ATLANTA — Georgia State University plans to demolish the historic building at 148 Edgewood Ave. SE in Atlanta, a decision that has drawn criticism from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
The university’s decision to demolish the building comes after a public hearing in May on the plans.
The building, constructed in 1926 by the Georgia Railway and Power Company, is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Landmark District and was listed on the Georgia Trust’s 2025 Places in Peril.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation condemned in a Tuesday news release Georgia State’s decision to replace it with greenspace for the Fraternity and Sorority Life Plaza despite the building’s historic significance and structural soundness.
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“By removing this building from the Landmark District, GSU will erode the significance of the district and eradicate a tangible link to our city’s past,” said Georgia Trust President and CEO W. Wright Mitchell. “The Georgia Trust condemns GSU’s short-sighted decision not to adaptively reuse this property in a manner that could benefit Georgia State students and the city of Atlanta.”
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach talked to Mitchell back in late June about the property.
He told Gelhbach he would like “adaptive reuse of the structure and really service the students of Georgia State and also the citizens of Atlanta. This is something that belongs to us,”
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Georgia State University acquired the 148 Edgewood Avenue property in 1966. The university used the structure for various academic purposes, including as a facility for its photography department.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation also said the university’s decision directly contradicts the University’s own 2014 Campus Historic Preservation Plan, which recognized the building as “worthy of long-term preservation and investment,” and noted its potential to be “adaptively used to meet the Institute’s educational mission.”
GSU in a May news release said of the building, “the structure has been vacant for more than two decades and would require millions in renovations and modernizations to be suitable for use.”
The Fraternity and Sorority Life Plaza will include a new paved walkway, grassy lawn and bench seating areas. It aims to provide a larger, dedicated area for recreation and community-building for Georgia State’s Greek life community.
The project is part of Georgia State’s $107 million Building Pathways for Success Initiative, which seeks to create a central campus hub linking various parts of the downtown campus.
Georgia State University plans to commemorate the building’s façade with a mural on the Greek Housing building, integrating historical elements into the new plaza. Plans also call for the reuse of the brick from the 148 Edgewood building in the plaza.
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