As a preservationist, my initial reaction to a proposed development replacing part of the SunTrust Bank downtown was that it would be such a shame to lose the circular brick columns on the 1986 addition to the SunTrust building—you just don’t see those; they’re unique and should be preserved—and that with so many empty locations downtown there is no need for new construction. However, after reading through the construction proposal and recalling that my thesis was about New Urbanism revitalizing historic cores, I did a complete 180.
If the Athens-Clarke Historic Preservation Commission approves it, the new development will be located in the parking lot on the corner of Broad and Hull streets and will extend up the street to abut with the original structure of the historic SunTrust building. It will require the demolition of a 1981 addition to the bank, as well as the 1986 addition that includes the drive-through and ATM, but the Telephone Building at the corner of Hull and Clayton streets and the storefronts along Lumpkin and Clayton streets won’t be affected.
The proposed construction is mixed-use with ground-floor retail, enclosed underground parking and apartments above street level, creating a true urban, pedestrian-oriented living experience. Downtown is a pedestrian-friendly environment. Once you park your car, you walk everywhere except the few unpedestrian-friendly areas, such as the existing SunTrust drive-through and adjacent parking lot. The pedestrian-unfriendly vacuum created there means few people walk from Lumpkin to Hull on the downtown side of Broad. Most pedestrians walk up Lumpkin until they reach Clayton and then down to Hull. This project will fill in the gap between the east and west ends of downtown, and with the west end becoming ever more popular, I think filling in the gap is very important. While Pulaski Street currently acts as a bookend to downtown, perhaps this new development will extend downtown along Broad Street even farther in the future, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The proposal calls for three different façades along Broad and one façade along Clayton. Taking cues from the historic structures downtown, all façades will have a taller ground floor height of approximately 20 feet, and the upper floors will be about 10 feet each. The ground floor/retail level will utilize metal and glass and be recessed with a canopy overhead in a modern interpretation of the historic cast iron storefronts in many downtown stores. The upper floors will be red Georgia brick with windows. While being of similar construction and materials, keep in mind that the storefronts will still have different façades and will not be the monolithic mass that has become popular in downtown recently. The design will also take into consideration the grade change of the hill it is built on, unlike the 1981 SunTrust addition, which creates an unfriendly and unsightly wall for pedestrians.
The new construction will be six-stories high (five levels for apartments and one level for retail), and parking will be located on the interior of the development and covered with a rooftop deck. I can see two arguments against this project. The first is that the new construction will loom over the existing, historic structures located along Lumpkin and Clayton from SunTrust to The Globe and around the corner to the Georgia Bar. Possibly, with the higher addition to the Georgia Theatre, the new Washington Street parking deck and, though historic, the Bank of America building on the corner of Clayton and Lumpkin, the smaller historic buildings will be dwarfed and look out-of-place in their original context.
The second, and to me most worrisome, objection is who the occupants of the retail portion will be. The new deck, like the proposed Broad Street development, is great because it offers retail on the ground level, but so far, all that retail has been corporate stores and restaurants, and the effects of these large corporations are beginning to be seen downtown as locally owned restaurants are closing doors and losing business. Athens is unique because we support local business more than most places. I would hate to see local businesses pushed out of our downtown core in favor of chains that can be found across the country.
The addition to the Classic Center is supposed to bring in more business and strengthen the economy of downtown. The proposed development on Broad Street could play into that, but let’s keep it local.
Let’s also not forget the numerous vacant buildings located downtown. While I am for this proposed new development, I am more for a thriving downtown that utilizes what we already have. We need to focus on bringing business into our historic core area; maybe this proposed development will do that. I mentioned earlier that this new development could work as a domino effect to provide further development along the Broad Street corridor. Perhaps it could also work to improve occupancy rates and the economy in the downtown core. If done right, this new development could be great for our town.
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