By John Ruch
One of East Atlanta Village’s most historic buildings will be permanently preserved in an agreement with a real estate company headquartered within it, a pioneering move as the bohemian neighborhood faces development pressure.
Currently anchored by a Truist bank, the Marbut and Minor Building at 514 Flat Shoals Ave., at the northeast corner of Glenwood Avenue, constructed sometime between 1911 and 1916, helped to spark the development of East Atlanta. It’s a key contributing structure to the East Atlanta Historic District, which joined the National Register of Historic Places last year. Owner Pellerin Real Estate has agreed to a historic easement via the nonprofit Easements Atlanta that will permanently protect the building from demolition and provide a review of other alterations.
The real estate company is finishing a mixed-use retail and apartment building called the Marbut next door on the historic structure’s former parking lot, numbered as 512 Flat Shoals but fronting on Glenwood. Ian Michael Rogers, Easement Atlanta’s acting executive director, told SaportaReport that the easement deal is “exemplifying how preservation and growth can support one another.”
“This will become the first building permanently preserved in East Atlanta,” said David Yoakley Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center and an Easements Atlanta board member, in a press release. “[The easement] will convert this structure into an example for further preservation and anchor the culture and identity of this community. Simply put, it is a big deal and with courage, the first of others to follow.”
The company plans to renovate the building next year, which is also when the bank’s lease reportedly expires. It is unclear if the bank will remain or if some other type of business may occupy its main space. A joint statement from Mitchell and company principal Philippe Pellerin said there are no tenant plans yet, but the company is “aware of the community needs and the space will reflect thoughtful inclusion of sustainable development in East Atlanta.”
“Preservation of unique and historic buildings has been a cornerstone of our approach to sustainable development in Southeast Atlanta,” said Pellerin in the press release. “…This building is unique both in character and prominence within EAV. That long-enshrined history will be lovingly restored as we move towards renovations in 2023 and beyond.”
Pellerin’s company has become a major player in EAV as the neighborhood of trend-setting music venues and funky businesses, many in historic buildings, is increasingly drawing large-scale redevelopment. Besides the new mixed-use building next to the Marbut and Minor Building, it’s also turning the former Graveyard Tavern on Glenwood into a food hall called the Southern Feed Store and has plans for another mixed-use project on a lot and parking area next to the Argosy pub on Flat Shoals.
The Marbut and Minor Building is a two-story structure faced with brick and masonry columns that is one of the defining visual landmarks of EAV’s heart at Flat Shoals and Glenwood, along with the neighboring Flatiron Bar and Restaurant building at the southeast corner.
According to Easements Atlanta and the historic district filing, the site’s historical significance goes back to 1896, when Luther L. Marbut and Ebenezer A. Minor, two of the area’s first developers, erected a wooden building to house a merchandise store that sold locally grown produce.
The pair erected the current building between 1911 and 1916, dubbing it the E.A. Minor Masonic Lodge for its main upstairs space, which was also used by such groups as the East Atlanta Exchange Club and the East Atlanta Women’s Club. The first floor continued to house commercial tenants, including a department store.
Marbut died in 1932 and Minor sold the business. That same year, the supermarket chain Piggly Wiggly opened its largest store at the time there, and a small cement addition was built around 1948. In 1950, East Atlanta Bank took over the space, moving from what is now the Flatiron building across the street, kicking off banking uses that continue today. The Trust Company of Georgia took over the space in 1956 and in 1975 was targeted by bank burglars who attempted to drill through the wall of an adjacent building.
Both of those banks made facade changes, including the removal of a parapet. The current facade’s design is believed to date to around 1961.
Truist, the current tenant, began occupying the space in 2010 under its former name, SunTrust.
Easements Atlanta holds similar preservation easements on many properties around the city. The easements can benefit the owners with tax-deduction eligibility and the agreement sticks to the property’s deed even if they sell later.
One such easement is a factor in a redevelopment controversy in another countercultural neighborhood with growing redevelopment pressure, Little Five Points, where it protects the historic Point Center building amid a larger plan that could demolish the unofficially historic Star Community Bar next door. The nonprofit also holds a preservation easement on L5P’s historic Bass Lofts, built within a former school.
