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Two Buckhead leaders are ratcheting up the pressure on condominium owners to abandon their plans to demolish a historic house.
The letters, from Buckhead Heritage Society President Wright Mitchell and Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell, are addressed to Hakim Hilliard, an attorney for the 2500 Peachtree Condominiums Association. The condo association, which owns the property, is seeking a permit to tear down the Randolph-Lucas House on Peachtree Road.
Tomorrow night, June 26, the NPU B zoning committee will hear an appeal of the city of Atlanta’s rejection of their request.
The association owns the house and says it is an unsafe eyesore that will be costly to repair.
Massell in his letter suggests creating a foundation that will take over the mansion to reduce the cost to condo association residents. Massell says the house could be used for special events.
“The prestige to the condo association, Buckhead and Atlanta would be obvious and the coalition would be pleased to assist with this initiative,” Massell’s letter says.
Mitchell said Aderhold Properties, a company that specializes in historic reuse of homes, is interested in taking over the property and rehabilitating it. He says the condo association rejected this idea.
He says the condo association also in 2009 rejected a proposal from the Watson-Brown Foundation to take over management of the house. An engineer for the foundation found the house was in good condition, contradicting a study performed by the condo association’s engineer that said the house is structurally unsound.
“In light of the foregoing, I think it is somewhat disingenuous of your client to contend that they have ‘had little success with any options that have been presented to them previously,’” Mitchell wrote.
For the Buckhead Reporter’s previous article about this issue, click here.