Park Pride awards $100,000 challenge grant toward Garden Hills Pool House reconstruction project fund

Park Pride has awarded the Garden Hills Pool & Park Association (GHPPA) a challenge grant of $100,000 to help build a new pool house at the City of Atlanta’s Garden Hills Pool.

The existing 33-year-old Garden Hills pool house does not meet current building regulations, and has long-standing problems with both its plumbing and concessions space. Experts recommended the GHPPA replace the structure. An intensive selection process led to approval of the proposal of design-build team Anne Sciarrone Architecture & The Macallan Group.

Architectural rendering of the proposed new Garden Hills Pool House. 

After just two months of fundraising, the Garden Hills Pool House Committee has raised a total of $270,000, or over one-third, of the $750,000 needed to build the new facility. The Buckhead Coalition recently awarded a $20,000 grant toward the project.

“Park Pride’s support is a significant step toward improving the experience of all Garden Hills Pool patrons, to the benefit of swimmers throughout the city of Atlanta,” says David Kirshtein, president of the GHPPA. “This project has already received tremendous support from the surrounding community, and we hope that Park Pride’s challenge grant will only increase the campaign’s momentum.”

The Garden Hills Pool serves over 500 patrons per day from May to mid-September, including swim team members and at-risk youth swimmers (as part of the City of Atlanta’s summer recreation programs).

Present Garden Hills Pool House and lounging deck.

The pool house project represents the combined effort of the GHPPA, the Garden Hills Civic Association, Garden Hills Garden Club, and the Garden Hills Neighborhood Foundation. It has been endorsed by the city of Atlanta Parks Department, the Buckhead Coalition, NPU-B, and now Park Pride.

“It is always exciting to see neighbors come together to improve their local park, and the Garden Hills Community has done a great job of this over the years,” says Park Pride’s Associate Director Allison Barnett. “We are impressed with the community's fundraising efforts to date and are confident that they will be able to leverage this challenge grant with additional investment in the project.”

Garden Hills Pool & Park Association (www.gardenhillspool.com) was founded in 1981 by Garden Hills resident Stan White to staff and manage the city of Atlanta’s Garden Hills Pool, Garden Hills Recreation Center and Garden Hills Playfield located on Pine Tree Drive near the intersection of Rumson Road and East Wesley Drive.

A view of a section of the Garden Hills Pool and lounging deck at present.

The volunteer group works with the city of Atlanta Parks Department to operate and maintain the 570,000-gallon pool with six swimming lanes and a 1-meter diving board for Atlanta residents by selling annual memberships, allowing extended use of the facility after regularly scheduled city of Atlanta operating hours. 

GHPPA also facilitates the Cool Sharks Diving Team, the Cool Sharks Adult Swim Team and the 300 member Cool Sharks Youth Swim Team which has been the ASA Division 1 Champion since 2009.

Park Pride, founded in 1989, is a non-profit organization that provides programs, funding and leadership to engage communities in developing and improving parks and greenspaces.  By facilitating the creation and empowerment of community-based “Friends of the Park” groups, Park Pride is working to create parks that reflect the character and meet the needs of each community.