Just like Atlanta to forsake its low-rise past for a futuristic addition to Georgia Tech's campus that could top out at 27 stories. Those fighting the years-long battle to save the three-story Crum & Forster Building on Spring Street were dealt a recent setback by the Atlanta City Council, which approved its demolition despite the fact that a zoning board disapproved of the razzing, citing the building's historical value, Atlanta Progressive News first reported.
Plans call for saving the circa-1926 structure's lovely façade, probably the most striking feature of its Italian Renaissance Revival style. The proposed tower, an expansion to Technology Square, would rise behind those arches. The council's vote means the city has entered a consent order with Georgia Tech Foundation Real Estate Holding Corporation — a group that sued the city and the zoning board a few years ago when previous efforts to bring the building down were blocked.
APN reported that two council members were so uncomfortable with overriding the zoning board's ruling they abstained from voting. That very zoning board is expected to meet again Nov. 1. Expect flared tempers.
· Atlanta Overrides BZA in Settlement on Historic Building, Crum & Forster [Atlanta Progressive News]
· All coverage of the Crum & Forster Building [~CATL~]
—Josh Green
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