Six years is a long time for a $48 million building to sit empty overlooking a zoo. That's how long the Grant Park Gateway — the architecturally striking structure at 759 Boulevard SE, perched atop a parking garage with sweeping views of Zoo Atlanta's elephant and giraffe habitats — has waited for a tenant. Now the neighborhood's own leadership is floating an idea nobody had put on the table: turn it into a library.
Robert Selby, president of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, told Urbanize Atlanta that the city should consider partnering with Fulton County to place a library branch in the 7,050-square-foot shell space — stressing the idea is his personal opinion, not a board consensus. "We haven't had any discussions around books," Selby said. "I'm just hoping to spark some creative problem-solving to help get that beautiful space activated for the community."
The Gateway opened in January 2021, a year after construction wrapped, and earned the Atlanta Urban Design Commission's Award of Excellence for sustainable design. It sits atop a 2.5-acre park with downtown skyline views, replacing a surface parking lot and a stand of mature trees when it was built. City officials took ownership of the space from the Atlanta and Fulton County Recreation Authority two years after opening — a step project leaders called key to finally filling it. It hasn't worked out that way.
The first request for proposals, issued in February 2023, drew zero bids; inflation took the blame. A second, more detailed RFP followed in February 2024, and the city's original pick — regional grocer Savi Provisions — backed out in May 2025. Atlanta's Community Development/Human Resources Committee then endorsed an alternate concept from Terminus Commercial Real Estate Partners: a micro food hall and public-programming space called "Gateway Park & Market," with fresh food vendors, a grab-and-go market, coffee and tea, a full bar and a deli counter. City procurement records show no activity on the project since that RFP was cancelled in April 2024.
A GPNA community survey gathered 750 responses this past March on what neighbors want to see in the space. The top vote-getters were an all-day café, a family bistro with lawn access, and a micro food hall with shared seating — but the single most common write-in was simpler: clean restrooms. Atlanta City Council member Jason Winston, whose District 1 covers Grant Park, told neighborhood leaders at the time that the city's Public Works and Procurement departments would fold the survey results into an exhibit for prospective tenants, with a goal of naming an occupant by this fall. Selby says the last update he got was that Procurement was working with an outside advisory firm on next steps.
A library branch, Selby argues, would answer the survey's call for a "community third space" while guaranteeing public restrooms and year-round public access — activating the Gateway "in a way that's accessible to all." Whether Fulton County Library System has any appetite for a Grant Park branch is, for now, untested; neither the city nor Winston's office has responded publicly to requests for an update on where the search for a tenant actually stands.
The Gateway sits inside Grant Park, one of downtownATL.com's edge-of-downtown neighborhoods — friends of downtown, and just down the street. Full original reporting, including photos of the building's empty interior and Selby's full comments, is at Urbanize Atlanta.
