This article needs to be updated.(February 2016) |
Full name | Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center |
---|---|
Former names | Atlanta Civic Center (1967–2001) |
Coordinates | 33°46′01″N84°22′54″W / 33.76699°N 84.38157°W |
Owner | City of Atlanta |
Operator | City of Atlanta's Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs |
Type | Civic Center/Theater |
Seating type | Theater |
Capacity | 4,600 seats |
Construction | |
Built | 1967 |
Renovated | 2001 at a cost of $2 million |
Closed | October 21, 2014 |
Tenants | |
SciTrek (1988–2004) Family Feud (2011–2015) | |
Website | |
atlantaciviccenter.com |
The Atlanta Civic Center was a theater located in Atlanta, Georgia. The theater, which seats 4,600, regularly hosted touring productions of Broadway musicals, concerts, seminars, comedy acts, and high school graduations and commencement ceremonies for Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. In addition to performances, the civic center could host conferences and exhibits as well, with 5,800 square feet (540 m2) of meeting space. The civic center was owned and operated by the Atlanta city government's Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, but brought in enough revenue to be self-supporting. The theater closed in 2014.
The Atlanta Civic Center was built in 1967 on the site of Ripley Street and part of Currier Street in the Buttermilk Bottom community. It was partly built as the city's convention center, but was quickly superseded in 1976 by the state-run Georgia World Congress Center. It once hosted the annual Spring Tour of the Metropolitan Opera and served as the home of "Theatre of the Stars", a summer series of Broadway musicals featuring well-known stars of the entertainment industry. The Balanchine production of "The Nutcracker" was performed there annually for several years. The Civic Center also served as the site for the 1996 Summer Olympics cultural program.
In 2000, it hosted the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions with Georgian Robin Carroll winning.
The Atlanta Civic Center underwent a $2 million renovation in 2001 and added "Boisfeuillet Jones" to its name in honor of Atlanta businessman and philanthropist Boisfeuillet Jones, Sr. In 2003, the Civic Center became the host for the Atlanta Opera, which moved to the Cobb Energy Center in suburban Cobb County in 2007.
The back parking lot was where the 99x stage was located during the Music Midtown Festival. During the 2002 festival, Turner South hosted an indoor televised concert.
On July 22, 2005, it hosted President George W. Bush when he spoke to an invitation-only crowd about changes in Medicare. He was introduced by Governor Sonny Perdue and also accompanied by his mother Barbara Bush and U.S. senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson.
In May 2007 it was revealed that the city was considering demolition of the facility, in addition to the neighboring SciTrek, replacing them with a new performing arts center. SciTrek did close, but the Civic Center remained in operation.
In 2008, the Peachtree Road Race stage and finish festival were moved here when Piedmont Park was deemed off-limits because of drought conditions, as were other large events normally held in Piedmont Park such as Atlanta Pride. On October 18, 2008, the center hosted the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards.
In April 2011, in honor of the Atlanta Georgia Temple rededication, over 2,000 youth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) performed in a youth cultural celebration entitled "Southern Lights". Church president Thomas S. Monson enjoyed the performance along with other Church leaders, including Elder M. Russell Ballard, Walter F. González and William R. Walker. [1]
Family Feud taped at the Atlanta Civic Center from 2011 to 2015, before moving to the Georgia World Congress Center.
In March 2022, the Atlanta Housing Authority was seeking a developer to transform and repurpose the 19-acre site. [2] However, the engagement and withdrawal of development companies has slowed down progress. [3]
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring DeKalb County. With a population of 510,823 living within the city limits, Atlanta is the eighth most populous city in the Southeast and 37th most populous city in the United States according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the much larger Atlanta metropolitan area, the core of which includes Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett counties, in addition to Fulton and DeKalb. Metro Atlanta is home to more than 6.3 million people, making it the sixth-largest U.S. metropolitan area. Situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Atlanta features unique topography that includes rolling hills, lush greenery, and the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States.
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Piedmont Park is an urban park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, located about 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Downtown, between the Midtown and Virginia Highland neighborhoods. Originally the land was owned by Dr. Benjamin Walker, who used it as his out-of-town gentleman's farm and residence. He sold the land in 1887 to the Gentlemen's Driving Club, who wanted to establish an exclusive club and racing ground for horse enthusiasts. The Driving Club entered an agreement with the Piedmont Exposition Company, headed by prominent Atlantan Charles A. Collier, to use the land for fairs and expositions and later gave the park its name.
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Civic Center station is an elevated metro station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Red and Gold lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It is located in Atlanta's SoNo district. This station has seen an increase of faregate totals and ridership in the past years due to the Megabus, which drops off and picks up passengers above the station. Additionally, there has been an increased interest in high-rise buildings in the area.
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SoNo is a sub-district of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, just south of Midtown. The area was defined and named by T. Brian Glass while working on a rezoning committee with Central Atlanta Progress in 2005 in order to better establish an identity for the area and give it a hipper image. SoNo refers to the area of Downtown bounded by North Avenue on the north, Central Park Place on the east and the Downtown Connector (Interstate-75/85) on the west and south.
Boisfeuillet Jones was an American educator and president of several philanthropic organizations in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The Atlanta Opera is an opera company located in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Founded in 1979, it produces mainstage opera productions and arts education programs for Metropolitan Atlanta and the Southeast.
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is a performing arts venue located in the Cumberland/Galleria edge city, in northwest Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The $145 million facility celebrated its grand opening September 15, 2007, with a concert by Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder.
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East Cobb is an unincorporated community in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, with a population of 164,055 people.
Buttermilk Bottom, also known as Buttermilk Bottoms or Black Bottom, was an African-American neighborhood in central Atlanta, centered on the area where the Atlanta Civic Center now stands in the Old Fourth Ward. It was considered a slum area, having unpaved streets and no electricity.
The arts in Atlanta are well-represented, with a prominent presence in music, fine art, and theater.
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The Atlanta Housing (AH) board of commissioners expects to finally choose a master developer next month for the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, over four years after the housing authority bought the iconic Old Fourth Ward site, which has sat vacant for eight years. AH officials are now interviewing a shortlist of five candidates to develop the 19-acre site, AH's CEO, Eugene Jones, told Atlanta Civic Circle on Friday.
Tishman Speyer, the New York-based development firm recently tapped alongside local construction company H.J. Russell & Co. to overhaul Old Fourth Ward's long-dormant Atlanta Civic Center site, blindsided Atlanta Housing (AH) officials last week by withdrawing from the project, housing authority CEO Eugene Jones announced on Tuesday.
^ Witt, Richard and Brendan Segar. March 3, 2006. "Bid farewell to that '70s show: Cobb's center's time has come and gone." Atlanta Journal-Constitution .