Public hearing set ahead of demolition of historic GSU campus buildings

Edgewood Ave File A citizens meeting ahead of the planned demolition of two historic Georgia State University campus buildings will be held Wednesday May from to p m at Centennial Hall Auburn Ave in room GSU plans to demolish Sparks Hall the first building constructed for the college in and named after its first president George Sparks as part of its plan to revamp the Downtown campus and create more greenspace and connectivity among its facilities GSU also plans to demolish Edgewood Avenue a nearly century-old building in the Martin Luther King Jr Landmark District for a parking lot The Atlanta Preservation Center APC has come out strongly against both demolition plans Sparks Hall is GSU s flagship building APC Executive Director David Y Mitchell announced It s just bizarre that they would tear down their first building instead of looking at adaptive reuse or preservation Mitchell urged the constituents to come out to the hearing on May and make their feelings known May is Historic Preservation Month and it should be a time to better understand the value of America s historic places as definers of our national character Mitchell disclosed Exploring how to adaptively reuse structures and spaces that retain historic character architectural diversity and the way to create economic enhancement and jobs should be embraced as a universal goal and success Particularly for a college as contributing and substantial as Georgia State University The post General hearing set ahead of demolition of historic GSU campus buildings appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta