance Theatre and High Museum of Art.

The intent is to create a more welcoming and modernized entry for the forthcoming Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families and a new interior play space—and to erect walls of glass so Midtown passersby can see families engaged in creative pursuits inside.

Another section of the project would transform areas along the sidewalk leading toward the High Museum into an engaging pocket park with tiered seating, an ADA ramp, and extensive new landscaping.

Plans call for remaking the underused Rich Auditorium in the Memorial Arts Building into new performance stages and play spaces. Alliance Theatre and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra officials expect to host family-friendly programming in the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families space when it opens.

The redesign also calls for fresh signage, new lighting, and a glass entry vestibule into the facility.

Midtown DRC members applauded Woodruff Arts Center’s goal of enhancing aesthetics and access but offered minor recommendations for improvement during the Tuesday meeting.

Those included advice to lower signage—including blade-style and other mounted signs—so that it’s more visible to pedestrians. The committee also suggested that designs of a raised plaza and existing stairs adjacent to the new glass entryway could better blend urban hardscape and landscaping to accommodate youth and family patrons entering the new facility.

Midtown DRC’s recommendations are used to help guide city government decisions at later stages of development.

The Woodruff Arts Center—a 56-year-old complex that consists of the High Museum, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Alliance Theatre—expects the redevelopment and landscaping project to cost $67 million, as funded through an ongoing campaign. Project leaders told the AJC in March they plan to break ground in August, finish landscaping next year, and open the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families in early 2026.

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