By Mark Lannaman
Saporta Report
ATLANTA, Ga. | Georgia State University just received its largest financial gift ever — an $80 million donation from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, which is set to define the campus for the future.
The announcement came this past Tuesday, November 12. The donation will make the bulk of a total of $107 million going towards campus upgrades as part of the “The Building Pathways for Success Initiative.”
The imagined vision for the upgrades will connect two major parks on campus, Woodruff Park and Hurt Park, and add more greenspace to the urban campus. To do this, the longstanding Sparks Hall building will be demolished.
It was only a few years ago, back in 2021, that the university saw one of its latest large renovations when it demolished its Kell Hall building to make way for a new greenway running through campus.
The announcement this week seemingly reinforces the school’s commitment to transforming its campus into something more traditional-looking. It comes just a few months after the school launched its “Blue Line,” a 3.7 mile marked walking path that sought to “connect the campus, create distinctive quads, build a better sense of place and, ultimately, become a destination in itself at Georgia State.”
“The Woodruff Foundation, one of Georgia’s greatest philanthropic institutions and one of downtown’s most important partners, is entrusting us and our University System of Georgia colleagues to act boldly over the next two years to realize a new vision for our downtown campus,” says Georgia State President Brian Blake in the university’s announcement.
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