Ponce City Market Wins Preservation Award

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation recently presented 28 awards recognizing the best of preservation in Georgia during its 39th annual Preservation Awards ceremony.

Ponce City Market in Atlanta received the Marguerite Williams Award, presented annually to the project that has had the greatest impact on preservation in the state.

Ponce City Market received the award in recognition of its sustainable rehabilitation. Formerly the Sears, Roebuck & Company Southeast distribution center and retail store, the two-million-square-foot nine-story building, the largest by volume in Georgia, was rehabilitated to include retail and office space, residential units, a central food hall and public outdoor spaces.

The project, which included inspecting and rehabilitating all masonry features and the treatment of over 1,000 historic steel windows, leveraged over $50 million in rehabilitation tax credits, making it one of the largest preservation projects in the nation's history. The project kept the largest brick building in the Southeast out of a landfill and has served as a catalyst for rehabilitation in its vicinity.

For more than 35 years, the Trust has recognized preservation projects and individuals throughout Georgia who have made significant contributions to the field of historic preservation. Awards are presented on the basis of the contributions of the person or project to the community and/or state and on compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

Founded in 1973, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is one of the country's leading statewide, nonprofit preservation organizations. The Trust works for the preservation and revitalization of Georgia's diverse historic resources and advocates their appreciation, protection and use.