Midtown HIV Agency Needs $10K to Assist Relocation

While developers are eager to begin moving forward on a mixed-use project on a 2.5-acre Midtown site, the current business tenants at the property are scrambling to find a new home.

One of those is the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA), which has been housed since 1990 in the 131 Ponce de Leon Avenue located office building designed by famed architect I.M. Pei. ARCA provides free HIV/STD testing services and has concentrated on HIV treatment and prevention research for more than two decades at the building that is situated at the corner of Ponce and Juniper Street.

The site bounded by Juniper, Ponce, North Avenue, and a portion of Piedmont Ave., was sold this past summer for $6.5 million. The buyer is a joint venture between Sereo Group and Faison Enterprises, a Charlotte, N.C.-based real estate investment, development and management company that is ready to begin construction on the mixed-use project that includes 280 apartments and 3,800 square feet of street front office space.

On its website Monday, ARCA posted:

“Operation MOVE ARCA! It's a shocker! We were told on August 22 that we have to vacate our home of 22 years on Oct 22. The block we live on has been sold to high rise developers from Charlotte and their shovels are ready. We need your help! We need to raise at least $10,000 for the move. Will you help?"

Several fundraisers have been planned to help raise the money with the first set for Sept. 27 at Apres Diem, where 20 percent of the proceeds will go to ARCA.

The restaurant in the Midtown Promenade has also pledged $1 from every drink sold for the remainder of the month to help ARCA, which states on its website that: “Our trials have contributed to the licensing by the FDA of 25 HIV/AIDS therapies that have been responsible for a dramatic increase in the length and quality of life for persons with HIV.”