The 18-story glass tower at 1800 Century Blvd. in Chamblee was supposed to get a second life as apartments. Instead, crews are prepping it for a controlled implosion scheduled for 7:45 a.m. on October 24, after the building sat vacant since the Georgia Department of Revenue moved out in 2024.
The tower was once the centerpiece of an ambitious $91 million redevelopment plan that would have turned the office building into 289 apartment units, with the Decide DeKalb Development Authority approving a $6 million property tax break in December 2024 to help make it happen, according to The Real Deal. Developers Highwoods Properties and Brand Properties had planned to finance the conversion through a $59 million construction loan and $32 million in equity investments. That plan has since been scrapped in favor of demolition, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Highwoods Properties Chief Operating Officer Brian Leary explained that high interest rates made office-to-residential retrofits exceptionally difficult, pushing demolition and a reimagined site toward becoming the more viable path, per the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s reporting on the project. The Georgia Department of Revenue, which once occupied the tower, moved its headquarters out in 2024.
What Comes After the Dust Settles
City of Chamblee demolition permit filings indicate that once the tower comes down, the immediate plan for its footprint is to convert the site into a stormwater detention pond, the business journal reports. Before any of that can happen, environmental crews completed full asbestos abatement across the 18-story tower in preparation for the controlled explosion, removing windows and gutting the interior along the way…