Inside the 41-story high-rise at 2 Peachtree street in downtown Atlanta, remnants of the building’s past lives still greet visitors when they enter.
The tower was originally built in 1966 as a new home for the First National Bank of Atlanta and the winding hallways of the basement still hold a massive, decades-old bank vault. Conference rooms on the highest floor are encased in vintage wood paneling that onlookers note could easily be a set from the popular television series “Mad Men.”
But the building, long considered a money pit for the state before it was sold to the city this year, will soon have a new life and thousands of new residents. The city of Atlanta is well underway with its effort to convert the office building into mixed-income housing that will enliven the area.
“We’ve planted a flag and said ‘we’re invested in downtown,’” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said on Tuesday as he ventured through the hallways of the ambitious project that sits just a few steps away from Atlanta’s Underground and the MARTA Five Points station.
“Office to residential conversion is going to be a game changer across the country and it’s happening right here,” he said. The project plays a major role in reaching the mayor’s goal of creating or preserving 20,000 units of affordable housing within 8 years.
The federal government, too, has its eye on the project as a potential national model for office to residential solutions to expand affordable housing.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo visited Atlanta this week to tour the 2 Peachtree building which, he said, is an example of what he wants to see more cities doing.
“My next trip is to Cleveland, Ohio and I’m going to tell their mayor and their housing authority about what I’ve seen here,” he said. “Because Cleveland is in need of building more housing in their downtown as well and thinking about creative and innovative ways to do it.”
The deputy secretary’s stop in Atlanta was not only to get a sneak peak at the city’s affordable housing projects but to also discuss how the federal government can adjust COVID-era funding programs to better serve local governments whose hands are often tied with restrictions on the money.
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
Trillions of dollars doled to municipalities across the country as part of the American Rescue Plan funding package born out of the pandemic have strict rules about how local governments can invest the funds. And according to the U.S. Department of Treasury, nearly $63 billion from the program have been dedicated to local housing projects across the country.
“One of the things we’re considering and that we’re going to come back to cities and states with early next year is additional flexibility with some of the American rescue plan money when it comes to housing going forward,” Adeyemo told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution during his visit.
That would mean more money with less strings attached for city leaders like Atlanta’s first-term mayor to execute projects like the massive undertaking of the building’s conversion from office cubicles to welcoming apartment units.
While the bid process for a developer to take on the project is still in the works, Atlanta residents can get immediate help with housing needs through the recently-opened Housing Help Center located on the main floor of the building.
Donell Woodson, director of the new center, said he wanted the office to feel like a home and less of an office building when Atlantans came through its doors for help. With the financial hardships of the holiday season, staff at the office have a tough task of helping families find places to stay — often the same day.
“It’s the end of the year, this is happening around the country where people are running up against the holidays and worried they’re going to be out on the street,” Woodson said.
“At the close of the day — we’ve had multiple this week — little kids in the space with parents in tow, trying to figure out where they will sleep tonight,” he said.
Atlanta has also dedicated $2 million from the city’s affordable housing trust fund to go toward eviction diversion for low-income residents. The program runs out of the housing center at 2 Peachtree and prioritizes residents over the age of 65, single-parent homes with children in Atlanta Public Schools and households with renters under 25 years old.
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