Ever passed on to the Broad Street Plaza lately?
The plaza is located between Marietta Street and the entrance to Five Points MARTA Station.
If you agree with me, going through this plaza now brings a livelier ambiance to people. Compared before, where the wall of the plaza only has a dull, filthy concrete wall, the new mural on it gave it a new life.
Thanks to artist Ryan Coleman who made this possible! He created the mural, “Don’t Forget to Dream” which has a span of 100 feet. Previously, the great artist competed this past summer. His designs sought topics focusing on “community and character” of the downtown district.
When asked about his mural, Coleman discussed his objective while creating it. He wanted to impart positive vibes, excitement, and wonder to people who will pass by and see it. He got his inspiration for his choice of colors and forms in the old Disney animated films as well as from poetic obscurity present in Abstract Expressionist Painting.
Coleman’s “Don’t Forget to Dream” mural is just one of the projects designed and created as part of a larger cause. The cause is to give the Five Points MARTA station, the city’s largest and busiest station, a makeover.
The Central Atlanta Progress and Atlanta Downtown Improvement District is the mastermind behind the makeover project. They aim to assess, design, and enhance the Downtown Atlanta’s South central business district’s MARTA rail stations.
The results of the MARTA project brought much improvement to the Five Points. At the top of the Five Points Station façade, a new signage is displayed. It bears the universal icon for transit, which adopted the MARTA colors.
Other projects that became part of the cause are the mini soccer pitch, a community garden, a new lighting in Broad Street Plaza, Food Truck Fridays, and a station art program.
The successful mini soccer pitch was opened by Soccer in the Streets and the Atlanta United Foundation. This mini-project is the world’s first soccer field at a transit station, causing a tremendous attention at social media. That’s why the area became more active and often populated unlike before.
During the fall of 2016, the Community Garden was launched in the Five Points Station. This mini-project caught much interest from the Downtown Community. That even students of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School integrated the garden into their coursework in Biology and extracurricular activities.
Another mini-project even brightened up the station and that’s all because of the Plaza Lighting. String lightings are decorated all around the place, turning it into a fanciful area for people present there. This resulted to a positive impression for the Broad Street Plaza, the entrance of the Five Points MARTA Station.
Food Truck Fridays is also mini-project hosted by CAP/ADID. It is a lunchtime presentation of food trucks and live music, held weekly on Broad Street Plaza. This led to many new visitors and food vendors coming weekly for the said event.
The Station Area Art Program was another mini-project which started way back November 2016 by CAP/ADID. A local knitting group was paid to knit large colorful sleeves or socks to decorate the old trees scattered in the station. Known as the “Knit Show on Broad,” the public showed a great amount of attention for the event. The project even attempted to be a trending topic on social media, with a hashtag “Knit Happens,” “Keep Calm and Knit On,” and the like.
As the south downtown progresses as well as the successful projects created in the Five Points MARTA Station, passengers will be more pleased when going to it.
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