Tens of thousands of people are expected to flock to Piedmont Park this weekend, Oct. 14-15, for Atlanta Pride, one of the largest LGBTQ+ festivals in the country. They will all be participating in the evolving history of LGBTQ+ Atlanta.
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A compromise between the City of Atlanta and the owner of the former Eagle building reduces the scope of a proposal to declare the building a historic landmark. (Photo by Matt Hennie)
The City of Atlanta and the owner of two Midtown buildings – including the former home of the Atlanta Eagle – struck a deal to dramatically scale back the scope of an effort to declare the properties historic landmarks.
The terms of the compromise between Doug Young, the city’s assistant director of the Office of Design, and property owner Shahzad Hashmi were discussed publicly for the first time on Tuesday. The modifications to the proposed landmark designation for the two properties were presented during a meeting of the Land Use Committee of the Midtown Neighbors’ Association.
Eagle owner Richard Ramey
The effort to protect the 122-year-old building that once housed the Atlanta Eagle stalled on Wednesday, delaying discussion of designating it as a historic landmark for at least two weeks.
The Atlanta Urban Design Commission pressed pause after the building’s owner asked for more time to review the city’s application for landmark status. The city – and Historic Atlanta – wants to designate two buildings – 306 Ponce de Leon Avenue, which housed the Eagle until it closed in November, and 300 Ponce de Leon, vacant since the 1990s – as landmarks to protect them from being demolished.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms jump-started the process in mid-December. But Dennis Webb – an attorney for Shahzad Hashmi, the Gwinnett psychiatrist who owns both buildings – argued that they received two city reports about the landmark designation just a week before the meeting.