

[All images via JACOBS + GreenRock Partners, via Buckhead CID.]

When it comes to capping a centralized stretch of Ga. Highway 400, the Buckhead Community Improvement District isn't gunning for some passive ceiling of green space, but rather a signature attraction that can hold its own with the great urban parks of America. That much is spelled out in a Request for Proposals released by the BCID this week and an initial concept report that sheds light like never before on what the 1/3-mile park may look like. Buckhead's vision is drawing inspiration from places like Chicago's Millennium Park, Union Square and Klyde Warren Park, which capped a highway in Downtown Dallas but is only about half the size of Buckhead's nearly 10-acre proposal. The RFP seeks qualified firms who will create a schematic plan, devise a funding strategy and generally study the viability of creating the park — make no mistake, though, BCID officials are convinced this can be done — over the highway and MARTA's Buckhead Station, between the Atlanta Financial Center and Lenox Road/Buckhead Loop. Proposals are due next month, and according to the RFP, the work to really set this idea in motion will commence in April.

· The RFP and initial concept plans [BCID]