Hold On, Atlanta Is Voluntarily Saving Historic Buildings?

Wednesday, September 3, 2014, by Kimberly Turner

It may seem like Atlanta bulldozes everything that’s over 10 years old, but in reality, the number of rehab projects in both the city and the state is on the rise. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources reports a sharp increase in the number of projects taking advantage of the state’s preservation tax incentives program. In 2013, 60 projects representing $54.2 million in investment took part. This year, that number has risen to 92 projects with $85 million invested. Of those preservation projects, Macon has 35, Savannah has 22 and ATL has 20.

Maybe all Atlanta needs is some healthy competition to take on more preservation projects. Let’s bring in a coach who’ll scream, “Are we gonna let Macon crush us like that? No way!” every time someone considers demolishing a historic property. The Imperial Hotel, shown above, was among this year’s projects. The $14 million effort, which turned the building into low-income apartments for people with special needs, received a federal tax credit of around $3 million, state tax credit of $300,000 and $1 million low-income tax credit.