Iconic 'Spaghetti Junction' Tower To Be Revived Again, This Time As Senior Housing
The new owners of Spaghetti Junction's most iconic real estate are looking to pump millions of dollars into the decrepit structure to appeal to a demographic that remembers when it was a premier Atlanta hotel.
Atlanta-based Peacock Partnership purchased 4001 Presidential Parkway, the iconic cylindrical 15-story building lording over the scrambled, elevated intersection of Interstates 85 and 285 — known as Spaghetti Junction — that has been mostly vacant for years. Peacock purchased the building from Hays Financial Consulting for an undisclosed sum.
The developers plan to transform the 45-year-old former hotel into a more-than-400-unit active senior living facility after spending up to $70M to completely renovate it, Greystone Brown Real Estate Advisors Director Taylor Brown said. Greystone was tapped by Hayes Financial to sell the troubled building.
“We cast a wide net to the investment world because it could be refurbished into so many different things,” Brown said, adding that the potential redevelopment prospects included a hotel, office space, residential condos and even a self-storage facility.
“We always kind of figured that a senior living [developer] would take it."
Senior living is the latest chapter in what has been a more than 40-year, often troubled, history for the tower. Built in 1973, the building at 4001 Presidential Parkway began life as the Presidential Hotel and was treated as a landmark of Atlanta's burgeoning suburban environs. The hotel sported more than 200 rooms, conference facilities and retail space.
The Presidential Hotel's fortunes declined through the 1980s, and by 1987, the hotel closed its doors. In the lead-up to the 1996 Summer Olympics, Ramada bought the property and rechristened it Ramada Perimeter Northeast Hotel. A year later, the new owner converted the ground-floor space into a nightclub known as Club Europe.
Even after Ramada shuttered its operations there in 2001, the nightclub continued on for a number of years.
After a hotel, new owners turned the units into a mix of residential and office condos, aptly dubbed the Presidential Boutique Condotel, according to the Sheednomics blog. The building even sported a lighted advertising sign that glowed over Spaghetti Junction. But the change wouldn't last.
By 2012, continued disrepair mounted to a point where DeKalb County officials evicted residents — on Valentine's Day — over unpaid power bills, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After that, the one-time hotel became home to vandals and vagrants.
More recently, Hays Financial, which works on distressed properties, picked up ownership and tapped Greystone to market the property. That was easier said than done, Brown said.
“This was more complex than anything I've seen just because of the title issues,” he said. Hays had to work with owners of the various condo units to agree to sell them en masse to Peacock.
Other issues reared their heads: the need for retention ponds and rights to access the roof. Plus, Greystone had to negotiate simultaneously working with the county to permit a zoning that could allow for it to become senior housing.
Brown said Peacock plans to renovate the tower, pump up its amenity package and market units toward active seniors. According to the AJC, the developer has plans for a 176K SF second tower.
"This is a gateway to DeKalb,” Brown said. “This property will once again be a shining beacon for those traveling through Spaghetti Junction in Atlanta.”
