Atlanta Receives Largest Gift Among 19 National Grant Recipients
Atlanta, May 6, 2010 – The Tony Hawk Foundation awarded Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. with a grant of $25,000 to help with the construction of a new 15,000-square foot skatepark, Atlanta’s first, which is now under construction as part of Historic Fourth Ward Park in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Historic Fourth Ward Park is one of several projects under construction as part of Atlanta’s comprehensive redevelopment effort, the Atlanta BeltLine. The park will help redefine an historic neighborhood that is lacking in grand public recreational space. For those, among many other compelling reasons, the Tony Hawk Foundation Board of Directors voted last week to present Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. with its largest grant amount this spring.
“We are proud and honored to support the Historic Fourth Ward Skatepark project in Atlanta,” said Tony Hawk. “It represents everything we stand for at THF—community involvement that benefits at-risk youth in an area that traditionally has had very little support for sports like skateboarding. We are excited to be attached to a project that will be such a vital and vibrant part of the Old Fourth Ward community.”
“The Atlanta BeltLine is honored to be selected by the Tony Hawk Foundation for this generous grant,” said Brian Leary, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. “This is an endorsement of the amazing collaboration between the City, Atlanta BeltLine, and our incredible local skateboard community. The inspiration came from the vision, will and determination of the community. Combined with the City’s strong support, and now this outstanding gift, the new park—Atlanta’s first fully designed skatepark—will be one of the best skate facilities in the U.S.”
Within the next year, Historic Fourth Ward Park will bring 17 new acres of greenspace to the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. The new skatepark was professionally designed with the input and support of the local skateboarding community. The skatepark design includes shotcrete, concrete, metal rails and copings, and a recycled piece of railroad track as a grindrail. It is located on a five-acre section of the park adjacent to the BeltLine corridor and will be open to the public by the end of 2010. The funding from the Tony Hawk Foundation will be used to help cover construction costs.
A total of 19 projects receive the Tony Hawk Foundation Spring 2010 Skatepark Grants. Worth a total of $150,000, the awards bring each of the recipients closer to their goal of building a free, quality public skatepark in their community.
Including both urban and rural communities across the U.S.—literally from coast to coast—this season’s grant recipients bring the total number of community skateparks assisted by the foundation to 463.
Spring 2010 Tony Hawk Foundation Grant Recipients
$25,000
Atlanta
$10,000
Kissimmee, Fla.
Fort Scott, Kan.
Glendive, Mont.
Bowling Green, Ohio
Bellingham, Wash.
Parsons, W. Va.
Suffolk, Va.
$5,000
Solana Beach (La Colonia), Calif.
Alamosa, Colorado
LaBelle, Fla.
Liberal, Kansas
Melvindale, Mich.
Syracuse, N.Y.
Dickinson, N.D.
Sand Springs, Okla.
Gold Beach, Ore.
Beaumont, Texas
Malakoff, Texas
More information on the Atlanta BeltLine is available online at www.BeltLine.org. Photos of construction progress at Historic Fourth Ward Park and the site of the future skatepark are available here. For more information on the Tony Hawk Foundation, visit www.tonyhawkfoundation.org.
About the Atlanta BeltLine:
The Atlanta BeltLine is a $2.8 billion redevelopment project that will shape the way Atlanta grows over the next several decades. The project provides a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting many neighborhoods directly to each other. The BeltLine is the most comprehensive economic development effort ever undertaken in the City of Atlanta and among the largest, most wide-ranging urban redevelopment projects currently underway in the United States. Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI), formed by the Atlanta Development Authority, is the entity tasked with planning and executing the implementation of the BeltLine in partnership with other public and private organizations, including City of Atlanta departments.
CONTACT:
Ethan Davidson, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.
(404) 614-8325; edavidson@atlbeltline.org
