The Atlanta Urban Design Commission Wednesday denied a developer's application to demolish the old Atlanta Daily World building on Auburn Avenue.
Architect Arthur J. Clement called the building "a national site for journalistic history." For many decades the building was the home of the Atlanta Daily World, the city's oldest black newspaper, which was founded in 1928 by W.A. Scott II. The building was severely damaged by a tornado in 2008 and the newspaper relocated to East Point. It was recently sold to a Detroit group.
Previously, Atlanta Daily World Publisher M. Alexis Scott, granddaughter of the founder, and Valerie Edwards, executive vice president of the Integral Group, said the Scott family approached the developer about buying the building after it was determined they would be unable to renovate or restore the site. Integral said a lack of investment in the structure after so many years, cripples a full economy in the historic district. Instead of becoming a thriving resource for the community, it's "an eyesore that prevents the community from benefiting from an area recovery."
Integral wanted to build 91 residential units to serve the in-town housing market that would also target students at Georgia State University. GSU is not part of the project.
An online petition has gathered more than 1,100 signatures to save the structure. Integral has 30 days to appeal the decision in Fulton County Superior Court or they can resubmit an application.
"They took the easy way, let's just move this thing out of the way," he said of the developers. He said he doesn't want to see the property's owners high and dry and is willing to work with them to come up with a viable strategy "not only for that building but for the preservation of Auburn Avenue."
"It still sits with me," said Brown. "That resource is now lost and the building was demolished. My concern is that with the resources we have in Atlanta in terms of people, finances and civil mindedness, that we're not able to preserve and protect this corridor."
The area is designated an historic site in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. "and in honor of businessmen and women, who out of the race riots, formed business, social and spiritual facilities," Brown said. " These are architectural reminders of the best of that generation."
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