PEDESTRIAN MALL GRAND OPENING OCTOBER 14

University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas Meredith recognized a “college on the move” at the grand opening for the Pedestrian Mall at Abraham Baldwin College on Oct. 14.

Meredith said the $1.5 million project will become a “gathering place for students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of ABAC. Ideas will be exchanged, and friendships will be made on this Mall.”

ABAC President Mike Vollmer said the Mall was funded as a collaborative effort between the Board of Regents, the Georgia Department of Transportation, the ABAC Foundation, and many alumni, friends, faculty, and staff of the college.

“Stephen Rakestraw did a terrific job with the design of this project, and now I’m already thinking about what we can do with the next phase,” Vollmer said.

The Mall is a brick walkway through the center of the ABAC campus. It is lined with benches, lampposts, trees, shrubs, and flowers. The Mall extends from the front of the Donaldson Dining Hall to the front door of the new Ag Sciences Building.

When the $32 million ABAC Place apartment project is completed, the Mall will extend through the center of the complex, and two more fountains will be added. The existing Mall has a fountain in front of the dining hall and another between the Carlton Center and the Environmental Horticulture Building.

At a recent statewide meeting on the campus, members of the Garden Clubs of Georgia added to the beauty of the Mall by bringing plants and flowers from their home counties and planting them along the walkway. Vollmer said that eventually most plants native to Georgia that can survive the summer heat will be planted along the Mall.

DOT Board member Billy Langdale, Regent Julie Hunt, Meredith, and Vollmer assisted in the planting of a tree beside the Mall and cut a ribbon to open the new project.

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