Vol. 34, Number 2 Fall 2017 Eufaula Excursion Preservation 101 Patriot’s Camp 2017 Report Upcoming Events Learn more on page 7. Find out more on page 6. Discover this year’s Camp on page 4. See page 8 for upcoming events PRESERVATION PROGRESS Through almost two The Atlanta Constitution used the 1940s building decades, the Atlanta for about 10 years, until it merged with the Atlan- Preservation Center ta Journal and moved to a new, nearby location. has been advocating Georgia Power next occupied the building until for the survival and the early 1970s. The City of Atlanta bought the reuse of the old Atlan- building in 1995. ta Constitution build- Atlanta Constitution Building ing, including efforts to If the State office determines the building eligible recognize its signifi- for the National Register of Historic Places, the cance in our “Ancients & Moderns” events, list- developers could apply for state and federal tax ing multiple times on our Endangered list, a chal- incentives of approximately $10 million com- lenge to the §106 review process, calls for desig- bined. Invest Atlanta, which is the economic de- nation of the building, and discussions with devel- velopment branch of the City, calculates that the opers. Presently, after nearly a year of RFP sub- $40 million rehabilitation project would have an mittals, reviews, and negotiations, Invest Atlanta economic revitalization impact of $56.5 million is close to awarding the sale of the old Atlanta on the downtown area, creating an estimated 427 Constitution newspaper building to developers temporary construction jobs, 360 permanent Pope & Lane Enterprises and its partner Place jobs, and generating almost $500,000 in new an- Properties, according to news reports. nual property taxes for the City. The two-year project is scheduled to start in June 2018 with The developers have agreed to buy the historic completion in 2020. Art Moderne building, located at 143 Alabama Street and vacant for decades, for $2 million for a As you read in our previous $40-million mixed-use rehabilitation project that newsletter, the APC has been will include 67,000 square feet of offices, retail, involved with the Medical Arts residential housing, a rooftop restaurant, and142 building for an extended parking spaces They also will construct 112 new length of time. As a result of residential units behind the historic building, of our efforts, an easement was which 30% would be affordable housing. Atlan- granted on the building to ta’s Department of City Planning hopes to occu- Global X. Invest Atlanta voted py about 30,000 square feet of the office space. in August to award a grant of Medical Arts Building 2 PRESERVATION PROGRESS (Continued from Page 1) up to $3 million to Global X Properties to assist in the rehabilitation of the building. Global X has agreed to use the grant funds to fully restore the façade, repair the windows and update the mechanical systems. The rehabilita- tion project is expected to generate an economic impact of $43 million invested in the downtown area and to cre- ate over 400 permanent jobs. Norfolk Southern Within the Central Railroad District, which has been a focus of our activities for some time, the Norfolk Southern railroad headquarters building is located a few blocks away from the old Constitution building. The very long structure was built in 1912 adjacent to the rail lines which fed into the now-demolished Terminal Sta- tion. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the development firm CIM is interested in acquiring the property. Such a rehabilitation project is potentially eli- gible for the preservation tax incentives and could have a similar economic revitali- Norfolk Southern railroad building zation impact on the Gulch area as the Ponce City Market project had on its sur- Photo: Central Atlanta Progress rounding neighborhoods. David T. Howard School Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood has undergone impressive economic revitali- zation, most recently including the Ponce City Market rehabilitation and the develop- ment of the Atlanta Beltline. Atlanta Public Schools has announced that the long-vacant David T. Howard School will reopen in 2020 as a new middle school, replacing the cur- rent Inman Middle School, which in turn will transition to a much-needed new elemen- tary school. The decision to reuse the school building came from both a need for a larg- David T. Howard School Photo by Joeff Davis er building to house the 1,000+ student body at Inman and to satisfy community re- Creative Loafing quests to reuse the building. The David T. Howard School opened in 1924 and served as both an elementary and high school through the years; due to low enrollment it closed in 1975. Significant alumni include Martin Luther King, Jr. and former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson. When the school reopens in 2020, it will be the first time it will house an integrated student body. Atlanta Stockade Earlier this year Urban Realty Partners and RAF Capital applied for the state and feder- al tax incentive program to rehabilitate the historic Atlanta Stockade for $11 million, which will net them almost $5 million in tax credits. The former prison and its two adja- cent outbuildings were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The new commercial use development will be called GlenCastle. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a four-acre site adjacent to the Atlanta Stockade recently has been purchased by Grubb Properties for $5.1 million. The site currently is occupied by a Atlanta Stockade school building built about 1930 and most recently known as the Atlanta Arts Exchange campus. Grubb plans to demolish the historic school and build 240 new residential apartments. Because the Grubb Properties development plan involves the demolition, and not a rehabilitation, of a historic building, the developers would not be eligible for the preservation tax incentives. Both sites are east of downtown Atlanta, near the Glenwood Park development and the Atlanta Beltline. Pratt-Pullman Yard Pratt-Pullman Yard was listed on our Endangered List in 2001. We have advocated for this complex since that time. After nearly three decades of ownership by the Georgia Building Authority, the historic Pratt-Pullman Yard, located at 225 Rogers St. in Kirkwood, was sold to Atomic Entertainment for $8 million. The following month, the Atlanta Urban Design Commission approved a resolution nominating the Pratt-Pullman Yard as a landmark district; all the buildings located within the district are included within this designation. However, the decision is not final until it is approved by both the Zoning Review Board and the Atlanta City Council. The industrial com- 3 plex also is a contributing property to the Kirkwood Historic District, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. The complex originally was constructed in 1906 as the Pratt Engineering and Machineworks company. In 1926 it was purchased by the Pullman Company who converted the site for use as its southeastern repair shop and built additional buildings. The new owner plans to transform the site into an entertainment district and movie studio on the 27-acre site and potentially could be eligible for state and federal preservation tax incentives, the city Landmark Historic Property Tax Abatement program, and the City/County Pratt-Pullman Yard Urban Enterprise Zone Tax Abatement Program. The Peachtree Center Historic District was added to the Georgia Register of Historic Places and nominated to the National Register in August by the Georgia National Register Review Board. The nomination was sponsored by Central Atlanta Progress. The 24-acre district in- cludes 15 buildings designed by Atlanta architect-developer John C. Portman, Jr., including the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel, the Atlanta Hotel and Westin Peachtree Plaza, the Atlanta Mar- riott Marquis, the AmericasMart complex, the Mall at Peachtree Center and seven office buildings. Many of the buildings feature Portman’s signature design element, the public atri- um. All of the buildings are united by pedestrian sky bridges, another of his design features. The 230 Peachtree Building (Peachtree Center Tower) currently is being rehabilitated as a 230 Peachtree Building federal and state preservation tax incentives project, but all contributing buildings in the nomi- nated district potentially would be eligible to participate in the program as well. ENDANGERED PROPERTIES Peachtree-Pine Homeless Shelter Peachtree-Pine Homeless Shelter is currently on our Endangered List. Just as de- velopment projects and revitalization efforts are increasing downtown and in Mid- town, plans are underway for Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) to take control of the Peachtree-Pine Homeless Shelter building, located at 477 Peachtree Street, in Oc- tober when the shelter closes its doors. Shelter residents currently are being moved to other shelter locations throughout the city. The mission of the non- United Motor Services Building, profit CAP, founded in 1941, is to “enhance and preserve the vitality of downtown formerly the Atlanta.” Neighbors look forward to CAP finding a new use for the historic build- Peachtree-Pine Shelter ing constructed in 1921 as the United Motors Services Building and designed by prominent Atlanta architect A. Ten Eyck Brown. As a potentially eligible National Register-listed building, a reha- bilitation project could be eligible for state and federal tax incentives. Trust Company Bank Building The Atlanta Preservation Center has been advocating for over a decade to preserve the former Trust Company Bank Building, located at 2160 Monroe Drive. The build- ing was one of those we featured during our “Ancients and Moderns” series of events, which pointed out the value of Atlanta’s modernist architecture prior to the formation of other groups, who have now focused on this. The iconic round building was de- Trust Company Building signed by Henri Jova in 1962 and remained a bank until 2000.