After years of sitting empty, the old Bobby Jones Golf Course clubhouse is getting a second act. The Atlanta Opera is transforming the long-vacant Buckhead landmark into the Molly Blank Center for Opera, a Beltline-facing arts hub that will combine rehearsal and administrative space with intimate performance venues and a nature-focused site plan. The company will keep staging its grand mainstage productions at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre while this new complex becomes its in-town home base.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a groundbreaking ceremony this week will kick off what the paper described as a $48 million push to renovate the historic clubhouse into a full-fledged arts center. The AJC reports that plans call for administrative offices, rehearsal areas, a theater and a 200-seat recital hall, and that Mayor Andre Dickens is slated to help christen the start of construction.
Blank Gift and Campaign
A December 2024 lead gift of $27.5 million from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation provided both the project name and its financial backbone, according to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. The foundation says $25 million of that contribution is earmarked for capital work and $2.5 million is dedicated to supporting the Molly Blank Discoveries Series, all within the opera's broader $110 million comprehensive campaign.
Site and Design
Design plans keep the clubhouse's historic Grecian façade on Woodward Way intact while adding a modern, Beltline-facing facility and roughly 56,000 square feet of new space across about 4.7 acres, Urbanize Atlanta reported. Renderings show the original structure making up less than a third of the finished complex, with new glass-fronted performance spaces turned toward parkland and Peachtree Creek.
Budget, Ecology and Construction
The Atlanta Opera's project page breaks the finances down further, listing a roughly $72 million total budget that includes about $48 million in hard construction costs, $16 million in soft costs and an $8 million maintenance and reserve fund. The same project materials lay out an ecological approach that includes regrading to improve drainage, rain gardens, bioretention ponds and partnerships with the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy, Trees Atlanta, Breedlove Land Planning and Davey Resource Group, all aimed at restoring the site's hydrology and boosting tree canopy.
The Opera's FAQ also notes that initial site work is scheduled to begin on February 23, 2026, with vertical construction planned for June 2026. The surface parking lot behind the building will be closed for much of the construction period, and substantial completion is targeted for October 2027, according to The Atlanta Opera.
Neighbors and Next Steps
Nearby residents are watching closely. Local civic groups have offered cautious praise while pressing for details on traffic and trail access: the Peachtree Battle Alliance told Atlanta News First that neighbors are glad to see the clubhouse preserved but want clarity on construction impacts. The opera says the Molly Blank Center will host recitals, jazz, education programming and the Molly Blank Discoveries Series once open, complementing its full-scale season at Cobb Energy and bringing a smaller-scale, community-focused arts presence directly onto the Beltline.
