After seeing all but one of the properties on its original list of distressed downtown properties go from shabby to chic, Central Atlanta Progress has a new "Top 10″ of languishing buildings it hopes will blossom into swans.
The downtown community development group's new list of "opportunities for redevelopment" includes the old Atlanta Constitution building on Alabama Street, the Palms Hotel on John Wesley Dobbs Avenue and the Methodist Center on Ralph McGill Boulevard.
Returning to the list -- the only property not rehabilitated or repurposed from the original list -- is the Medical Arts Building on Peachtree Street near Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard.
A.J. Robinson, president of CAP, said the idea behind the list is to start a conversation about the buildings, nudging owners to find new life for the properties. He acknowledged the bad economy creates a challenge for redevelopment, but the discussion is still useful, he said.
"We are not the investor, we are not the lender," he said. "We are just someone with the vision to help the projects."
The original list, which CAP created about five years ago as an internal wish list included such properties as the Glenn Building and the Winecoff, now boutique hotels, and the Beaudry Ford site, which has become Georgia State’s mammoth University Commons.
Other places on the new list include the former Norfolk Southern Building on Spring Street, the Rufus Rose House at 537 Peachtree St. and the Gulch, an almost mile-long viaduct between Centennial Olympic Park Drive, Martin Luther King Drive, Spring and lower Alabama streets.
Anosh Ishak, one of the owners of the Medical Arts Building, has said they still want to redevelop the property, but are waiting to define its use.
David Marvin, head of Legacy Property Group and owner of the Palm, said he agreed with CAP about his building. He said Legacy bought the Palm four years ago to renovate it. At the time of the purchase, the building was operating mostly as a boarding house. which he immediately closed. But the souring economy forced him to put the project on hold.
"We are looking forward to developing it, hopefully sooner than later," said Marvin, who is on the CAP board and redeveloped the Glenn. "It was constructed 40 years ago as a hotel ... but I think there are other uses, particularly with Georgia State University."
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