The New, Blue Campus Connector

or the past 22 months, Georgia State University Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer L. Jared Abramson has occupied an airy office on the top floor of Centennial Hall. The floor-to-ceiling windows face south, offering a sweeping view of downtown Atlanta.

In addition to realigning the post-pandemic university budget, these are the blocks that Georgia State President M. Brian Blake hired Abramson to help transform when he recruited him from George Washington University two years ago. Abramson was tasked with finding ways to make Georgia State feel a little less like a downtown and more like a college town.

But one gets the sense there are two different vistas to take in, depending on who’s doing the looking. There’s the view that’s visible today — high rises, concrete parking lots, traffic backed up on Courtland Street. Then there’s what Abramson sees, in his mind’s eye, like a set of mental VR goggles that can peer into the future. It’s a vision of a lively, vibrant neighborhood, a place that thrums with people, life, energy.

It’s a vision students will start to see flickers of when they come back to school after summer vacation, most readily in the form of more than 90 trail markers going up around campus this week, announcing the creation of a new idea: the GSU Blue Line.

“We want to have a palpably different feel on campus when the students return for the fall,” Abramson says.

But the trail markers are just the beginning. “We're going to completely redevelop and rebrand the campus.”

Taking inspiration from successful redevelopment projects like New York’s High Line and Atlanta’s BeltLine, the GSU Blue Line is a 3.7-mile marked walking path through the Georgia State Atlanta Campus. Comprising city streets, newly created quads and pedestrianized passageways, the GSU Blue Line will knit together the university’s loosely connected network of dorms, libraries, research centers and classroom buildings to create a greater sense of place downtown. It will, Abramson hopes, become a destination in itself.

Just a few weeks into his new job at Georgia State, Abramson attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reopening of Hurt Park. Spirits were high as Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (M.P.A. '13) and campus brass posed for photos with oversized scissors, marking the culmination of a project that had begun five years earlier when the university struck a deal with the city to operate the triangle-shaped park at the foot of Edgewood Avenue and Courtland Street, which had fallen into disrepair.

In its heyday, the park’s centerpiece, the iconic Fountain of Light, wowed crowds with a 20-minute-long show of synchronized ribbons of water that danced in the glow of soft changing lights —a mini Bellagio for 1940s Atlantans. But that show had long since gone dark.

That day, after a two-year renovation, Abramson watched the fountain switch back on for the first time in a decade.

“Hurt Park is really at the very center of our campus,” he says. “To turn that fountain back on was a big point of pride for Georgia State.”

For Abramson, the restoration of the venerable park highlighted the need for Georgia State to help protect downtown’s spaces from neglect, and to put public safety at the top of the agenda. He notes that places on and near campus that are given the right attention and investment are inherently safer because they create a sense of community.

The next day, he and GSU Police Chief Anthony Coleman embarked on a listening tour with leaders from across the university, from deans to facilities managers.

“We met with hundreds of people from every unit to hear their concerns and get their ideas about improving the experience," Abramson recalls. “Going around, talking with people about what they want, the idea of the GSU Blue Line just became clear.”

Abramson and his team conducted a “hotspot analysis,” mapping security incidents around downtown. It showed that half as many incidents occurred in the central parts of campus compared to the edges.

“We saw that if we could drive activity to the core of our campus, we have a much better chance of our community having a more comfortable, predictable experience,” he says.

But first, the campus itself needs to be better defined.

“We need to brand it, so you know when you're on campus and when you're not,” Abramson says.

You’ll know you’re on the GSU Blue Line because, well, it’ll be blue. Waves of Panther blue will start appearing in ground-floor windows of buildings along the route, block-long decals that signal to users they’re on the right track. There will also be more Georgia State-branded crosswalks, sidewalks and welcome banners, and blue accent lights illuminating the way.

Security upgrades included installing more street lighting, with brighter LED bulbs, and adding AI-equipped cameras that can detect unusual noises or gathering crowds, and automatically get the attention of a campus police dispatcher. Blue emergency call boxes have been added along the route, and parking decks have been equipped with security cameras, mirrors and high-speed gates. A new access-control policy limits entry to most GSU buildings and parking decks to PantherCard holders.

But safety is not just about lighting and cameras. It’s about people.

“A critical mass of like-minded people walking together: That's what really creates safety,” Abramson says.

He points to the Atlanta BeltLine as a model for what he wants to create downtown.

The BeltLine took 22 miles of disused 19th-century railway and turned it into what is today one of Atlanta’s most popular attractions. On any given day, the most developed portion of the trail is alive with people on foot, on bikes, on scooters; they’re walking dogs and pushing strollers on their way to bars, restaurants, Pilates studios, shops, apartment buildings and parks that line the route. It’s not uncommon to see kids skateboarding next to an outdoor yoga class while a busker plays the drums and people sip lavender lattes at a pop-up café in front of a piece of public art.

For Darin Givens, co-founder of the urbanism advocacy group Thread ATL, safety and vibrancy both stem from this kind of street-level activity.

“It’s what the great Jane Jacobs called ‘eyes on the street’: People behind windows looking at the street, taking ownership of the place,” says Givens, citing the activist who championed people-friendly urbanism in 1960s New York City. “Unfortunately, much of GSU was built at a time when people were not thinking about these issues. We were trying to cater to people who would drive in, park, go to their classes and get back in their cars and drive away. There was not much thought to making this a vibrant urban environment.”

The current university administration wants to change that. President Blake has said he’d like to see more residential students downtown, and he and Abramson want those students to feel that they belong there.

“We have evolved beyond a commuter campus, and people need to be able to feel like their neighborhood is their home,” Abramson says.

For Blake, the GSU Blue Line is a significant step forward for the Identity, Placemaking and Belonging pillar in the university’s new strategic plan, which is aimed at creating a campus that’s a sought-after destination for students and a more inviting place to be.

“It promises to be transformative for both Georgia State and downtown Atlanta, and we are thrilled to see our vision become a reality,” Blake said. “Jared and his team deserve a tremendous amount of credit for getting this incredible project underway.”

To that end, campus will be divided into loosely defined “neighborhoods” or quads, each with its own personality, connected by the GSU Blue Line. The area between the Student Center, Petit Science Center and the Sports Arena will be branded the “Science-Sports Quad,” while the “Fairlie-Poplar Quad,” which encompasses the Fairlie-Poplar Historic District, the Rialto Center for the Arts and the School of Music, will emphasize arts and culture.

But the quad Abramson is most excited about is the one he can see from his fifth-floor office window. He points to a building off to the right, a blocky white tower rising 18 stories above Edgewood Avenue. It used to be the United Way headquarters before GSU bought it in 2023. Its glass-and-concrete mid-century modern façade looks into Hurt Park and its stately fountain.

The new building will create additional capacity in burgeoning disciplines like computing and nursing and health sciences. The new, central facility will be a catalyst for companies to affiliate with the university to garner access to the pipeline of talented students and faculty experts. The lower floors will foster engagement by providing social spaces for students.

“We're going to activate the first floor so that we can spill out activity to the park,” Abramson says.

The university also has a proposal in to the city to close off a section of Gilmer Street on the other side of the park to create a pedestrian plaza. The complex will be called the “Panther Quad” — and there are plans to create a “Panther Quad” on each of the Perimeter College campuses as well.

Seen through Abramson’s imaginary VR goggles, the “Panther Quad” will soon be the beating heart of the Atlanta Campus. He sees a soft, welcoming landscape bursting with colorful flowers, and native trees providing shady seating for students to lounge on while using the outdoor Wi-Fi.

“You put a food truck out there or a snow cone machine, and you can imagine students coming out and activating the space,” he says, “because it'll be theirs.”

Abramson points to GSU’s recent renovation of the Library Commons and the success of the campus greenway as examples of how to breathe fresh life into old spaces. These are areas on campus where GSU’s placemaking vision is already being realized — no VR goggles required.

One recent morning, sun streamed into the greenway, a block-long, car-free pathway buffered by patches of green grass. A small group stood chatting in front of Saxbys, a student-run café in Library North. Through the street-level windows you could see people studying inside the new Study Commons. What used to be a dark parking lot under a bridge beneath the library reopened last November as a bright, secure indoor study zone complete with new bathrooms, breastfeeding cabins, Wi-Fi and study spaces for up to 250 people.

“When I started working here, there was nothing here,” says senior Mumbi Chewe, an actuarial science major working the espresso machine at Saxbys. “It’s a welcome change. If GSU had more places like this, people would stay around and add to the school spirit and the campus camaraderie.”

“It’s definitely a better place to hang out,” says Tameka Thelisnort, Saxbys' student CEO (café executive officer). “You'll definitely see, like, hundreds of students just laid out on the greenway. It's much friendlier than when I first started school here.”

Anything that makes the campus a more attractive place to hang out between classes can only improve student success, Abramson says, citing data that shows students who work on campus are more likely to succeed academically compared to those who work off campus.

“Our ability to create an environment where people are comfortable staying here, not just for school but for work, will only be to the benefit of our students,” he says, noting that projects like the greenway are easy ways to make a big impact. “The greenway is a huge proof of concept that if you create a space where the students feel protected, they actually will be able to create community.”

Abramson hopes the GSU Blue Line offers a way to steer folks toward the existing people-friendly places on campus, like the Library Commons, Hurt Park and the greenway. The new trail markers will feature QR codes that take you to the GSU Blue Line website, with a guide to destinations and attractions on the route, including Instagrammable murals and public art.

“We want to create destinations where students are going to want to take a selfie in front of it,” Abramson said. Additional sets of human-sized letters spelling out G-S-U have been ordered and are on their way.

And Georgia State isn’t alone in its efforts to envision a brighter future for downtown — particularly in time to show off to the visiting millions expected to arrive in 2026, when the city hosts the World Cup. Ambitious redevelopment projects are underway, including remaking the former CNN Center into a shopping mall complete with offices, production studios and the “Hawks Plaza,” adjacent to the State Farm Arena, home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. There’s also Centennial Yards (formerly known as the Gulch), a $5 billion mixed-use development across from Mercedes-Benz Stadium slated for partial completion by the time the World Cup begins.

“We see the GSU Blue Line as a key piece in the puzzle of reimagining downtown Atlanta,” says Gregg Simon, a VP at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, which is working to turn these projects into an integrated vision of tomorrow’s downtown. Simon notes that GSU brings about 38,000 students downtown every day.

“That’s an enormous population that can bring liveliness and vibrancy to a neighborhood with the right placemaking," he says, "and that’s just what the GSU Blue Line will do.”

Georgia State is just one player in a complicated urban landscape that’s replete with thorny issues, such as homelessness, that are endemic to many downtowns. As much as Abramson would like to see a smaller presence of unsheltered folks in places like Woodruff Park, he says the matter needs to be addressed holistically.

“Being from New York City, I'm sensitive to the fact that people need a place to go. We have obligations here,” he says.

He likens the dynamic to squeezing a balloon.

“If you don't do all of these things together, all you're doing is putting pressure in one place, and it's going to pop up somewhere else,” he says. “Coordination is what's going to allow us to really change what's happening in this part of downtown.”

To that end, the university has partnered with Georgia Works, a nonprofit that provides second chances to men who have experienced homelessness by providing temporary housing and job placements. Cleanup crews from Georgia Works do beautification projects on the Atlanta Campus every week, picking up litter and pressure washing the sidewalks along the GSU Blue Line.

“Anytime we do beautification work, it helps our men,” says Georgia Works’ Director of Operations Steve McGoy, who is also a graduate of the program. “Some of them come from those same streets. To make the campus cleaner and feel safer — it’s just a win-win for everyone involved.”

“GSU has to do what it can within a problematic downtown,” says Givens, the urbanism advocate. “Let’s envision a downtown where we don’t have dead spaces that are hosts for problematic behavior. Downtown itself should be a wonderful place to be 24/7/365.”

With projects like the GSU Blue Line, the streets and plazas that connect Georgia State’s campus will grow gradually, almost imperceptibly, into better places to be — places that invite a person to linger a while, hang out, enjoy the moment.

It’s something Abramson thinks about every time he walks through Hurt Park.

“Hurt Park has been watered and fed,” he says. “It’s a reprieve from a concrete jungle. It’s something we have to protect and maintain.”

Abramson hopes to see more such “feeding and watering” of Atlanta’s historic downtown jewels. He wants to see more greenspace. And a lot more blue. Splashes of blue all throughout downtown, guiding the way — and not just the way from Aderhold to the Student Center, but the way forward, for all of downtown.

“We've already got so many of the ingredients for a great recipe,” he says. “We can truly create a destination where people want to be.”