Buckhead Library: Center of Fight Between Atlanta Developer, Locals

The Buckhead Library in Atlanta has become the center of a tug-of-war after a local developer claimed that he wants to tear it down.

Ben Carter, an Atlanta developer, has made a $24 million offer to buy the land that Buckhead library sits on, which is east of the $1.5 billion Streets of Buckhead project, which covers eight blocks.

However, locals have filed an online petition to save the library, not for its use of being a bastion of literature, but for its unique design.

"Most of the commentary was not over having a new library, it was that building," Carter said in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There seems to be more opposition to losing that architecture than the functionality of the library."

Architectural students make pilgrimages to Atlanta to study the building, which was designed by Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam and opened in 1989.

Carter contests that the library is in the middle of a "future shopping mecca" and the land would be better served to fit the theme of its surroundings. The famed Buckhead community of Atlanta is being revamped as one of its main projects being the Streets of Buckhead project.

Carter allegedly promised the library supporters to build a replica of the library blocks away, but wanted the land, which is just under two acres, that the building sits on.

For more Real Estate News, please go to

http://news.yourfindit.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=9&wcat=19

Join the brand-new social networking community, YourFindit, and create your profile