Near Gulch, refreshed downtown Atlanta tower lauds leasing successes

Following $5M renovation, 101 Marietta Street building adds hundreds of new workers

By Josh Green@JoshGreen1234 Feb 6, 2018, 2:00pm EST

A photo of the 1975 tower, with its distinctive chevron up top. — The 1975 tower, with its distinctive chevron on high floors.

Ask project leaders, and they’ll say recent leasing success at a refreshed Atlanta sky-rise from the 1970s is a sign of downtown’s resurgence, its increasing competitiveness with Midtown, and just maybe a preview of greater things to come in 2018.

In an attempt to court millennial professionals and other talent from pricier office hubs across the city, downtown’s 101 Marietta Street building (formerly called Centennial Tower) underwent a $5 million renovation that wrapped last summer.

Efforts to enliven the glassy 1975 tower—famed for the luminescent chevron near the top of its 36 stories—are paying off, leaders say.

North Carolina-based The Dilweg Companies recently inked leases to fill more than 49,000 square feet at the tower, with new tenants and lease expansions that include entertainment, media, education, logistics, and architecture companies.

That means between 265 and 296 additional workers will be reporting to the downtown tower by May, a rep tells Curbed Atlanta.

The reimagined lobby, which recently scored an AIA Georgia merit award for exceptional design and rebrand work.

The building is now 80 percent occupied.

“We’re thrilled to welcome this diverse and dynamic group of new tenants to 101 Marietta Street,” Jerry Banks, managing director at the Dilweg Companies, said in a release. “Downtown Atlanta is on the rise.”

Changes to the building are highlighted by a fresh, Perkins+Will-designed lobby with “a life-size, two-way virtual window offering real-time views of the streetscape and building interior,” collaborative spaces, and restaurant-style booths, officials have said.