Equitable Building | |
---|---|
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Office |
Location | 100 Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
Coordinates | 33°45′24″N84°23′19″W / 33.756774°N 84.388577°W |
Construction started | 1966 |
Completed | 1968 |
Owner | Capmark Bank (100 Peachtree Street Atlanta LLC) |
Height | |
Roof | 453 ft (138 m) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 32 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Skidmore, Owings and Merrill |
The Equitable Life Assurance Building is a 32-story, 453 foot (138 m) tall office building in Atlanta, Georgia. It is located at 100 Peachtree Street in the Fairlie-Poplar neighborhood in downtown Atlanta. A typical example of an International-style skyscraper, the building was designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and was constructed in 1968 on the site of the former Piedmont Hotel. The building's "EQUITABLE" signage was an easily recognizable piece of the downtown Atlanta skyline, while the tower's black finish stood in sharp contrast to the surrounding buildings.
The Equitable Building is adjacent to the historic Flatiron Building and the historic Rhodes-Haverty Building. The building's site is bounded on the southwest by Luckie Street, on the northwest by Forsyth Street, on the northeast by Williams Street, and on the southeast by Peachtree Street. The public greenspace and outdoor seating of Woodruff Park is located across Peachtree Street to the south. The building is serviced by MARTA Red and Gold line trains at the Peachtree Center station, as well as the Atlanta Streetcar at the Woodruff Park and Peachtree Center streetcar stops.
In 2017, Georgia's Own Credit Union became the building's main tenant and took naming rights, with the trademark "EQUITABLE" sign replaced with a digital LED display mainly displaying its logo, along with promoting civic and charitable efforts and highlighting the institution's members. [1]
The building was constructed for the Equitable Life Insurance Company in 1968, with the company maintaining ownership of the building from 1968 to 1997 when it was sold to Chicago-based LaSalle Advisors for roughly $36 million. In 2007, it was purchased by Equastone 100 Peachtree LLC for $57 million.
Due to the late-2000s recession, the value of the building dropped by more than 25%, and the building reached a vacancy level of 50%. By April 2009, the building was in foreclosure, and was to be auctioned in May of that year. Equastone owed $52 million to Capmark Bank, and thus was upside-down on its mortgage.
On June 2, 2009 the building was put up for auction in Atlanta. The only bidder, 100 Peachtree Street Atlanta LLC, an affiliate of Capmark Bank, bought the building for $29.5 million. [2] In late January 2010 there were reports that Georgia State University was interested in buying the building and its parking deck [3] and in May 2011 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that GSU was in negotiations to purchase the building to house its J. Mack Robinson College of Business. [4] No deal was ever publicly announced. On July 6, 2011, the building was purchased by Florida-based America's Capital Partners for $19 million. [5]
At approximately 11:34pm on March 27, 1968, a fire broke out on the 10th floor of the unfinished Equitable Building and quickly moved upward, destroying much of the unconstructed upper floors that were only steel beams at the time. The fire apparently spread through feeding on the wooden construction material (particularly forms into which concrete flooring would be poured) and high winds. The fire was declared "tapped out" at 6:00am the next morning. According to the Atlanta Fire Department, "debris showered down on adjacent roof tops and apparatus on the street creating a severe hazard for the operating AFD crews," although no one was seriously hurt. Damage totaled $1.6 million. [6]
On March 14, 2008, the Equitable Building sustained minor damage, mainly shattered windows, when a tornado tore through downtown Atlanta. This tornado stands as the only one to have hit the downtown area since the city's founding. [7] [8]
Truist Plaza is a 265 m (869 ft) 60 story skyscraper in downtown Atlanta. It was designed by John C. Portman Jr. of John Portman & Associates and built from 1989 to 1992. In the mid-1990s, Portman sold half of his interest in the building to SunTrust Banks, which then moved its headquarters to the building and prompted a name change from One Peachtree Center to SunTrust Plaza. In 2021 the building changed its name to Truist Plaza, following a merger between SunTrust Banks and BB&T. The building is also known as 303 Peachtree. The building has a roof height of 871 feet and stands a total of 902 feet tall, including its antenna. When completed, Truist Plaza stood as the world's 28th tallest building and 21st tallest building in the United States. Now it is not in the top 400 in the world, and it is currently the 55th tallest building in the United States and 2nd tallest building in Atlanta.
One Ninety One Peachtree Tower is a 235 m (771 ft) 50-story skyscraper in Atlanta, Georgia. Designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects and Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc, the building was completed in 1990 and is the fourth tallest in the city, winning the BOMA Building of the Year Awards the next year, repeating in 1998 and 2003.
The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta, is a skyscraper hotel on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, adjacent to the Peachtree Center complex and the former Davison's/Macy's flagship store with 1,073 rooms. At 723.0 ft (220.37 m) and 73 stories, a total building area of 1,196,240 sq ft (111,134 m2) and a 187 ft (57 m) diameter, the tower is the fourth-tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, and the 30th tallest all-hotel building in the world.
Georgia-Pacific Center is a 212.45 m (697.0 ft), 1,567,011 sq.ft skyscraper in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It contains 52 stories of office space and was finished in 1982. Before the six-year era of tall skyscrapers to be built in Atlanta, it was Atlanta's second-tallest building from 1982 to 1987. It has a stair-like design that staggers down to the ground, and is clad in pink granite quarried from Marble Falls, Texas.
Underground Atlanta is a shopping and entertainment district in the Five Points neighborhood of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States, near the Five Points MARTA station. It is currently undergoing renovations. First opened in 1969, it takes advantage of the viaducts built over the city's many railroad tracks to accommodate later automobile traffic.
Georgia State University is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the largest institution of higher education by enrollment based in Georgia and one of the largest in the nation with a student enrollment of around 50,000, which includes approximately 21,000 undergraduate Perimeter College students, and 33,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the main campus downtown.
Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Beginning at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead, the name changes to Peachtree Road at Palisades Road. Much of the city's historic and noteworthy architecture is located along the street, and it is often used for annual parades,, as well as one-time parades celebrating events such as the 100th anniversary of Coca-Cola in 1986 and the Atlanta Braves' 1995 and 2021 World Series victories.
Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business groups. However, the commercial core of the area is anchored by a series of high-rise office buildings, condominiums, hotels, and high-end retail along Peachtree Street between North Avenue and 17th Street. Midtown, situated between Downtown to the south and Buckhead to the north, is the second-largest business district in Metro Atlanta. In 2011, Midtown had a resident population of 41,681 and a business population of 81,418.
Five Points is a district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the primary reference for the downtown area.
The architecture of Atlanta is marked by a confluence of classical, modernist, post-modernist, and contemporary architectural styles. Due to the Battle of Atlanta and the subsequent fire in 1864, the city's architecture retains almost no traces of its Antebellum past. Instead, Atlanta's status as a largely post-modern American city is reflected in its architecture, as the city has often been the earliest, if not the first, to showcase new architectural concepts. However, Atlanta's embrace of modernism has translated into an ambivalence toward architectural preservation, resulting in the destruction of architectural masterpieces, including the Commercial-style Equitable Building, the Beaux-Arts style Terminal Station, and the Classical Carnegie Library. The city's cultural icon, the Neo-Moorish Fox Theatre, would have met the same fate had it not been for a grassroots effort to save it in the mid-1970s.
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts, it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county, state, and federal government facilities; Georgia State University; sporting venues; and most of Atlanta's tourist attractions. It measures approximately four square miles, and had 26,850 residents as of 2017. Similar to other central business districts in the United States, it has recently undergone a transformation that includes the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, and arrival of new residents and businesses.
Woodruff Park, named for Robert W. Woodruff, is located in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The park's 6 acres (2.4 ha) are north of Edgewood Ave, between Peachtree Street NE and Park Place NE. The park includes a fountain, a performance pavilion, and several monuments.
Joel Hurt (1850–1926) was an American businessman. He was the president of Trust Company of Georgia, and a developer in Atlanta. He was one of the many founders of SunTrust Bank.
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The 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak was a destructive and deadly tornado outbreak that affected the Southeastern United States on March 14–15, 2008. The most infamous tornado of the outbreak occurred on March 14 when an isolated but strong EF2 tornado caused widespread damage across Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, including to the CNN Center and to the Georgia Dome, which was hosting the 2008 SEC men's basketball tournament. Other buildings that were damaged include the Georgia World Congress Center, Philips Arena during an Atlanta Hawks game, and the Omni Hotel, which was evacuated after many windows were blown out. The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel suffered major window damage. The image of the building with all its windows blown out became famous and for a time was a symbol of the tornado. Centennial Olympic Park, SunTrust Plaza and historic Oakland Cemetery were also damaged.
The Atlanta Streetcar is a streetcar line in Atlanta, Georgia. Testing on the line began in summer 2014 with passenger service beginning as scheduled on December 30, 2014. In 2023, the line had 184,500 rides, or about 700 per weekday in the first quarter of 2024.
Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
The Piedmont Hotel was a hotel in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Construction on the building, which was designed by architect Willis F. Denny, began in 1901, and the building was opened to the public in January 1903. Considered one of the finest hotels in the city at the time, numerous famous guests stayed at the hotel while visiting Atlanta, including three presidents of the United States. Unlike other Atlanta hotels, the Piedmont sought to emulate the style of hotels in the northeastern United States and was commonly referred to by locals as "our New York City hotel". In 1929, the building went through an extensive renovation overseen by the architectural firm of Pringle & Smith. In 1965, the owners of the hotel agreed to sell the property to the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, who planned to build a new office building on the site. The hotel was demolished that year and in 1968, the Equitable Building was completed.
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