Foreclosure Crisis Opens and Closes a Treasure Trove of Parks

Atlanta has struggled through the great recession with one of the biggest foreclosure epidemics in the U.S. At its peak, in 2010, there were more than 127,000 foreclosures in the Atlanta metro area. The latest count tallied more than 72,000. Statewide, Georgia has the fourth highest rate of foreclosure in the U.S., according to July figures from RealtyTrac. Empty houses are all over the place. For almost everyone concerned, this is a problem. But for others, the swath of foreclosed homes present an opportunity.

"A lot of us in the beginning had thought 'Ooh, there's a silver lining to this cloud,'" says Ellen Wickersham. She's in charge of parkland acquisition for Invest Atlanta, the city's economic development agency. She and others in her field had assumed that all these empty homes with no owners in sight and prices near the floor were prime park-making ingredients.