The city of Atlanta announced Thursday that it is purchasing the 2 Peachtree Street building in an effort to create a world-class downtown area.
Invest Atlanta plans to purchase the building on the city’s behalf for $39 million, according to city officials. The plan is to convert the 41-story office tower into several hundred new housing units.
The adaptive reuse of older high-rises can be a complex and expensive endeavor. But turning 2 Peachtree into a mixed-income, mixed-use development can enliven downtown and give a shot in the arm to the MARTA Five Points station below it.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens told Ryan Cameron on Majic 107.5 radio that 2 Peachtree will become the city’s tallest residential building. Dickens said the top floors of the building will be earmarked as units for students, the workforce, low-income families, and market-rate housing. The bottom will be designated for retail, restaurants, and office space.
“This is revolutionary,” Dickens said. “We want to bring life and vitality back to downtown because after about seven o’clock in downtown, ain’t nobody here.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
The state of Georgia has been trying to sell 2 Peachtree for years because it has long been considered a money pit for the state. Earlier this year, state House leaders put $45 million into the midyear budget to start moving state employees out of the building. House Appropriations Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, said it would cost more to properly renovate the building than it is worth.
The deal for 2 Peachtree harkens back to days of warmer bipartisan relations between the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta that were on display during the tenures of former Gov. Nathan Deal and former Mayor Kasim Reed.
Deal and Reed famously collaborated on a number of high-profile headquarters and big jobs recruitments, and Reed was often the emissary between the state and the White House during the Obama administration. After Deal and Reed left office, Kemp and former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms had a more strained relationship that ultimately broke during the pandemic.
On Friday, Kemp said in a statement that he’s thankful he and Dickens could work together to give the historic building a continued important purpose.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
“This transaction will benefit a valued population in need of affordable housing and deals like this ultimately come about because of strong partnerships, like the one we have with the mayor,” Kemp said. “I look forward to seeing how that partnership will continue to impact the people of Atlanta and beyond in the years ahead.”
Invest Atlanta plans to hold the building until a redevelopment partner is selected, the city announced. Funding for the purchase is also being allocated from the Eastside Tax Allocation District.
Eloisa Klementich, Invest Atlanta’s president and CEO, said in a statement that downtown Atlanta is on a strong growth trajectory with the potential to strengthen the city’s economy thanks to existing investments into the Gulch and south downtown.
“With exemplary leadership from the mayor, we are proud to partner with the city of Atlanta once again on a transaction that will make a lasting impact for generations to come,” Klementich said.
Invest Atlanta is also providing bond financing for affordable housing for the Boulevard North and Villages at Carver developments. This is expected to finance 308 units, including 242 that will be available at or below 60% of the area median income, which $57,840 for a family of four.
Atlanta is also redeveloping 104 Trinity Street into a 228-unit community on vacant city-owned land. Additionally, Atlanta is working to build new affordable housing at 143 Alabama Street, where the city wants to preserve the Atlanta Constitution Building. The Atlanta City Council is expected to pass legislation this fall to redevelop the vacant city-owned lot at 184 Forsyth Street by the Garnett MARTA station as well.
The city’s housing agenda is motivated by the mayor’s goal to build or preserve 20,000 units by 2030. The city says 5,800 units are finished or in construction so far.
AJC editors J. Scott Trubey and James Salzer contributed to this report.
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