Midtown should be concerned about places like the Flex gay bathhouse at 76 4th St. That's a place that needs demolished.

If midtown wants to demolish something. They should demolish the Flex Gay Bathhouse at 76 4th street.

This is ridiculous. Novare must be stopped! First that monstrosity of a parking deck at Skyhouse (horrible even by Novare standards) and now this. This building has decent bones and at least some semblance of architectural character. Midtown residents must do everything to stop this from happening before we get another awful parking deck like the one they built earlier this year on Spring St. (yuck).

This is a shame... I thought the original plan for Viewpoint called for that building to be renovated and integrated into the development. What is going to go in its place? A shoddy parking deck? Meh...

This place has been tried to be saved. No one wanted it. It was a sore sight and a place for homeless and crime. Novare had designated parking spaces in the Viewpoint garage for residents in the building and no one wanted to buy it or develop it, they tried for years. If you cared about this place, you would have tried to build it or preserve it or made an issue of it not being used earlier.It is not until someone wants to demolish the eye sores do you speak out. Have you seen the plans? Do you know what is going in the place? I have, it is a significant improvement than a crack house that is there now. Also, why call out Flex? They pay taxes. Why not call out the Peachtree Pines homeless shelter that does not pay taxes and owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in utilities to the city. Oh yeah, they make no effort to rehabilitate, find appropriate support or clean up the dump the residents create. Do you think Flex is worse for activity that you can not see?

The only thing architecturally significant about that apartment building is the entrance and cartouche above it. That hardly makes it worth saving. The place was a dump back in the 80's when I had a friend that lived there. Lord knows what the inside is like now.

It has always been Novare's plan to demo this building. They have never acted in good faith in attempts to save it, nor did they attempt to protect it from further decay. The original plans to renovate it into higher end rental was never supported by corporate even before the bust. I am not sure it is a hugely significant historical building, but it certainly is a magnitude better than the mass produced parking garage looking stuff Novare has built and is planning. I do like the smaller warmer scale of this building, but I also understand that Novare has no plans to sell it as long as they can demo it and make more money with something else, that is how this works.

Novare won't be stopped because the market in Atlanta doesn't demand that they will. There are a few small voices that recognize their product for what it is - the suburbanites ideal of what city architecture and living is all about. They'll build their typical bland tower, cutting corners as far as they possibly can, and they'll lease it up to all the transplants from Kennesaw and Macon who just moved to the "big city" and "got themselves a condo in a fancy new building". They'll destroy the economic viability of large swaths of land with above-ground, highly visible parking structures, because whoever it is that is approving these development plans has zero credibility when it comes to urban design. It's this way, because that's what type of resident rules the majority around here.

I'm loathe to do so...but I must say "Thrill" makes some good points.

What's the easiest way to get a tour of the new development in midtown and downtown -- you know, the good, the bad, the ugly?
I need to get out more.

AlwaysGettingBetter - take some Atlanta Preservation Center tours. As for the swag across the door, could that be donated to the Atlanta Preservation Center?

I have to say I don't really care about this building... although I am for saving the Crum and Forster. Case by Case basis I suppose.

What really ticks me off is that Novare owns this entire block (with the exception of the Starbucks on 7th and Peachtree), so can't they figure out:

A. How to keep the parking in the center and build out all 4 sides of this block?

B. Interlock the structures so not to leave gaping holes along 6th street (can be seen here http://midtown.patch.com/articles/novare-tower-will-have-active-uses-along-entirety-of-juniper#photo-10274757)

Im sad to see this building go. I enjoy its context in the modernity of Midtown. I walk by this building daily - not sure what the homeless/crackhouse references are to as I have never in the past 3 years seen any homeless hanging out here other than walking by like me. Anyway, its a cute reminder of the town I moved here from, that Atlanta even has some character. I suppose Midtown wants to suburbanize like Gwinnett County with taller buildings. BTW the proposed tower looks hideous!!

Interesting...
http://brookhaven.patch.com/articles/chick-fil-a-flap-not-the-first-time-a-company-has-run-afoul-of-some-customers#comment_4117957

Adios. Wanna keep crying about sad old insignificant buildings being knocked down? Move to a small town in the middle of nowhere. They have no need for new construction and no eye toward progress. If you want to live in a major city, stop whining when a nothing-building gets ripped down. Your nostalgic attachment doesn't mean much for everybody else.

I'm not a huge fan of the Novarre buildings, but they are a vehicle for bringing population density into midtown. Perhaps after a critical mass of people live in the area, there will be a demand for higher quality residential high rises? Even a parking deck would be better than that broken down building on 7th Street. Despite the dislike for Novarre, people keep buying and renting their units. This is also increasing the number of tax paying citizens that are contributing to local businesses and giving the Pine St shelter residents someone to beg/rob.

The building's not a masterpiece - we all understand that. But honestly, how many structures in Atlanta can claim they are? The point is that it was designed by one of Atlanta's most noted early 20th century architects, and it adds nicely to the texture of Midtown, even in its current shabby condition. And lest anyone think it's coming down to be replaced by residential density check out the site plan for 100 6th Street - this building's not in the way. Keep chipping away at what we do have left building-wise, and Midtown's destined for the charming look of the Lenox Square area.

"Wow, I really love midtown Atlanta! Especially that dilapidated building on 7th Street that must have been designed by a locally noted early 20th century architect!" ...said nobody ever.

You're right - there's a good chance no one's ever uttered that sentence. Sarcasm's funny isn't it?! However, even someone who knows nothing about architecture or history is apt to appreciate Midtown's mix of old and new. Check out what was done down the street at Cornerstone Village (http://www.cornerstonevillage.net/community.php), where another Neel Reid apartment was integrated into a complex of new residential structures. It's not impossible.

Sarcasm is not funny JonC. "BTW, you need a deeper V tshirt and sassier crewcut in front of tree for a background"...said your new make over stylist.

Personal attacks are so unflattering on you...

Hunt, or anyone in the know... When is this building slated to be demolished?

I'll look into Brett, thanks.

Developers in this city seem to always have the upper hand. I think its a shame that Novare was allowed to let this building rot away, especially when they indicated it would be saved.

Does anyone know why they're tearing it down now? The plans for the new apartment tower/deck seems to align to the edge Viewpoint which would suggest there's no reason to demolish it to allow construction. The plans even show the building in place. Unless it's b/c they're breaking out the bulldozer and it's just cheaper to keep going.

Unfortunately, there is no trigger on refurbishment of these buildings or a timeline for putting them back into active use when the developer agrees to "preserve" them.

Developers often intentionally and wilfully allow these beautiful buildings to waste away, fail to undertake any maintenance and choose not to put the buildings into ANY sort of active use. Then, after the buildings are in grave disrepair and the developers are ready to implement their real plan - demolition - they claim it is "too expensive" and "not financially feasible" to rehabilitate the very buildings that they had intentionally neglected. You'd be tempted to say penny smart, pound foolish and that it would have been cheaper to maintain these buildings all along, but it was always the developers' intent to skirt the preservation requirement by allowing the buildings to fall in on themselves, become an eyesore, gin up neighborhood complaints about "prostitutes" and "drug users", then plead poor mouth and whine about the exorbitant costs these "old buildings" require - all so that they can erect another unremarkable Coke bottle blue glass box.

Liars: http://www.novaregroup.com/news_08_30_06.html
Also, has anyone head that Starbucks will be demolished as well to make way for apartments - http://nickkahler.tumblr.com/post/37740627273 ?

*heard

Novare does not own the property and has nothing to do with the demolition. Speak to Loudermilk. Additionally, the economics of renovating the building simply do not work. Yes, capitalism continues to make the world go round.

Brett, the demolishing is slated for sometime in January but an exact date is not known.

I haven't read all of the posts and may be duplicating a response from someone else. The day will come when buildings like this one are defended with all the effort humans can exert when the effete leadership at the Atlanta Preservation Center is replaced with people who will fight for these buildings.

They started tearing it down today...

Please leave the METROPOLIS condos from Novare out of the "dissed" as this is their finest and my home. regards

OMG, I'm so glad that building is gone. People think we should saze every building that is old! I guess we should have saved all the barns and farm houses in areas where there are now subdivisions and strip malls. Give me a break! Now I think there are some buildings that should be saved but everytime someone talks about tearing a building down in Midtown there is a big up roar. Don't you people know 100 years from now when we are all dead and gone they are going to be doing the same thing about certain buildings we are doing today. Some will need to be kept but most will need to be torn down and the area rebuilt. It's called the cycle of life!!

All should be ashamed who said they did not care about this building coming down. Atlanta has a love affair with tearing down old buildings. The greatest cities in the USA embrace their old neighbors and give character to their cities. Atlanta just does not seem to get it. Don't blame the developers, place the blame on those who allow this to happen. Shame on the Atlanta city council.

First let's define character; per dictionary.com it is the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. That doesn't give a time frame. That means that everything old doesn't necessarily give a city character. I've never been but look at a city like Dubai. They have a lot of new building that give the city a modern new look. That is that cities character. NYC has a lot of older buidings mixed in with new skyscrapers. That is NYC's character. Keeping every old build just because it is old isn't character. There are pleny of old neighborhoods for ATL to embrace their "old character." Midtown just isn't one of them. Look at downtown and see that there are plenty of older buildings there. But because downtown isn't as favorable as Midtown no one cares. I hate looking at the skylines of cities like Baltimore and Cincinnati that keep these old looking downtowns. ATL's looks new and modern. ATL is a modern, progressive area and just because our streets aren't covered everywhere with a bunch of old buildings doesn't mean ATL doesn't have character. I'm glad we aren't following other cities and doing OUR thang! Those that don't like it go live in those old cities with their old character!

I had the pleasure of living at 109 7th Street back in the mid 80's. At that time two of the units were occupied by successful architects who truly admired the structure and it's details. The building was beautiful and had a character of it's own. It was an expensive building to maintain and the owners at that time were only able to keep it habitable. There were prostitutes on the street out front. They kept an eye on the building when we weren't around an problem saved us a few break-ins. It was a wonderful place to live with it's polished hardwood floors, crown mouldings and plentitude of windows. I hope that whoever commented that it was a "dump even then" has found his chrome and glass home in the burbs. It was a shame that no one could have saved this building,