Athens preservation dustup: Church targets old building for parking lot

ATHENS — The block-long Saye Building looks nondescript. Two stories tall and partly coated in gray stucco, it sits unused in the shadows of the federal courthouse and a student apartment complex.

The 1920s downtown building also is at the center of a battle between preservationists and Athens First United Methodist Church, which wants to knock down the 22,000-square-foot structure for a 14-space parking lot.

The tug-of-war has been going on since 2018, and last month Athens-Clarke County’s planning commission called a timeout, tabling any permitting decision for 60 days. It’s part of a broader debate playing out in Athens and other growing cities: Knock down historic buildings or preserve and rehabilitate them?

Athens First United Methodist Church is celebrating its 200th anniversary this month. It owns the Saye Building and has maintained it doesn’t make financial sense to save it given its poor condition.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

The church says on its website that “long-term plans are for something other than parking.” It hasn’t spelled out those plans, noting only that over “the next few years” it will “prayerfully consider how to best utilize this space to serve the Downtown Athens community.” It didn’t respond to written questions before publication.

A group of local buyers has offered to buy the site for $2 million, about $850,000 more than the church paid in 2004. The group is proposing to rehabilitate the building as a mixed-use complex.

“It’s basically built like a castle,” said Russell Edwards, an Athens attorney and business owner involved in the purchase offer, adding that the building has “solid brick” under the weathered stucco.

Adaptive reuse thriving in Athens

The Saye Building over the last century has housed automobile-related businesses, a bus company headquarters, a business college and law offices. The Athens First United Methodist Church used the building as a meeting space before it stopped using it several years ago.

The Athens-Clarke government has tried in recent decades to balance new development with preserving the city’s past.

A locally designated Athens Downtown Historic District was established in 2006, followed by the 2020 designation of the West Downtown Historic District, encompassing the Saye Building. The National Register of Historic Places listed a Downtown Athens Historic District in 1978, but that designation carries no regulatory power.

Since the 1990s, there have been several examples of projects in downtown Athens where existing buildings are redeveloped for new purposes — a process known as adaptive reuse.

An old fire station was integrated into the Classic Center convention and performance space. Creature Comforts, a bar and brewery, is in an old tire shop. Ciné, a movie house, occupies a former tire recapping plant. A building that once housed Southern Bell telephone operations was given new life recently as a boutique hotel.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

The Athens First United Methodist Church, citing its review of feasibility studies, engineering reports and a financial analysis, maintains on its website that the Saye Building “cannot be renovated or restored in a cost-effective manner.” Thus far it has rebuffed the $2 million purchase offer.

Chris Jackson, part of the group that made the offer, has shared a rendering of what the building might look like. It shows a ground-floor restaurant with a patio and residential spaces above.

Jackson, the founder of preservation consulting firm Verity Works, estimates investors likely would spend an additional $5 million to $8 million rehabilitating the Saye Building. Some of that, he added, would be offset by federal and state tax credits.

“We’re not trying to make money on this building,” Jackson said.

Credit: WLA Studio

What’s next?

The church began seeking permission to demolish the Saye Building seven years ago. An initial denial was followed by a demolition moratorium and the creation of the historic district. A court challenge from the church was ordered into mediation.

In November, the Athens-Clarke County Commission agreed to address church requests that the building be taken out of the historic district and that a special-use permit be issued to allow construction of the parking lot.

In January, the Historic Preservation Commission voted down the church’s request to remove the building from the historic district. In early February, the Planning Commission voted to table consideration of a special-use permit for two months.

Mayor Kelly Girtz would like to see the building sold and rehabilitated, but authorities might not be able to stop the demolition as part of the mediation process.

“There are times when the legal circumstances are very different from my policy preferences, and this is one of them,” Girtz said.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

About the Author

Jim Thompson

Atlanta seniors say city’s promised help with utilities still hasn’t come

City officials said they are waiting to distribute the money until after they evaluate the impact of the Trump administration’s federal funding changes.

10K-square-foot mystery restaurant planned for CNN Center reboot

The owners of the Center, formerly known as CNN Center, announced that a high-end restaurant tenant had been secured as the downtown Atlanta building is redeveloped.