MARIETTA — The Historic Board of Review voted 6-3 Monday to recommend the City Council deny Bridger Properties’ design for the seven-story, 84-foot-tall multifamily building it plans to build downtown.
“Based on the Historic Board of Review’s guidelines, this building is not compatible with surrounding buildings in regards to scale, height, proportion and mass,” said Johnny Walker, the only council member who serves on the board, when making a motion to deny.
Walker was joined by board members Christopher Brown, Dorothy Woodruff, Rebecca Nash Paden, Jim Trimble and Martin Kendall in voting to recommend denial. Board Chair David Freedman and members Jesse Bonner Jr. and Stacy Smith voted against the denial.
The historic board advises the council on applications for building changes within Marietta’s downtown historic district. Bridger does not need a rezoning to build the seven-story building, but it does need the city to sign off on the architectural design, due to it being in the historic district.
While the historic board disapproved of the design, Bridger still has the right to appeal to the City Council, which has the final say.
Bridger, which owns more than four acres of downtown real estate, wants to build the 135-unit structure at a 1.25-acre site just north of the Marietta Square Market food hall, replacing a surface parking lot. The Atlanta-based developer has indicated the building might be apartments or condominiums, or some mix of the two.
“The design intent was just very simple,” said Dean Davis, Bridger’s architect. “Instead of trying to copy an old building, do something that complemented the existing structures that line the railroad tracks, that are in the historic district, and just create a design that has the look of a true load-bearing masonry structure.”
The board’s vote came after a public…
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