The once elegant Castle in Midtown is for sale for $2.2 million, less than half the asking price when it was last on the market three years ago.
The building is a pre-foreclosure opportunity, said Daniel Latshaw, partner with Bull Realty who is handling the sale of the property.
Now nestled between gleaming Midtown office towers Promenade I and Promenade II, the 11,000–square-foot property at 87 15th St., was designed and built in 1910 by Ferdinand McMillan as his retirement home. The Castle is across the street from the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and, while it hasn't been occupied for decades, it used to be a staple of Atlanta's arts community. It housed artists and was used for arts-related activities, according to the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, which listed the building as a "place in peril" in 2008.
“It does need a bit of TLC, but it’s not a money pit,” Latshaw said. “It just needs updating. It’s a trophy for anybody who wants it."
The Castle’s layout and zoning allow for a wide variety of uses, Latshaw said, including as an art gallery, restaurant, nightclub, history center, professional office or single-family home.
The owner of the property, investment group Castle LLC, purchased the Castle for $1 million in 2002, according to Georgia Trust. The company wanted $5 million for the property in 2007, before the real estate market took a turn for the worse, Latshaw said.
The Castle was threatened with demolition in the mid-1980s, a time when former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young called the structure "a hunk of junk."
The Castle achieved local landmark status in 1989 – preventing it from being torn down -- and was restored as part of AT&T’s Promenade project, said Traci Clark, communications director for the Georgia Trust.
“If someone bought the Castle and rehabilitated it, it would be great,” Clark said.
Another iconic building, the historic Flatiron in downtown Atlanta, recently went on the market for $4.27 million.
