The biggest change coming to Chastain Park is happening on land almost nobody in the park can reach. A tract of about 30 acres sits on the bluff south of Nancy Creek, above the public golf course. It is overgrown with kudzu and ivy and is nearly impossible to walk into today. The Chastain Park Conservancy expects to begin turning it into a new trail system and nature area in November.
The project is called the Palisades. It is a new amenity, and it also repairs a choice made when the golf course was laid out more than 80 years ago. The ground the course skipped is now the park's main project, and the plan also gives part of the course back to golf.
Ground the Course Was Never Meant to Use
Chastain Park was dedicated in September 1946 and named for Troy Chastain, the Fulton County commissioner who led development of the county park system. It covers 268 acres, but Urbanize Atlanta points out that not all of that land is open to the public or especially useful.
The reason dates back before the park's dedication. Urbanize reports that H. Chandler Egan's late-1930s design plans for what was then North Fulton Golf Course left out 30 to 40 acres south of the creek. That land may have been held back to store excess fill dirt from building the course. Project planners have since described the area as "an 80-year-old dumping ground situated within a significantly unhealthy and ecologically challenged upland forest," with "countless mounds of imported fill, construction waste, and trash."
Buckhead.com reported that the Palisades first appeared in the park's 2008 master plan. It came back as the first project to move forward from the 2025 Chastain Park Comprehensive Plan Update, which was shaped by public input and approved by the Atlanta City Council. According to the Conservancy, the most common request in that process was more passive greenspace, meaning places to walk, explore and sit with nature.
Conservancy President and CEO Rosa McHugh explained to Rough Draft Atlanta in June why the idea returned:
"We did have this space in the middle of the golf course that was seen as an opportunity in 2008 and so we looked at it again with the comprehensive plan process, and it looked like now was the time to get community input."
In the same interview, she said the park and the city opened parts of the golf course as greenspace during COVID. That arrangement ended because of how heavily the course is used. The Palisades gives the park a second wooded area that does not compete with golf.
What the Bluff Becomes
Lord Aeck Sargent designed the Palisades, and SG Contracting will build it. The Conservancy's July 14 update lists the main pieces:
- A one-mile trail system through mature forest
- A native tree arboretum
- A natural play space for children
- An outdoor native plant garden
- Overlooks facing the golf course and the Nancy Creek valley
- Environmental restoration of the creek corridor and its wildlife habitat
- A 153-foot pedestrian bridge over Nancy Creek
- A new entrance drive and parking area serving the Conservancy offices, Farm Chastain and the trails
The overlooks are what make this site different. According to Urbanize, the plans include three public greens totaling 3 acres, set about 40 feet above the public golf course. Project officials describe the views as "breathtaking, never-before-seen." For a park that is mostly flat ball fields, tennis courts and fairways, the elevation is the new feature. The soft trails are planned to connect to the PATH Foundation trails that already circle the park.
The planting work has already started at the edges. McHugh told Rough Draft that native flowers are going in around the outskirts of the park. She wants to favor plants with "color and interest" so the park looks different from season to season.
The Road That Gives Back a Fairway
The new entrance drive may change everyday park use more than any other part of the plan. Rough Draft reports that the only road cars can use to reach the lower half of the park runs through the golf course, which it calls one of the busiest public courses in Atlanta. Under the Palisades plan, that road moves and its asphalt becomes fairway again.
So the land the course skipped in the 1930s becomes the new way into the lower park, and the course gets back the ground its access road covers today. Golfers get an uninterrupted fairway. Farm Chastain and the Conservancy offices get a dedicated drive and parking area. Walkers get a mile of trail on ground that has been closed to them for generations.
The Conservancy has not published a construction-period plan for the golf course, Farm Chastain or the PATH loop. Any closures or detours will be announced through the Conservancy and the park's operators.
The Money and the Calendar
The project's size and budget have changed as the plan developed. The figures below show how each source has described it.
| Source and date | Acreage | Budget or goal | Expected start | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckhead.com, February 2025 | 40 acres | $9.8 million | Not set | Not set |
| Rough Draft Atlanta, June 6, 2026 | 30 acres | $13 million | November | Not stated |
| Chastain Park Conservancy, July 14, 2026 | About 30 acres | More than $12 million raised, $1 million to go | November 1 | 12 to 16 months |
| Atlanta Business Chronicle, Sept. 17, 2026 | Not stated | $13.5 million | November, pending final fundraising | 12 to 18 months |
The 40-acre figure has not disappeared. Urbanize describes the broader plan as restoring and opening about 40 acres around the Palisades along Lake Forrest Drive, while the 30 acres is the project core. The 2025 coverage also mentions a possible 20-acre "Northwoods" passive greenspace at the north end of the park as a later phase.
The Conservancy planned to close the last $1 million gap at The Gilded Trail, a gala on August 8 that paired a chef's dinner at The Chastain with a Boots & Bubbles party at the St. Regis Atlanta. As of late October, the Conservancy had not published the gala's proceeds, an updated total since its July figure, or a groundbreaking date. The Business Chronicle's September preview said the November start still depended on final fundraising. Until there is an announcement, November 1 is the target, not a confirmed start. If work begins then and runs 12 to 16 months, the Conservancy's own range points to an opening between late 2027 and early 2028.
The timing also has a symbolic side. Chastain Park marked 80 years since its dedication in September, so if work starts in November, it begins weeks after that anniversary, on the ground left over from building the park.
The Park Stays Busy Before the Fencing Goes Up
For now, the rest of Chastain keeps its usual late-fall schedule. Two events fall within days of the expected start.
- Glow Chastain takes place Friday, October 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the playground. The Conservancy describes it as a free trick-or-treat evening with candy, activities and music.
- The Chastain Park Fall Arts Festival returns November 7 and 8 along Park Drive. It is free and features about 175 artists, food concessions and acoustic music, according to the festival site.
Another change is coming on the Sandy Springs side. In September, Sandy Springs approved a $1.5 million contract for phase two of the Lake Forrest Drive sidewalk. Rough Draft reported that the work nearly links Mount Paran Road to Chastain Park. The city's project page describes about 3,300 feet of new sidewalk, with construction expected in winter 2026 and no traffic impacts. The Palisades is planned along the Lake Forrest Drive side of the park, so a new sidewalk heading toward the park and a new trail system inside it are both due over the same period.
Urbanize also quotes a project description saying the Palisades site "has been selected as the gateway that connects PATH400 to the Atlanta Beltline." No route or schedule for that connection has been published. For now it remains a longer-term goal that depends on the bluff opening first.
Sonny follows projects like the Palisades because changes to a park's access, trails and views shape life on the streets around it. If you would like to talk about how the next 12 to 18 months of work on the bluff above Nancy Creek may affect your corner of Chastain, Sonny Jones is glad to help. Request a private consultation.
