Atlanta's Medical Arts Building is up for sale, again

A vacant building with a prominent perch overlooking the Downtown Connector — and a list of owners with unrealized plans — is for sale again.

Why it matters: Designed by G. Lloyd Preacher, the Medical Arts Building is the city's tallest unrestored historic building and one of Downtown's dwindling remainders of Atlanta's past.

Catch up quick: The 12-story, 85,000-square-foot building opened in 1927 and featured state-of-the-art amenities for the time, says David Yoakley Mitchell of the Atlanta Preservation Center, a longtime advocate for the structure.

• The "Freeing the Freeways" interstate-widening program of the 1970s and 80s created construction chaos in the area, and tenants left for less-congested areas, per History Atlanta. By the mid-1990s the building was vacant, Curbed reported.

State of play: In 2017, the building’s new Ohio-based owner GBX Group struck a deal with Easements Atlanta to protect the building's exterior. As of 2019, developers planned to convert it into a boutique hotel.

Zoom out: The Medical Arts Building overlooks the future site of The Stitch, capping a 14-acre segment of the interstate. It'd be smart if the city acquires the building, restores it, and preserves it for affordable housing, says Kyle Kessler of the Center for Civic Innovation.

What they're saying: GBX and the listing agent did not return requests for comment.

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