merchant's alley
Project Status: Completed
Approached by Athens Main Street, a local non-profit dedicated to the revitalization of Downtown Athens, the goal of Merchants Alley was to transform an unutilized, inaccessible alleyway adjacent to the Athens Main Street office into an activated public space promoting the identity and character of Downtown Athens. Through public and private partnerships and continuous community engagement, Merchants Alley is now a place within the Athens Entertainment District that hosts live entertainment and fosters engagement on a weekly basis, and exemplifies and celebrates Athen’s rich musical heritage.
Before and After Photos
To bolster Athens’s newly founded entertainment district, Athens Main Street sought to transform the blighted and fenced off alley adjacent to their downtown office into the focal point of this new, bustling district. As with any non-profit and civic-led endeavors, budget was the main constraint. The orchestration of the project itself exemplified the principles of many small towns; a prideful, ingenious community effort that enlisted pro-bono support from city officials through local artists to bring the project to life. Our firm was not only involved in assisting Athens Main Street with the design and concept, but also with the bidding and cost estimating process, through construction administration and project management. The result was a beautiful, accessible public space that was made almost entirely by the community it is for.
