Ex-Atlanta Brave Wants to Build Trail, Park Along Proctor Creek

ATLANTA, GA -- Former Atlanta Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira wants to convert 400 acres of blighted land on Atlanta's west side into commercial and residential space, Patch has learned.

The centerpiece of the development would be Proctor Creek, surrounded by a natural landscape which has run wild and is polluted.

Proctor Creek starts just south of the Bankhead MARTA train station near Interstate 285 and runs into Cobb County, before flowing into the Chattahoochee River.

Turning the land along the creek into a green oasis adjacent to more affluent northwest Atlanta is going to be a major effort, but Teixeria, who played for the Braves in 2007 and 2008, is up to the challenge.

"Oh my goodness, this is a gem, this is a hidden gem," Teixeira told WSB-TV.

He said that he is able to look beyond the present condition of the creek, much of it overgrown with vines, trash and other debris and envisions "schools and jobs, economic opportunity."

Over the years, various groups have tried to resuscitate the area, including the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, but it has been a group of investors with the nonprofit Emerald Corridor Foundation that have made the most inroads.

Teixeira is an Emerald Corridor board member. His plans for a park and trail in the area have been quietly implemented over the past couple years.

"My investors and I decided to, as we call it, 'Lead with Green'," Teixeria said in a 2016 interview. "To make this a beautiful, natural and healthy place that people want to visit and live in instead of one that people want to avoid."

The group has identified four areas of concentration to restore the Proctor Creek area into viable green space: Connecting surrounding communities to the city's already-existing transit hubs; protecting the creek and its ecosystem by erecting buffers; creating safe green spaces for people to enjoy; upgrading the infrastructure to encourage business development.

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