ATLANTA — As of Monday, a long inactive tower and construction site in downtown Atlanta has been declared an unsafe property.
The Mayor’s Office confirmed building permits issued for the Campanile building, located at 1155 Peachtree Street had expired in October last year.
The Department of City Planning says the property is an abandoned construction site and was deemed unsafe due to a construction barrier allowing pedestrian access.
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“The construction barrier surrounding the unfinished structure contains three unsecured areas, creating unsafe conditions by allowing potential unauthorized public access to the property,” city records say.
The same records describe the building as an “abandoned 20-story high rise structure that has been substantially gutted from the interior to the exterior.”
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“We expect all property owners in the city of Atlanta to follow the law. There is State law, there is City law but there is no John Dewberry law. I will reserve additional comment as this is likely to result in litigation,” Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement.
Dickens’ commentary was aimed at building owner and former Georgia Tech football star John Dewberry. The former football star’s real estate company, Dewberry Capital, has owned the building for about 10 years, according to city records.
An official stop work order was issued by the City of Atlanta on Monday, saying “the identified safety hazards must be promptly addressed to ensure the protection and safety of the general public.”
The city is now working to secure the property to prevent access to the construction site.
Several attempts to get response or comment from the building’s owners or managers were unsuccessful.
In a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News, a company representative said the building is safe and security is on site to keep it that way.
Here’s the full statement:
There is nothing unsafe with The Midtowne building and construction site. The cited warning was for an alleged unsecured construction barrier. The property and construction site is secured by an 8 ft wall fence made out of 400,000 recycled plastic bottles manufactured by friends Opbox in midcoast Maine.
Further, The Midtowne employs Dewberry Ambassadors (security team), 24-hours 7 days a week, and if one were to access the property without invitation, they would be trespassing and escorted off property. As for alleged pedestrian access, the site is secured and gate locked with zero pedestrian openings. If someone indeed entered our property and wandered about without a Dewberry Ambassador engaging this person, we would like evidence, as I need to address this oversight with my teammate. Otherwise, sadly, we suspect the citation is politically motivated and completely counterproductive to achieving the goal of completion, which no one wants more than Mr. Dewberry, as he has $150,000,000 of personal cash invested.
— Douglas J. German, VP Construction, D Build, Inc.
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