Georgia State University will demolish the century-old former substation at 148 Edgewood Ave., and the state's leading preservation group is not being diplomatic about it.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation issued a statement calling the decision unfortunate, short-sighted and an avoidable loss.
The preservation case
According to the Trust, the building remains structurally sound and well suited to adaptive reuse for a purpose that would serve students while keeping the architectural heritage in place. Removing it, the organization says, will diminish neighborhood character and damage the integrity of the surrounding historic district.
The property was named to the Trust's 2025 Places in Peril list in February, its annual roster of the ten most threatened historic sites in Georgia. It was built in 1926 as a Georgia Railway and Power Company substation and is a contributing structure in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Register District.
What replaces it
GSU intends to raze the building and put greenspace in its place, a Fraternity and Sorority Life Plaza that forms part of the university's broader College Town Downtown initiative.
The university says bricks from the demolished structure would be incorporated into the plaza, and that a mural on an adjacent townhome wall would pay homage to the building.
The opposition
The decision comes after months of pushback from preservationists and GSU alumni. A petition to save the structure has collected 1,500 signatures.
The reason that opposition had limited traction is jurisdictional. GSU and the state's Board of Regents hold sovereign immunity over Atlanta's zoning ordinances, which would otherwise protect a contributing structure in a National Register district from demolition. There was no local hearing to win.
The site sits between Hurt Park and the downtown Connector, on a stretch of Edgewood Avenue that has spent recent years gaining murals, bars and renovated storefronts.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published August 2025.
