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Davison’s, later Macy’s, will become event facility, have restaurants
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Davison’s, that “Cathedral of Commerce” on Peachtree Street, opened in 1927, it was reportedly the first department store south of Philadelphia to have air conditioning. Many tourists came from around the region just to ride the escalators.
By 2003, most shoppers had fled to suburban malls. The Davison’s building (rechristened Macy’s in the 1980s), went dark.
Today, workmen are busy completing a $16 million renovation at the massive downtown landmark. Of the 26 or so investors in the project, 25 are native Atlantans.
Many of them were around when Davison’s represented the acme of Atlanta’s glamour and glitz. That nostalgia didn’t lure them into an emotional investment. But it didn’t hurt.
“We’re not in the preservation business,” said Robert Patterson, the Chastain Park-raised, Ivy-educated president of 200 Peachtree. “This is a business investment. We’re not trying to say this is a philanthropy. This a group of people that remember Davison’s and what that building meant to downtown. There is a desire to see that come back.”
ajc story
