Every golfer who has played the back nine at Chastain Park has hit a shot toward that slope past the 16th hole and watched it disappear into kudzu. Runners on the PATH trail loop around it. Dog walkers know not to bother. For 89 years, ever since the golf course went in, that stretch of ground between the fairway and Nancy Creek has been the one part of Chastain nobody could actually use.
That is finally about to change, and the way it changes will rearrange how you get around the rest of the park for well over a year.
Why That Corner Has Sat Idle Since the Course Was Built
When architect H. Chandler Egan laid out what was then North Fulton Golf Course in the late 1930s, his own design plans left out roughly 30 to 40 acres of land south of the creek. According to reporting from Urbanize Atlanta, planners now believe that acreage was set aside to hold excess fill dirt during construction, and it never got reclaimed. Project descriptions call the site an "80-year-old dumping ground situated within a significantly unhealthy and ecologically challenged upland forest," with imported fill, construction debris, and invasive plants still working their way through it.
That is the land the Chastain Park Conservancy is now trying to fix. The effort has a name: the Palisades Project.
What's Actually Being Built
The plan covers about 30 acres between the golf course's 16th hole and Nancy Creek. According to the Conservancy's own project page, it includes a one-mile trail system, a 153-foot pedestrian bridge over Nancy Creek, scenic overlooks roughly 40 feet above the golf course, a natural playground, an outdoor classroom, and native gardens meant to replace the kudzu that has taken over the site. A new entrance drive and parking area will also connect visitors to the Conservancy's offices and to Farm Chastain, the event space near the park's south end.
Conservancy President and CEO Rosa McHugh described the goal to WABE in terms that go beyond another stretch of trail:
"What this place will be, will be is an opportunity to sit, really enjoy yourself, you know. Throw a blanket, read a book, do tai chi, do yoga. I'm really excited about one piece of it that's going to be 40 feet higher than the golf course and a place to sit and watch the sunset."
The project also has a longer horizon than most park upgrades. Per Urbanize Atlanta's coverage of the design team's plans, the Palisades site has been selected as the connector between PATH400 and the Atlanta BeltLine, meaning this one project eventually links Chastain into two of the region's largest trail networks.
The Part That Actually Changes Your Drive
Here is the detail that matters if you use the park more than once a week: the only vehicle road into the lower half of Chastain Park currently runs straight through the golf course. Rough Draft Atlanta reported that this road will be relocated as part of the Palisades build, with the current asphalt converted back to fairway.
That means the route you take to reach the golf course clubhouse, the overflow lots near Farm Chastain, and the southern end of the PATH trail is going to move during construction, not just the acreage around it. If you play golf at Chastain, walk your dog along that stretch, or cut through on your way to an event at Farm Chastain, plan on a detour for the length of the build.
How Close the Funding Actually Is
As of today, the Conservancy has raised more than $12 million of its roughly $13 million goal, leaving about $1 million to go, according to B98.5's reporting this morning. The last major push came this past Saturday, when the Conservancy hosted The Gilded Trail, a Western-glam gala split across two Buckhead venues. The Trailblazer Dinner at The Chastain restaurant ran from 5 to 8 p.m. with table packages starting at $2,000 and named sponsor tables from $20,000, followed by a Boots & Bubbles celebration at The St. Regis Atlanta with tickets from $750, according to coverage from Urbanize Atlanta and Haute Living.
If the remaining gap closes, the Conservancy is targeting a November 1 groundbreaking, with construction expected to take 12 to 16 months. That puts completion anywhere from late 2027 to early 2028, depending on which end of the Conservancy's own estimate the build lands on.
What's Still Live in the Park This Month
The Palisades Project is the headline, but it is not the only reason to be at Chastain Park through the rest of August. The Synovus Bank Amphitheater, the venue most people still call Chastain Park Amphitheater regardless of its sponsor name, has a run of shows left this month:
| Date | Show |
|---|---|
| Fri, Aug 14 | Ella Mai with AMA |
| Sun, Aug 16 | Chastain Park Auto Show (Red Parking Lot, noon) |
| Sat, Aug 22 | The Isley Brothers & The O'Jays |
| Sun, Aug 23 | Jon Batiste with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra |
| Sat, Aug 29 | Yacht Rock Revue |
The Auto Show is the one worth circling if concerts aren't your thing. It's the fifth annual running of the event, expected to bring more than 175 vehicles across various categories, with coffee from Ira Lane Coffee on site, according to the event's own page.
Looking further out, registration is open for the 2026 Chastain Challenge, a six-week walking and running fundraiser that runs from early September through October 15, per the Conservancy's calendar.
The Golf Course You'll Be Detouring Around
Worth knowing before the road moves: the golf course itself has drawn mixed reviews this year. The City of Atlanta's own site calls Chastain Park Golf Course the city's top-rated public course, citing its Buckhead skyline views. Player reviews on GolfPass from as recently as April 2026 tell a different story, with repeated complaints about green conditions and temporary greens placed in fairways during ongoing repairs. Neither claim cancels the other out. It's a busy, city-owned 18-hole course built in 1937 with design credits to H. Chandler Egan, Bobby Jones, and Walter Hagen, and it is currently absorbing both heavy play and mid-repair conditions at the same time the Palisades work is set to reroute traffic around it.
Where to Watch It Happen From
If you want a seat while all of this unfolds, The Chastain sits directly across Powers Ferry Road from the Chastain Park Tennis Center. The restaurant holds a Michelin Green Star and is run by Executive Chef Christopher Grossman, who previously worked under Thomas Keller at The French Laundry and ran the kitchen at Atlas inside The St. Regis. Its onsite culinary garden supplies part of the menu, and the South Terrace is dog-friendly and first-come, first-served, with fire pits for the nights when the concert crowd spills out early. If you bring your own bottle, corkage runs $30 for the first 750ml, $65 for a second, or $95 for a full 1500ml, according to the restaurant's own FAQ.
What This Adds Up To
The story here isn't that Chastain Park is getting bigger. Plenty of Atlanta parks add acreage every few years. The story is that the specific 30 acres in question have been unusable since the course around them was built, and the fix for that requires moving the only road that gets a car into the lower park. For the next year or more, that means golf access, Farm Chastain access, and the southern PATH connection will run through a construction detour before they run through a finished trailhead.
If the last million dollars comes together on schedule, November marks the start of that detour. If it doesn't, the road stays exactly where it's been since the 1930s, and so does the kudzu.
Either way, the park you've been walking past for years is about to look different, and knowing which acres change first, and which road moves to make room for them, is the kind of detail that only makes sense once you've actually watched it happen from the inside.
If you're weighing a move in or around Chastain Park, or wondering what a project like this could mean for property values nearby, Shanna Bradley tracks these shifts as part of her daily coverage of Buckhead and the surrounding intown neighborhoods. Book an appointment to talk through what's changing in your corner of the park.
