Diving Into The Demolition

Grant Park is plenty green.

Now Atlanta's oldest public park is going to get a wee bit greener.

The park's dive well, next to the swimming pool, has been nothing but a concrete eyesore since the city shut it down more than a decade ago.

So after several months of discussions, the Grant Park Conservancy, which advocates for the preservation and leads beautification efforts at the park, secured contracting firm Pinkerton & Laws to demolish the dive well and replace it with grass for $42,000.

Atlanta's Department of Parks, Recreation and Recreation agreed to put $19,500 toward the project if the Grant Park neighborhood raised the rest of the money.

The Conservancy, along with the help of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association and Friends of Grant Park Pool partnered to form the "Ditch the Dive Well" campaign. They raised the $22,500 in two weeks.

The conversion to grass is expected to be complete by the pool's planned May 30 opening.