Myrtle Beach developer set to demolish historic Atlanta building for Margaritaville
A Myrtle Beach developer is on the cusp of demolishing a downtown Atlanta building where the first hit country record was recorded.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday that the building, at 152 Nassau St., is set to be torn down to make way for Strand Capital Group to build a 21-story Margaritaville-themed hotel, timeshare and restaurant.
Kyle Kessler, an Atlanta architect and downtown resident, helped identify the building in 2017 as the location where Fiddlin’ John Carson first recorded “Little Log Cabin in the Lane” and “The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster’s Going to Crow” in 1923 with the help of legendary producer and talent scout Ralph Peer, of Okeh Records.
Kessler then petitioned the city to declare the building a historic landmark, and the city planner announced plans to nominate it as such, but the AJC reports that the developers threatened to sue the city because they already began the application process for a restaurant on the property.
Eventually, the developers and city signed an agreement that prevented the building from becoming a historic landmark in exchange for agreeing to expand their plans to include a hotel that costs at least $100 million, according to the AJC report.
Kessler told The Sun News that he’s still hopeful, but he knows time is running out. He was speaking Tuesday morning from the building site, where he said demolition crews had already begun tearing apart the building’s interior.
“If we’re going to save it, the next 24 hours are going to be crucial,” he said.
Kessler’s change.org petition urging the city and developers to alter their plans has garnered more than 8,000 signatures, and officials from the Country Music Hall of Fame have lent their support to the cause.
Emily Taff, a spokeswoman for Historic Atlanta, said the nonprofit organization recently sent a letter to city officials urging them to issue a stop work order on the project because they believe the demolition permit was improperly issued through the agreement without adequate opportunity for public input.
Officials from Strand Capital Group and Margaritaville Holdings LLC did not immediately return requests for comment.
Strand Capital Group has previously worked on three other Margaritaville properties, including the restaurant within Broadway at the Beach, according to their online portfolio.
Kessler said his goal isn’t to stop developers from building the new hotel, but rather convince them to incorporate the historic building into the project instead on demolishing it.
As of now, the demolished building site would be used for dumpsters and grease traps next to the restaurant, according to the AJC.
“It’s about as insulting a resolution to all this as I can possibly imagine,” Kessler said.
This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 3:10 PM.
