The block of College Avenue between East Broad and East Clayton now has brick pavers, large trees, overhead shade sails, benches, metal tables and chairs, and new lighting strung across a space that carried cars until October 2020. A few blocks west, a former parking lot beside the Costa Building at Washington and Lumpkin streets is now a pocket park under the Hot Corner mural.
Both spaces used to hold cars, and parking money is a large part of what paid for the square. This is the first holiday season with both open. Getting the most out of them starts with knowing how downtown parking works now.
The block that used to be a street
College Square has been closed to cars for six years. Athens-Clarke County closed the block in October 2020 as a six-month pandemic pilot, and the Mayor and Commission made the closure permanent in spring 2021. The permanent redesign took longer. The Commission approved an agreement with the Athens Downtown Development Authority in November 2024, and Sheridan Construction dates the start of work to January 28, 2026.
The schedule faced one serious threat. In April, Flagpole reported that Georgia Power wanted a five-week pause to replace equipment in two underground vaults, which would have pushed completion from early September into mid-October. The SPLOST project manager told the ADDA board she was working with Georgia Power on an alternate plan that would add about $80,000 to the cost and keep the work on schedule. The square opened for public use in early September, before the first UGA home game. The ribbon cutting and SquareFest followed on October 24.
Athens-Clarke County's announcement puts the final cost at about $6.5 million and explains where the money came from:
Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
SPLOST and TSPLOST College Square and Clayton Street projects | $900,000 |
Additional ACCGov funds for streetscape items | About $1 million |
ADDA, through financing and parking revenue | The primary source, roughly $4.6 million of the total by subtraction |
Flagpole's October 21 City Dope described the plaza as "paid for mostly with future parking revenue." That means the money people feed into downtown parking over the coming years is paying for the tables and shade sails they sit under now. The county says minor improvements and installations will continue through early 2027, so the square may still change between now and spring.
A parking lot that became a park
The second new space is smaller and quieter. The pocket park beside the Costa Building sits on what was a parking lot at the corner of Washington and Lumpkin, below the mural by Miami artist Elio Mercado and Athens artist Brodrick Flanigan that celebrates local Black musicians and entrepreneurs. Flagpole's parks guide lists it as open from sunrise to sunset.
The park also had a delay. Last spring, designers who toured it with local officials found walkways installed incorrectly and non-native plants in the beds, and Mayor Kelly Girtz said he hoped to open it by AthFest. By late June, Flagpole was calling it newly opened.
The park doesn't have an official name yet. During a Juneteenth festival, Historic Athens submitted a petition to name it Richardson-Davis Park, after Alf Richardson and Madison Davis, Athens's first two Black state representatives, who were elected to the Georgia legislature in 1868. Flagpole reported that the petition had 1,000 signatures and counting. The name still needs approval from the ACC Commission, which the mayor said was all but certain. Because the park is a short walk from City Hall, it will be one of the closest places to sit on the evening of the Parade of Lights.
The businesses that stayed open through construction
The square works because of the storefronts along it. WUGA's grand-opening coverage talked with people at three of them. Sunroof Coffee opened its downtown store, its second location, in March, a month after construction began. Co-founder Nick Alliston said of the finished square:
"It's fun on gameday weekends. This has always been the area that people come to near The Arch, Chick-Fil-A downtown. It's cool to be on that street."
Staff at The Grill told WUGA that the construction signs left some customers unsure whether the sidewalk was open. Since the fences came down, server Maddie Ward said she has noticed more people walking through and more business. At Dress Up Boutique, Cara Worley told WUGA that the new pavers have made the block a much better backdrop for the store's social media photos than the old concrete.
Those three businesses give the square a coffee stop, a sit-down meal and a shop on the same block.
The season's calendar, set against the meter
Downtown and its edges have four community holiday events on the calendar this year, plus three ticketed shows at the Classic Center. Several of them fall inside the hours when parking is enforced. The ADDA enforces street parking Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its list of free parking days includes Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Date | Event | Where | Parking that day |
|---|---|---|---|
Sat., Nov. 21 | ADDA Downtown Holiday Stroll | Downtown businesses | Enforced Saturday |
Sat., Nov. 28 | Athens Farmers Market Holiday Artist Market, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., free | Bishop Park, 705 Sunset Dr. | Away from downtown meters |
Thu., Dec. 3 | Downtown Parade of Lights, 7 p.m., free | Hancock Ave. and Pulaski St. to City Hall | Enforced weekday; not a free day |
Wed., Dec. 16 | A Celtic Christmas, 7:30 p.m. | Classic Center Theatre, 300 N. Thomas St. | Enforced weekday |
Thu., Dec. 17 | John Berry: 30th Anniversary Christmas Tour, 7 p.m. | Classic Center Theatre | Enforced weekday |
Sun., Dec. 20 | The Nutcracker Ballet, 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. | Classic Center Theatre | Sunday, outside the listed enforcement days |
The Holiday Stroll is the ADDA's own event, held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Downtown businesses will hold an open house, artist Will Eskridge has designed a scavenger hunt, and the Chess & Community Classic City Chessathon takes place the same day. Since College Square is one block of storefronts, it will likely be a stop on any route through the open house.
The Parade of Lights starts at the corner of Hancock Avenue and Pulaski Street and moves through downtown to City Hall, where Santa lights the Christmas tree. Athens-Clarke County and the ADDA present it as a rain-or-shine event, with the route map posted at accgov.com/parade. The tree lighting ends a short walk from the Costa Building park. College Square is a few blocks east, which makes it a good place to stop for dinner or coffee before the parade starts at 7.
For a holiday market just off downtown, the Athens Holiday Market at Big City Bread runs Dec. 10 and 11 from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Big City Bread courtyard at 393 N. Finley St., and admission is free.
How downtown parking works this season
Downtown street parking has run through the ParkMobile app since the switch from meters. The Athens Banner-Herald reported that the rollout began in late July and was fully in place in August. The ADDA's parking page lists the current rules:
- Street parking: $3 an hour, enforced Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Time limit: two hours maximum between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; after 6 p.m., drivers can buy additional time.
- College Avenue and Washington Street decks: first hour free, then $2 an hour.
- Free days: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
The decks are the simplest choice for most holiday visits. They cost less per hour than the street, the first hour is free, and the ADDA's ParkMobile page points drivers who would rather pay with cash or a card directly to the decks. Drivers who park on the street can pay through the app or by phone or text without installing it. A Parade of Lights evening that starts with dinner on College Square will likely run past the street's two-hour daytime limit. The deck rate of $2 an hour after the free first hour also fits better with an evening at the Classic Center.
The changeover has had problems. In its October 21 report, Flagpole said that about 90 percent of the instructional parking signs downtown had been vandalized and temporarily replaced with stickers until new signs arrive. ADDA staff also said complaints appear to be tapering off. Through the holidays, the instructions at a given space may be on a sticker instead of a sign.
College Square and the new park beside the Costa Building are two of the clearest changes downtown has seen in years, and the square will keep getting minor installations through early 2027. If you are curious how changes like these affect the homes and streets around downtown Athens, Jennifer Westmoreland knows these blocks after three decades in this market. Schedule a personalized market consultation, and we can walk through what the new downtown means for your plans.
