Despite outcry from preservationists and neighborhood leaders, Georgia State University will move forward with the demolition of a century-old building on Edgewood Avenue.
The former Georgia Power substation building at 148 Edgewood Ave. will be torn down to make way for a new park called the Fraternity and Sorority Life Plaza, providing students with “a larger dedicated greenspace for recreation and community-building while paying homage to Georgia State’s Greek life history as well as the history of the location.”
The move comes after a heated May 28 public hearing and letters sent to GSU from preservationists, local leaders, and alumni urging the school to preserve the structure, which sits in the Martin Luther King Jr. Landmark District. GSU told Axios that “after careful evaluation and public input,” it will tear down the “long-vacant” building.
GSU said it would use bricks from the building in the new park and a mural dedicated to 148 Edgewood would be painted on the adjacent Greek Housing townhomes.
Tearing down 148 Edgewood is part of a sweeping $107 million campus redevelopment project dubbed “College Town Downtown.” The project will transform the Downtown GSU campus into a student-centered hub featuring green spaces, safer walkways, new gathering areas, and an elevated plaza.
Atlanta Preservation Center Executive Director David Y. Mitchell called GSU’s decision “distressing.”
“We hoped that GSU – which has a record of preserving and adaptively reusing historic properties – would have given this contributing and significant building the respect it has both earned and been recognized with,” Mitchell said in a statement ot Rough Draft. “The explanation for its removal is as confusing as it is mystifying. Destroying this building will remove yet one more of the structures that somehow survived, and visually represents how we became Atlanta. It is vexing that an institution where you go to learn, is comfortable with telling the present about the past – by its removal.”
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, which placed 148 Edgewood on its 2025 list of Places in Peril, also issued a statement:
“The Georgia Trust is aware that Georgia State University (GSU) has decided to demolish 148 Edgewood Avenue, a building that is listed as one of our 2025 Places in Peril. This building is a contributing structure within the Martin Luther King, Jr. Landmark District, a nationally significant area,” said Georgia Trust President and CEO W. Wright Mitchell. “Georgia State’s decision to destroy this building, which is structurally sound and architecturally significant, is mystifying. This is especially true since GSU simply intends to use the area for greenspace. By removing this building from the Landmark District, GSU will erode the significance of the district and eradicate a tangible link to our city’s past. The Georgia Trust condemns GSU’s short sighted decision not to adaptively reuse this property in a manner that could benefit Georgia State students and the city of Atlanta.”
