Restoration of long-vacant building near Five Points MARTA station begins

The next chapter for a vacant downtown building that decades ago was home to The Atlanta Constitution newspaper is finally beginning.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other city officials celebrated on Thursday the groundbreaking of a project to revitalize 143 Alabama St. SW near the Five Points MARTA station. When all the work is done, the site will be home to about 200 affordable housing units, as well as a commercial space prioritizing local entrepreneurs, the developer said.

“Today is a great day for us here in Atlanta as we take our next step towards a bold, new, reimagined downtown Atlanta,” Dickens said during his remarks.

The five-story building was built in 1947 and was the home of the Constitution until it merged with The Atlanta Journal in 1953. The site has sat vacant and become covered in plant life and graffiti since its last tenant, Georgia Power, left in the 1970s.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

The 95,000-square-foot building, which the city purchased in 1995, was placed on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2024 “Places in Peril” list because of its Art Moderne architectural style, which is rare in Atlanta.

Past efforts to renovate the building have failed to pan out.

The building, which is being rebranded as Folio House, is part of a larger downtown revitalization strategy, including the planned conversion of the former state government office building at 2 Peachtree St. into housing and refreshed office space.

Wisconsin-based developer Gorman & Co. is leading the restoration of 143 Alabama. The developers are focused on “using housing as an economic tool for revitalization of communities,” Gorman & Co. Southeast Market President Joel Reed said.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Phase 1 of 143 Alabama’s redevelopment is focused on “stabilizing and restoring the building’s exterior and daylighting the ground floor commercial space,” according to a press release from the city. This phase will also include 5,575 square feet of commercial space and will convert the upper floors of the building into 50 affordable housing units.

The exterior renovations are expected to be completed by May 2026, according to Invest Atlanta, while the Phase 1 residential conversion will take until March 2027.

Phase 2 will add a new 151-unit affordable housing building on the surrounding property. These are projected to be finished in July 2028.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

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Once the project is completed, the site is expected to include more than 190 affordable housing units. These units will be available at rents affordable to households that earn between 30-80% of the area median income. The developer is aiming to serve “essential service personnel” and workers in the community, such as retail workers, bus drivers, teachers and police officers, Reed said.

For a family of four, 30% AMI for the Atlanta region is about $31,000. For a family of four, the income threshold for 80% AMI is $82,000.

In November, Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, tapped Gorman & Co. for the restoration. As the AJC previously reported, Gorman is not the first developer the city selected to lead the project.

In 2016, Invest Atlanta selected Pope & Land and its partner, Place Properties, to revitalize 143 Alabama St. Their vision of turning the building into offices, retail space and more than 100 apartments never came to fruition.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

“These partnerships allow us to turn vacant and underutilized buildings into thriving, community-serving spaces,” Dickens said.

With the World Cup coming to Atlanta next summer, the pressure is on and the deadline set to make progress on improving blights to the downtown area, and this project is part of that effort. Phase 1A, focused on the outside of the building, is set to be completed before the world descends on Atlanta next summer.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

While most of the windows in 143 Alabama are empty right now, they will be lit up and filled in with temporary glass and graphic vinyl wraps to bring some life back into this centrally located space.

Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Mo Ivory called the project a “tangible reminder that reinvestment can be both inclusive and also inspiring as we prepare to welcome the world.”

“Projects like this will send a message: Downtown Atlanta is not just a destination, it’s a home,” she said.

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