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Chastain Park Today
Chastain is a 260+ acre park, the largest in the City of Atlanta, in a highly underserved area with a growing population that includes multifamily residents. There are no other regional parks from Chamblee to Vinings, from Peachtree Creek to Sandy Springs.
Chastain Park is an historic park, designed to be a world-class park with state of the art recreational facilities in its heyday in the 1940s. Those facilities—the horse park, pool, golf course, tennis center, and amphitheatre—have expanded to serve thousands of people every year. The newest additions to the park are the recreation center, added in the 1970s, the 3.4 miles of PATH, added in the 1990s, and a children’s playground added in its current location in 2000, combining to bring in hundreds more to the park every month. The variety of recreational offerings makes Chastain one of the most diverse of any of the City parks.
The Chastain Park Conservancy was formed in 2003 to restore, enhance, maintain, and preserve the park. The Conservancy is working on a master plan with the goal of returning the park to its world-class status. A primary focus of the master plan is to attend to the land that is not part of any lease agreements by the for-profit and nonprofit partners and their venues. One frequent request from those interviewed and surveyed about improvements to the park during the Master Planning process is to significantly expand the areas of non-programmed green space, bringing more ‘park’ to one that has been a green oasis in the middle of the city, but a park that has been primarily dedicated to scheduled or programmed activities.
Chastain’s Unique Operations: 11 Operating Partners
CPC is developing strong working relationships with park partners that manage the venues. (See “History” to track the shift from City management to for-profit and nonprofit venue operators.) The Conservancy works to coordinate park solutions that impact everyone—from parking and traffic problems, to security to infrastructure improvements. The Conservancy’s focus is the interface among all the programs, looking for comprehensive solutions that benefit park users.
Chastain Park Amphitheatre
There are two primary venture partners that provide programming for the amphitheatre.
For Live Nation, City and Haymon Concert questions:
404-233-2227 or www.chastainseries.com or www.livenation.com
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
404-733-5000 or www.classicchastain.org
These two joint-venture partners fill a schedule of 60-70 concerts each year between April and October. LiveNation works with a minority partner, Haymon Productions to schedule 5-6 shows per season and works with the City to produce about 5 shows per season.
For the ASO, Chastain is their summer home.
Under an agreement with the City, $1 from each ticket and $3 from each car parked in the nearby lots goes into a trust fund that is used to support the infrastructure upgrades and maintenance at the park. In addition, the venture pays a rental fee to the City that goes into the City’s general fund.
Chastain Arts Center
www.bcaatlanta.com
City of Atlanta, Office of Cultural Affairs
Erin Bailey, Facility Manager
404-252-2927
Chastain Arts Center is operated by the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, a division of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs. The Arts Center offers a wide variety of visual and creative cultural arts classes for all ages and skill levels throughout the year, as well as a tremendously popular Summer Arts Camp. Started in 1968, Chastain Arts Center is recognized as the first community arts center in the metro area.
Each year the Center enrolls over 2500 students in 5 sessions, plus more than 450 children in Art Camp each summer. The work of resident instructors and students is showcased twice each year in a large gallery in an adjacent building, along with an additional 4-5 exhibits of local and regional artists in both two-and three-dimensional media.
Chastain Horse Park
chastainhorsepark.org
Mandy Branton, Executive Director
404-252-4244 ext 27
mbranton@chastainhorsepark.org
Chastain Horse Park, Ltd. (CHP), a 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 1997. In 1998 they acquired a 20-year lease agreement to renovate and operate the stables property. CHP completed a $4 million development of the facility in 1999, including removal of existing structures that could not be salvaged, building a new clubhouse and four new barns, a large covered arena, fencing the entire site, constructing a new retention pond, burying utilities, adding new sanitary and storm systems as well as several retaining walls, and a new parking lot.
The CHP Therapeutic Riding Program for students with mental and physical disabilities and children-at-risk now serves over 350 students annually through summer camps and special therapeutic sessions throughout the year in addition to more than 145 students and adults each week. The school lesson program serves over 200 students each year. The program is accredited by NARHA (the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association). All the park’s instructors have attained a national instructor certification, and therapists have completed training through the American Hippotherapy Association.
Other offerings include the Hunter Equitation Program providing hunter/jumper riding lessons to the general public, horse boarding, and summer camps.
Chastain Park Athletic Club (pool)
www.chastainparkAC.org or mailto:info@chastainparkAC.org
mailto:jimking@mindspring.com
404-841-9196 (CPCA); 404-255-0863 (pool)
The Chastain Park Athletic Club (CPAC), formerly known as the North Atlanta Swim Association, is a nonprofit formed to partner with the City to save the pool from demolition and significantly improve the facility. CPAC now maintains and operates the pool, furthering its mission to promote aquatic sports and life safety through community outreach. Over 250 children ages 5-18 participate in swim teams.
Pool hours for the public is 10 pm-5 pm during the summer. Members and their guests have extended hours daily from 5-8 pm and until 9 pm on Friday. Check the web site for hours after school is in session. The pool had over 18,000 visitors in 2006 and is on track for over 20,000 in 2007.
Chastain Recreation Center
City of Atlanta, Office of Recreation
Sonia Wimbish, Community Facility Supervisor
mailto:sewimbish@atlantaga.gov 404-237-2726
Hours of operation and programs vary seasonally. The rec center offers two summer programs: table tennis for all ages on Tuesdays and Sundays and a fitness boot camp for adults on Monday nights. In addition to these programs, the facility is open to the public for free play and the use of the weight rooms Monday- Friday. During the fall, the center offers a men's basketball league, indoor soccer league, yoga classes, aerobic classes and salsa classes. Some new programs include organized bridge and chess tournaments. The Northside Youth Organization (NYO) operates a youth basketball league serving over 400 boys and girls out of the recreation center during the winter months.
Chastain Tennis Center
City of Atlanta, Office of Recreation
Peggy Johnson, Community Facility Supervisor
mailto:pjohnson@atlantaga.gov 404-255-3210
The original tennis center building built in the 1940s burned and was rebuilt in 1979. The new facility includes equipment sales, locker rooms, restrooms, offices and a small concession area. The Chastain facility is the smallest of the City’s tennis centers, but is the second busiest to another larger center. Chastain averages approximately 1,000 participants per month.
The center‘s year-round schedule is 9 am – 9 pm Monday-Friday; 8 am-6 pm, Saturday; 10 am-6 pm, on Sunday and most holidays for open play. The center is the home of many leagues, like USTA ,ALTA, K-Swiss, Peach, T2, Visionary, Dade FM.
The center also hosts numerous round robin tournaments on a regular or semi-regular basis. Open play is available on a first come, first served basis.
The center partners with The Galloway School to host their Varsity and Junior Varsity boys’ and girls' teams, in addition to assisting with their elementary student tennis classes. The center has several spring/summer programs, including the Chastain Tennis Academy for high-level playing juniors, and the Chastain Tennis Center Junior and Tot Summer Camps for youth 5-16 years of age. The center offers lessons for youth, teens, adults and seniors, including private, semi-private and group lessons.
North Fulton Golf Course (American Golf)
King Simmons mailto:northfulton@americangolf.com
404-255-0723
This for-profit venture partner has recorded the greatest number of rounds per year of any public course in Georgia. The greens were rebuilt in 2006, making them comparable in quality to private golf clubs and increasing the attractiveness and enjoyment of playing at Chastain. In 2007, American Golf is rebuilding all the sand traps and installing a new drainage system throughout the course. The system improves the ‘playability’ of the course.
Beginning in 2008, 50 cents of the green fees go into trust fund to support park maintenance and infrastructure; half of this money is dedicated to Chastain Park and half goes to support parks throughout the City.
Northside Youth Organization (NYO)
www.nyosports.com
Jane Wilkins mailto:jane@nyosports.com 404-256-1483
Mark Elliott mailto:mark.elliott@troutmansanders.com
NYO provides organized recreational athletic opportunities -- baseball, softball, basketball, football and cheerleading--for over 3,000 children, ages 5 to 16, every year. NYO serves children from Atlanta and Fulton County, with the program primarily run from Chastain Park. NYO is the largest youth, multi-sport organization in Georgia. NYO continues to operate programs under an agreement with the City of Atlanta—an ongoing agreement since 1966-- and maintains all of the facilities, paid for with fees and annual contributions.
NYO also provides scholarships to children in the City who desire to participate but cannot afford the registration fees. NYO also runs a Christopher League program, where handicapped children are paired with several NYO buddies from the program, and participate in a series of baseball games on the fields.
The NYO fields are also used, as an organized, scheduled activity, by the Galloway baseball and softball teams; the Sutton Middle School baseball team; and a variety of adult softball leagues. On an unscheduled and unorganized basis, the fields are used for adult volleyball and soccer games.
NYO is run by a volunteer board of directors, comprised of men and women from the Atlanta community who have or have had children participate in the youth sports programs, with one full time employee, who has acted as executive director for nearly 30 years.
PATH
www.pathfoundation.org
Pete Pellegrini mailto:Pete@pathfoundation.org
404-875-7284
This nonprofit is building Metro Atlanta's greenway trail system. The Chastain segment is 3.2 miles, circling the park: from W. Wieuca at Powers Ferry, the PATH goes south at the edge of the golf course and then crosses to Lake Forrest, heading north back to W. Wieuca. Another stretch goes across the northern tip of the park along Park Road and then down Pool Road to reconnect at W. Wieuca and Powers Ferry. This location was one of the first built in the metro area. PATH has currently built over 110 miles throughout Georgia. Funding is a combination of philanthropic, corporate, and private donations.
The Galloway School
www.galloway.school.org
Phil Wendel mailto:p.wendel@gallowayschool.org
404-252-8389
This private, co-educational school serves children from age 3 through high school. It was founded in 1967 at this site, leasing the Fulton County alms house. The school later purchased 8 acres from the County and has expanded to five buildings serving over 700 students from nearly 60 zip codes. The school’s mission is to encourage academic excellence while maintaining a student-centered focus.
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