Word around the campfire is that everyone's favorite pie-shaped, neoclassical office tower could soon house gobs of forward-thinking techies. Michael Tavani, cofounder of discount site Scoutmob, is in talks to possibly buy the 11-story Peachtree Street landmark, the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Bisnow report. But this doesn't suggest the Scoutmob crew has plans to abandon their hip Mean Street headquarters for the 1897 relic anytime soon (the company's lease runs for another year, Bisnow notes, which typically squashes that whole uprooting thing). One insider says the deal would be an immense positive for downtown Atlanta, which has recently seen a jobs influx, a healthy amount of groundbreakings and the addition of one big-ass Ferris wheel.
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Tavani is scouting sites (up to 65,000 square feet) for an incubator aimed at helping design and consumer-brand startups get off the ground. Kind of like a downtown version of the Atlanta Tech Village. Tavani told the newspaper he's looking for a space "with an interesting story," and we can't help but recognize a theme here (ahem, Ponce City Market, Krog Street Market, et cetera).
Tavani, backed by a cadre of investors, is eyeing the Flatiron Building, a warehouse and fire station, he told the newspaper. At roughly 45,000 square feet, according to an infallible Downtown Atlanta website, the Flatiron Building could be on the small side for the Scoutmob cofounder's ambitions. But let's hope not. For downtown, a sizable injection of hungry entreprenuers can't be bad thing.
· Scoutmob co-founder eyes "Flatiron" building for incubator [Atlanta Business Chronicle]
· Scoutmob Co-Founder Buying Flatiron? [Bisnow]
[ABOVE: Flatiron building. Photo: AtlantaDowntown.com]