the viewshed

Excellent news for the view: the Atlanta History Center, which now owns and operates the Margaret Mitchell House, has apparently finalized their plans for the property. They are reported to have sold the parking lot and c. 1960 bank building, where the Tara entranceway is on display, for $7 million, which will form an endowment for the Margaret Mitchell House. A condo or office building will go up on the site but is supposed to be limited to 12 stories. In addition, they are transferring, presumably for a good bit of money, development rights for the 1920s commercial row where the visitor center is now located. It will be designated a city landmark, giving it the same protection as the Margaret Mitchell House itself. On the south side of Peachtree Place, the Palmer Apartments (1907) and Phelan Court Apartments (1915), some of the city's earliest apartment buildings, are also protected as city landmarks. The landscaped median in the first block of Peachtree Place is historic, too, completing an excellent little historic district that I walk through almost every day. Hearings on the rezoning that will make all that happen are scheduled for May.