Founder’s note: For the better part of the past year I’ve been focused on contributing to TrumpFile.org—bearing witness to truth and facts while this “administration” runs roughshod over laws, traditions and democracy itself. Even though CrankyYank has been on extended hiatus, our 10-year anniversary is coming up in November. I’m planning some fun things that month. As always, I’m looking for contributors to write guest posts—if you have something to say, about Atlanta or otherwise, please be in touch. But for now, enjoy this urgent plea to Georgia State University to reverse course and save this historic building in the MLK district. Source links at the end but if you’d like to sign the petition on Change.org, go here.
This post has updates below, including new comments from David Yoakley Mitchell, executive director of Atlanta Preservation Center
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Between Maria Saporta and Josh Green at UrbanizeATL I’ve been justifiably inundated with warnings about the historic building known as 148 Edgewood. This is my plea to stop the madness and save the Sweet Auburn property.
Places in Peril list includes Edgewood Avenue building under threat of demolition148 Edgewood Avenue is on the 2025 list of 10 Places in Peril from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. (Courtesy GTHP) The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation has released its 2025 list of 10 Places in…
148 Edgewood is a multistory industrial gem located in recently resurgent Downtown Atlanta, serving as historical marker inside the Martin Luther King Jr. district. From Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation:
Built in 1926 by the Georgia Railway and Power Company, this substation played a crucial role in powering downtown Atlanta. In 1966, it was acquired by Georgia State University (GSU), which repurposed the building for various uses, including as a workspace for the university’s photography department. The structure is a key part of both the local Martin Luther King, Jr. Landmark District and the national Martin Luther King, Jr. Preservation District, underscoring its historic significance.
Schools should teach history, not destroy it
Georgia Trust notes in their recap that Georgia State Uni wants to raze the building to realize the fantastically modern and innovative concept of <checks notes> a parking lot.
Despite its self-evident connection to the locality, GSU has proposed demolishing the building to create a surface parking lot.
But Rough Draft’s Collin Kelley ran a story that includes a rendering of a “student life plaza” on the site of 148 Edgewood, with recaptured brick and murals.
For real though, GSU can demolish the building and leave the rubble in a pile if it wants. That may sound dramatic but it’s really not: in an Ivory Tower declaration reminiscent of the most-egotistical monarchs to ever reign over plebes, they have spoken (emphasis mine): “The university, along with the Georgia Board of Regents, asserts sovereign immunity, exempting it from the historic preservation zoning ordinances that would typically protect the site from demolition. With a demolition permit signed by Governor Kemp, GSU continues discussions about the destruction of this contributing building in an already threatened National Register District.”
Historic-preservation rules and laws mean nothing if a school, with help from Kemp and hand-selected goons running Board of Regents, can simply declare ‘Oh silly average person, historic-architecture protections don’t apply to us. Run along now.’
Real estate lawyers (all lawyers frankly) are paid to drive semitrucks through loopholes, but for our purposes: Historic-preservation rules and laws mean nothing if an organization, with collusion by the governor and his hand-selected goons running Board of Regents, can simply declare “Oh silly average person, historic-architecture protections don’t apply to us. Run along now.”
Answer your damn email
As the soaring success of Ponce City Market (PCM) and Krog Street Market (KSM) prove, there is HUGE UPSIDE in repositioning historic landmarks for modern-day uses. Granted, it takes cash and determination. Jamestown spent at least $200M on upgrading the old Sears building (and later, City Hall East) to save materials from entering landfills *and* to preserve history. 148 Edgewood has the exact same potential, and the pricetag would be FAR less. A revitalized and modernized building could easily be folded in with GSU’s master plan—to say nothing of having the bragging rights of historic preservation.
The structure itself is begging to be rehabbed and brought into the 21st Century, just like PCM and KSM.
Which is why I’ve been emailing and calling anyone at GSU who will listen to my pitch: I’m in a unique position to either buy this property outright; get an investor group together to do the same; or (if this would survive legal scrutiny) make an equivalent donation to the charity of their choice.
Crickets.
If you’re not gonna answer my queries, then at least change course and fold this priceless landmark back in your master plan. And do it publicly by showing your work.
Remember, the “Pride of Midtown” Fox Theatre is only “fabulous” today because Atlanta Landmarks Inc. banded together to save it from the clutches of Southern Bell in the 1970s. Southern Bell got folded in with AT&T so, where will Brian Kemp and Georgia State University be 50 years from now?
I’d also like to remind Georgia State that they do not operate in a bubble: you have city neighbors, and not everything you do needs to be focused on student life. Georgia Tech is expanding into midtown, but in large part they are melding in with the neighborhood quite well.
Save 148 Edgewood. Go back to the drawing board and fix your plans, GSU. Just because Kemp signed a death warrant doesn’t mean you have to bulldoze.
Besides, “Sweet Auburn Marketplace” has a nice ring to it. 🏫
UPDATE: Thanks to a referral by City Council candidate Courtney Smith I reached David Yoakley Mitchell for comment about what it means for Atlanta to have this structure bulldozed. here’s a sampling of what he told me:
“This building stands as a testament to Atlanta’s industrial past and its evolution into a modern city. Its location on Edgewood Avenue, between Courtland Street and Piedmont Avenue, places it at the heart of a historically significant neighborhood that has witnessed Atlanta’s growth and the civil rights movement.”
And then Mr. Mitchell takes GSU to task for flippant disregard of historic structures. “I am deeply disappointed in Georgia State’s poor stewardship of our cultural landmarks,” he says. “As an institution of higher education, the university should serve as a guardian of historical knowledge and cultural preservation, not as an agent of its destruction. The decision to demolish rather than preserve and adaptively reuse this significant structure reflects a troubling disregard for the community’s heritage and the educational opportunities that historic preservation provides.”
Source Links
- Change.org Petition (1,778 signatures thus far)
- Josh Green, UrbanizeATL
- Maria Saporta, Saporta Report
- Georgia Trust – 148 Edgewood
- Collin Kelley, RoughDraft Atlanta
Will Pollock
is a perpetually cranky New York City refugee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst, researcher and author of three books (award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), and his first children’s book, Gentle with Gertie. Will is also regular contributor to TrumpFile.org, documenting the “life and crimes” of Donald Trump.
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