Downtown's next residential tower is taking shape well away from Centennial Yards - directly across the street from Atlanta City Hall.
Gorman & Company, a Wisconsin-based developer specializing in affordable housing, has filed for land disturbance permits to begin work on The Sanctuary, a $41 million remake of Trinity United Methodist Church's historic campus at 265 Washington St. The plan restores and converts the church property into a denser mix of residential units and flexible event space, in partnership with the congregation.
Filings made with Atlanta's Department of City Planning revise the design for a second time. They now call for a 15-story tower - one story shorter than earlier drawings - replacing the church's classroom and fellowship hall wing, holding 83 units and an unspecified amount of retail. The new visuals read as more traditional than the contemporary, dark-toned structure shown in earlier renderings.
Ministry and community events would continue on site. Trinity UMC has anchored this corner of downtown for more than a century, though the congregation has shrunk in recent years as the main sanctuary building fell into disrepair. The restoration adds six residential units and shared residential space within the sanctuary itself.
Gorman has since clarified the preservation scope: keeping the existing facade of the fellowship wing is no longer part of the plan, with preservation limited to the limestone entrance. The permit set also no longer includes the church's women's shelter, which the developer says is no longer operating there.
The building itself is worth the care. Designed by prominent architect Walter T. Downing, the Gothic-style structure at Trinity Avenue and Washington Street opened in 1912, and its sanctuary still houses a towering Austin Organ that church leadership describes as the oldest remaining pipe organ in the city.
Amenities around the completed complex would include a fitness center, clubhouse, business center and picnic pavilion, per Invest Atlanta, which approved $2 million in Eastside Tax Allocation District funding in 2024 to support the adaptive reuse.
A groundbreaking would concentrate a striking amount of construction in one of downtown's oldest sections. Directly to the west, the 10-story Trinity Central Flats is already under construction across from City Hall, with 218 apartments - most reserved as affordable housing - and 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published March 2026.
