Georgia government tower was to be remade as apartments. Now it will be razed.

Formerly home to the Georgia Department of Revenue, the vacant 18-story office tower is slated for implosion after residential conversion plan was abandoned.

Atlanta’s proposed office-to-residential conversions, including 1800 Century Blvd. (seen here) The CTR and 2 Peachtree, have faced significant hurdles, with many projects stalled, canceled or in financial distress despite early post-pandemic optimism. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

By Zachary Hansen

1 hour ago

A glass 18-story office tower in Chamblee that was briefly evaluated as a potential residential conversion will soon be replaced by nothing but air.

The vacant office building at 1800 Century Blvd., which was occupied by the Georgia Department of Revenue until 2024, is slated for implosion later this month, according to a demolition permit. Atlas Demolition told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that building windows have been removed, and its interior gutted to prepare for the Oct. 24 implosion.

“They’ll hear a loud sound,” Lindsay Minton, marketing lead for Atlas, told the AJC on Thursday. “There will also be a big dust cloud that the team has been preparing for.”

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The building’s fate, which was first reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, comes after it became the tallest tower outside Atlanta to undergo public evaluation as a residential conversion candidate. The Decide DeKalb development authority in December 2024 approved a $6 million tax break to support turning the tower into 289 multifamily units.

This is a site map of 1800 Century Blvd., an 18-story office building in Chamblee that is slated to be converted into housing.

The building’s owner, Highwoods Properties, considered partnering with Brand Properties on the conversion, but Highwoods told the AJC last month the residential conversion plan was no longer an active project. The company did not mention demolition, and it did not immediately respond Thursday to questions on the implosion or future plans for the property.

It’s the latest example of a potential office-to-residential conversion that was abandoned or encountered delays despite the post-pandemic focus on retrofitting unwanted offices as housing.

Atlanta’s proposed office-to-residential conversions, including 1800 Century Blvd. NE (shown here), The CTR and 2 Peachtree, have faced significant hurdles, with many projects stalled, canceled or in financial distress despite early post-pandemic optimism. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Georgia-Pacific, the pulp and paper giant, last month abandoned plans to convert much of its downtown Atlanta skyscraper into housing and other uses, citing economic headwinds. The city-owned 2 Peachtree tower, another former state government office building, has been in limbo since Atlanta acquired it in 2022 with plans to turn it into 625 housing units.

What’s the Chamblee tower’s story?

Near Clairmont Road between I-85 and Buford Highway, the glass tower has stood since the mid-1970s as one of the area’s tallest structures.

The Georgia Department of Revenue occupied the roughly 290,000-square-foot tower for much of the 2000s, opting to relocate by the end of 2024. The state agency now occupies a nearby building at 2595 Century Parkway. Highwoods owned the building until July, when it was sold for $16.2 million to a subsidiary of Boyd Watterson Asset Management.

In documents submitted to Decide DeKalb, Highwoods and Brand said the 10-year tax abatement from DeKalb’s development authority would help the developers obtain the financing needed to begin the conversion project.

No longer slated to be converted into apartments, 1800 Century Blvd. NE will be imploded Oct. 24. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

The project budget was listed as $91 million, and the tax break would have gone into effect only if the conversion effort proceeded.

Many attempted office-to-residential projects in metro Atlanta have some form of taxpayer-backed financing agreement, with developers saying these projects often don’t financially work without them.

What will demolition entail?

The implosion of large structures involves carefully placing explosives to knock the building down atop itself in a controlled manner.

Think back to the implosion of downtown Atlanta’s Georgia Dome in 2017 — at least the parts visible to the public before the event’s livestream was blocked by a MARTA bus in viral fashion.

The Georgia Dome comes crumbling down in a ball of dust Nov. 20, 2017. More than 300 pounds of explosives collapsed the steel in the upper ring, and about 4,500 pounds of dynamite crumbled the concrete columns of the Atlanta institution of the past 25 years. (Curtis Compton/AJC 2017)

Minton, the Atlas representative, said the implosion is slated for 7:45 a.m. Oct. 24, and businesses within 750 feet of the tower have been notified. Nearby roads will also be temporarily closed.

“There will be a big dust cloud, which is the main safety concern,” she said, adding that residents nearby should remain inside until the implosion finishes.

Dust drop cloths will be employed to contain much of the aftermath, and it will take about nine weeks to remove the debris.

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It’s the largest building demolition Atlas has done since it was founded in 2009. Minton said the company “is always pursuing bids through other demolition explosion opportunities.”

Other empty office buildings in metro Atlanta have been torn down in recent years to make way for new construction. It’s led to the removal of a few million square feet of office space, with the Central Perimeter submarket in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs leading the charge. Chamblee also falls within that submarket.

The Chamblee building sits on a 2.2-acre site and was most recently appraised at nearly $28.8 million. The building footprint, at least temporarily, is planned to become a detention pond, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.