Midtown Atlanta District Developments

[designspace]

Great news about Equinox... That's where I work out - it's a good gym, and I think it will be a good fit for midtown. They've been expanding rapidly over the past few years (not only in NY but also in other large cities), and I've been wondering when they were going to open in Atlanta. I knew it would only be a matter of time!

Also Equinox, an upscale athletic club out of NY is said to be going into 12th & Midtown.

[JimRooker13]

In other news...

-The Atlanta historical society voted to sell the parking lots behind the Margaret Mitchell House to Jamestown Properties where they are planning a mixed-use project with 650 underground parking spaces, enough to provide parking for patrons of the Midtown Mile.

Martinman - and everyone...

Any idea of the presented mixed use details (timetable, capacity, price, etc) on the above Margaret Mitchell owned lot (once housing a bank) now totalling about 4/5ths of an acre?

As always, thanks for sharing.

[Martinman]

I don't think its even far enough in the process to establish a timetable. In the article last week, they hadn't even decided what the building would be (hotel or residential).

Edited April 6, 2008 by Martinman

[Martinman]

I don't remember if these photos have been posted here but anyways...

Joe F Steed shared another set of comparison photos with the 1980 photo taken from Bellsouth and the 2006 photo from One GA Center which of course isn't quite as tall. I can't believe how lonely Colony Square was back then.

1980

2006

And another one overlooking GA Tech but I'm not sure of the source.

1968

2006

Edited April 6, 2008 by Martinman

[JimRooker13]

I don't think its even far enough in the process to establish a timetable. In the article last week, they hadn't even decided what the building would be (hotel or residential).

Any idea of purchase price?

[Martinman]

$7 million

Dewberry offered $8 million but they liked Jametown's plan better.

The AJC had a short update on Hotel Palomar

"The 21-story building's amenities will include a restaurant/bar, an outdoor terrace with fire pits and a water feature, and 10,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space."

Edited April 7, 2008 by Martinman

[JimRooker13]

$7 million

Dewberry offered $8 million but they liked Jametown's plan better.

The AJC had a short update on Hotel Palomar

"The 21-story building's amenities will include a restaurant/bar, an outdoor terrace with fire pits and a water feature, and 10,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space."

I believe the AJC article stated voting to sell for "atleast" $7 million. Logically, if, as published, there was a competing $8 million offer, you can bet the $7M was countered upwards so minimal money, if any, was left on the table. No inside knowledge though.

[Martinman]

Heres another rendering of Met Center as well as the site plan. It does look more blue in this rendering. I'm liking the angles of the residential tower. Again, nothing spectacular but attractive. Metlife also owns the block across Spring St from this project for a future phase.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Martinman

[perimeter285]

Piedmont Park/Noguchi Playscapes History

I found this history of Piedmont Park and the Noguichi Playscapes area to be interesting. The playscapes is very unique, and I hope preservations efforts do succeed.

[JimRooker13]

Heres another rendering of Met Center as well as the site plan. It does look more blue in this rendering. I'm liking the angles of the residential tower. Again, nothing spectacular but attractive. Metlife also owns the block across Spring St from this project for a future phase.

Anyone have any idea on what Georgia Tech is doing with the two 3 or 4 story buildings at West Peachtree & 5th streets - the old Dialysis Clinic building and The Capstone Building?

Acuity Plaza sure seems to be shaping up nicely.

[eastatlanta119]

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-bl...ngs_need_t.html - some depressing news for Midtown. The classically banal story of historic buildings being torn down for parking. I'm sometimes in favor of demolition if the replacement will be a good addition to the urban fabric, but the exact opposite is true in these cases. I'm especillay concerned about the Spring Street property. It's such a fine and whimisical historicist contrast to Tech Square.

[teshadoh]

^ I know, it depresses me that still - demolition permits (sadly I'm assuming a permit will be signed off) are handed out gladly by the city. I love what is going on in Midtown, but every year there is less & less character & demolishing structures like this isn't helping anyone. What is especially shameful is the architects of that building graduated from GA Tech in the early 1900's & helped start the architectural program there.

[Martinman]

In this case there is already intense opposition to tearing these buildings down. The church seems very willing to work with the neighborhood to find a solution for their future needs. They sold the parking lot on 5th to a developer that is planning residential on the site and they want to have something in place before that parking dissapears. There situation is understandable but I don't know why the churches can't get some kind of arrangement with some of the office properties in the area, such as AT&T.

There is just no excuse for what Tech is proposing.

771 Spring St.

One of the historic homes

Edited May 19, 2008 by Martinman

[perimeter285]

Let's get a group together and lock arms around that beautiful brick building, a la the Fox Theater in the early 80's. Even if they do not succeed in tearing it down, they will just let it rot until they can say "well it's beyond repair, now" just like the owners of that old brick mansion on Peachtree near Lindbergh. I cannot believe this type of mindset is still existing within the community leaders of our city.

As for St. Marks, I imagine their largely gay congregant would have a real issue with their church tearing down part of the very neighborhood that the gay community helped to revive. It's always the same excuse - parking.

Speaking of Midtown churches, what ever happened to the old First Baptist Church building that used to be on Peachtree just north of the Fox Theater? Anyone know when and why it was torn down? Was there any opposition? It looks like it's just a vacant lot now if I have the location correct.

Edited May 20, 2008 by perimeter285

[teshadoh]

Speaking of Midtown churches, what ever happened to the old First Baptist Church building that used to be on Peachtree just north of the Fox Theater? Anyone know when and why it was torn down? Was there any opposition? It looks like it's just a vacant lot now if I have the location correct.

Peachtree & 5th - that is the Bellsouth campus. 1st Baptist sold out to BS in the 90's & they tore it down in 2000. I was living right at the corner of 5th & Peachtree at the time while they were tearing the church down - I have pictures of the last remaining part of the church, the steeple.

[perimeter285]

Peachtree & 5th - that is the Bellsouth campus. 1st Baptist sold out to BS in the 90's & they tore it down in 2000. I was living right at the corner of 5th & Peachtree at the time while they were tearing the church down - I have pictures of the last remaining part of the church, the steeple.

So, in a way, BellSouth got its revenge on Midtown for not being able to tear down the Fox Theater by building what is essentially a suburban campus in an urban setting. Did they really need to take the church with it? All they ended up using that land for was a pocket park, which is better than a parking lot but not better than a historic building. I never saw it, but it looks like it was a nice building - if anyone has up-close pictures, I'd like to see.

Thanks for the info, Teshadoh.

Edited May 20, 2008 by perimeter285

[perimeter285]

Okay this page of Atlanta Time Machine put a visual to Teshadoh's answer to my question. So BellSouth actually constructed their building on what used to be the church, and the pocketpark next door has always been there.

[adelosky]

Okay this page of Atlanta Time Machine put a visual to Teshadoh's answer to my question. So BellSouth actually constructed their building on what used to be the church, and the pocketpark next door has always been there.

LOL, I love that website. They even have a Dukes of Hazzard then and now which is great.

[teshadoh]

Correct perimeter - they left the old trees standing at the corner which was just the lawn of the old church. I wouldn't put the blame on BS - the baptists had their price & moved the hell out of dodge. Not that their are a lot of southern baptists in intown Atlanta.

Edited May 20, 2008 by teshadoh

[perimeter285]

Correct perimeter - they left the old trees standing at the corner which was just the lawn of the old church. I wouldn't put the blame on BS - the baptists had their price & moved the hell out of dodge. Not that their are a lot of southern baptists in intown Atlanta.

After reading all the comments (on ajc.com) that Maria Saporta's column about the Midtown buildings being demolished has generated, I can't say that I blame the Baptists. Suburbia probably looked mighty fine compared to a knock-out drag-down that St. Mark has on their hands over parking.

As an off-topic side note, the "new" First Baptist Church Atlanta is in an old Avon warehouse and it is about as tacky as it gets.

[teshadoh]

Back then though - 1st Baptist had plenty of parking. There were no major businesses open & they had cleared a few city blocks to make parking. What drove them out was the demographic shift & crime - their parishioners lived far away & Midtown was not a safe place back then.

[Martinman]

So true. I visited Altanta back then (~late 80's/early 90's) and Midtown was a completely different place. I remember the church, a dive looking hotel where Spire is located now, a Krystal was in the Peachtree Starbucks.

Btw, I also remember reading about a foreign developer (that built the Four Seasons) proposing this massive development for Midtown which included the church property.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Martinman

[teshadoh]

^ Gerrendhstat, or something like that who was from the Netherlands or Belgium. Absolutely hideous plan by the way, certainly would have added skyscrapers but would have torn every building down except for the Biltmore Hotel including the old hotel which is now condos on Peachtree & 6th St. Overall, an impressive plan but done in a fascist 80's style like Peachtree Center. I actually knew someone who worked on the plans - the developer got in a lot of hot water & ran out of town leaving a lot of pissed off people.

I got to admit, I've annoyed a few people about this - but I miss the old bizarro-Midtown, especially the Stein Club & even the crappy French Quarter next door (they at least had Turbo Dog). I know every Atlanta generation says this - especially about Midtown (60's & 70's particularly) but... those were the days.

[Martinman]

Marriot's chairman was in town to view the renovation at the Marriot Marquis and confirmed that they are "looking at" opening a Ritz in Midtown.

Heres an update on the Palomar construction by ATLaffinity

[j.midtown]

So, in a way, BellSouth got its revenge on Midtown for not being able to tear down the Fox Theater by building what is essentially a suburban campus in an urban setting. Did they really need to take the church with it? All they ended up using that land for was a pocket park, which is better than a parking lot but not better than a historic building. I never saw it, but it looks like it was a nice building - if anyone has up-close pictures, I'd like to see.

Thanks for the info, Teshadoh.

Revenge with "essentially a suburban campus"? That's not fair at all. BellSouth, in harmony with ARC and MARTA initiatives promoting transit-oriented development, made a significant investment in building a high-rise building (and parking structure) at the Midtown campus as well as the buildings at Lindbergh consolidating their far-flung office space and workers from around the metro area. Both the new tower and the parking structure include street level retail (admittedly, in the case of the parking deck, on the infrequently traveled Cypress St. side ) completely on board with Blueprint Midtown objectives.

It's easy to take pot-shots at big, nameless, faceless corporations, but some of them do make an effort to be good citizens, and when they do, they should be given credit.