Commerce could hum again in massive former Sears complex (Atlanta: city hall, leases)

[noah]

There was a very interesting article in one of the weekly papers a few weeks back about how massive of a building City Hall East is, how the cleanup was going etc. Interesting follow-up here..

Commerce could hum again in massive former Sears complex *| ajc.com

[jurban8]

Target or REI - interesting! I don't think big box stores were part of the original plan, but considering how huge that building is they make sense. There would be plenty of room left over for residential and other uses. That is going to be one massive clean-up!

[noah]

Yes., according to the Creative Loafing story the city has been cleaning out all their junk they stored there. With 2 million square feet the 150k for this store would only be 7% of the total building.

Here is the story from Creative Loafing, very interesting.

The lost world of City Hall East | Atlanta | News & Views | Cover Story

Larger than the Mall of Georgia. Roomier than the Bank of America tower. In terms of raw square footage, able to swallow the Cobb Galleria Centre, the twin towers of the James H. "Sloppy" Floyd state office complex and the Varsity drive-in, all at once – with enough room left over for Tyler Perry's house.

After then-Mayor Maynard Jackson coaxed Atlanta into buying the enormous edifice from Sears in 1991 for $12 million – "The deal of the century," he called it – it was home to the police department, parks and rec, fire headquarters, motor transport, central records and a city-sponsored art gallery. At one time or another over the past two decades, City Hall East also housed the Lee Haney gym, offices for Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy Carter's short-lived Atlanta Project, the now-defunct Jomandi Theatre, and a 130,000-square-foot exhibition hall that hosted the Southeastern Flower Show.

Still, under the city's ownership, no more than a third of the building ever saw use.

Originally Posted by jurban8

Target or REI - interesting! I don't think big box stores were part of the original plan, but considering how huge that building is they make sense. There would be plenty of room left over for residential and other uses. That is going to be one massive clean-up!

[Zone2flyboy]

That building is huge!!! I did a summer internship with Parks & Rec at City Hall East back in my high school days, and I remember sneaking away one day to mess with this girl () and we stumbled upon this gigantic vacant room and I will never forget there was this mail room with unopened letters and packages from the 1950's. Its like they never even bothered to clean it up, they just left and never came back.

[koko339]

Great article today about CHE and the renovation plans.
Historic structures pose challenges, rewards *| ajc.com

Jamestown's to-do list

Phillips took The Atlanta Journal-Constitution down the list of things that need to be done to the Sears building. He said the company plans to spend about $180 million renovating, retrofitting and repurposing City Hall East.

First, he said, Jamestown with its division Green Street Properties will embark on the decidedly unsexy job of demolishing parking decks that engulf the building.

He plans to use part of the building’s basement as parking and create a plaza area that is more pedestrian-friendly.

Another job is figuring out what to do with the leftover conveyor belts and large industrial equipment inside.

“Then we’ll deal with the wiring, electrical, HVAC and all that. The spaces are just vast, so there’s a lot of room to deal with things that wouldn’t be the case in tighter environments.”

All the elevators need to be replaced, although Jamestown plans to keep some of the freight elevators, which he said have “been maintained wonderfully for years.”

Then there’s the overall plan of how to reconfigure the space for offices, residents, shops and restaurants. That will come as Jamestown signs leases and other decisions are made.

He said the renovation costs will be paid from an opportunity fund Jamestown raised in 2008

[arjay57]

I hope they start calling it the Sears building again instead of City Hall East. I know it's just nostalgia but this was a proud and mighty structure on the Atlanta scene under Sears, and sort of a dump after the city acquired it. Seems like it was the place they sent things they didn't want anywhere else.

[koko339]

The new name is Ponce Springs, right?

[RandyWatson13]

Commerce has a decent outlet and their 1/4 mile track needs work...I've ran there a few times