Rhodes Center

Rhodes Center was an early Atlanta shopping center and one of the city's largest real-estate developments during the Great Depression. It was built in 1937 by the architectural firm of Ivey and Crook in Midtown Atlanta, in the area between Peachtree Street and Spring Street. The center was arranged around Rhodes Hall, with one-story commercial buildings extending along the hall's north, west, and south sides. The buildings were faced with Georgia white marble, giving the development a unified architectural identity and linking it visually to Rhodes Hall. The center represented an important stage in Atlanta's evolution from a downtown-focused retail city toward a more dispersed commercial pattern. Rather than functioning as a single department store, Rhodes Center brought together a range of shops, food businesses, personal-service providers, entertainment venues, and professional services in one planned location. A 1938 directory recorded tenants including an air-conditioned Rhodes Theatre, an A&P superstore, a beauty salon, a gift shop, a radio-service business, a bakery, a Georgia Milk Producers store, a restaurant, liquor stores, a florist, a five-and-ten-cent store, a druggist, a lending library, and a medical clinic. This tenant mix made the center a broad neighborhood destination rather than a narrowly specialized retail property. Rhodes Center's original footprint has been substantially altered. The north, west, and south buildings once formed the larger complex, but only the south building remains. The former west-building site is now used for parking behind Rhodes Hall, while the former north-building site is occupied in part by the 1550 Peachtree building and its forecourt plaza. A single-block street, South Rhodes Center NW, preserves the name. Transportation infrastructure also changed the setting: the exit ramp from the Buford Highway Connector to Peachtree Street runs along the surviving building's south side. In 2003, Dewberry Capital promoted a redevelopment of the surviving south building. The proposed work had not occurred by 2011, according to the available reference material. Dewberry had acquired several nearby properties in the wider Pershing Point area and advocated using the name "Uptown Atlanta" for the broader district. Those associated properties included locations at Peachtree Street and 17th Street, Campanile at Peachtree and 14th, Peachtree Pointe at Spring and Peachtree, and a proposed 13-story Dewberry Ansley tower. These later proposals concern the surrounding real-estate area and the possible reuse of Rhodes Center rather than a revival of the original shopping-center tenant format. Rhodes Center is therefore best understood today as a historic Atlanta commercial development and surviving architectural fragment rather than as an operating consumer brand with a documented current retail business. The available material does not establish a current owner, active tenant roster, operating status, or completed redevelopment.

Rhodes Center was constructed in 1937 in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, between Peachtree Street and Spring Street. Designed and built by the architectural firm of Ivey and Crook, it was described as Atlanta's first shopping center and ranked among the city's largest real-estate projects during the Depression. Its design consisted of low, one-story commercial buildings placed along the north, west, and south sides of Rhodes Hall. Georgia white marble was used on the building facades, creating a coherent streetscape around the existing hall. The center's early commercial role is documented by a 1938 directory. Its tenants covered a wide range of everyday needs and leisure activities: the air-conditioned Rhodes Theatre, an A&P superstore, a beauty salon, a gift shop, radio service, a bakery, a Georgia Milk Producers store, a restaurant, liquor retailers, a florist, a five-and-ten-cent store, druggists, a lending library, and a clinic. This combination of retail, food, entertainment, personal services, and professional services illustrates the shopping-center model that Rhodes Center introduced to Atlanta. It was not simply a single-purpose retail building; it was a planned cluster intended to serve routine shopping and local activity in one setting. Over time, the original complex was reduced and its surroundings were redeveloped. The west building disappeared and its site became parking behind Rhodes Hall. The north building was also removed, with part of its former location later occupied by the 1550 Peachtree building and the plaza in front of it. Only the south building survives from the original commercial structures. The name is also retained by South Rhodes Center NW, a single-block street. The Buford Highway Connector's exit ramp to Peachtree Street now runs along the southern side of the remaining structure, placing it within a substantially different transport and urban context from that of the 1930s. A later redevelopment chapter began in 2003, when Dewberry Capital promoted plans to reuse or redevelop the surviving south building. The available material records no completed project and states that the redevelopment had still not taken place by 2011. Dewberry was acquiring multiple properties in the surrounding area, historically associated with Pershing Point, and proposed calling the broader district Uptown Atlanta. The cited properties included sites at Peachtree and 17th, Campanile at Peachtree and 14th, Peachtree Pointe at Spring and Peachtree, and a proposed 13-story Dewberry Ansley tower. The documented history ends without establishing whether Rhodes Center currently operates as a shopping center, who owns the surviving structure, or what tenants it may contain. Its significance rests primarily on its place in Atlanta's retail and architectural history, the surviving south building, and the continued use of the Rhodes Center name in the adjacent street designation.

• 2011

  Redevelopment remains uncompleted

  [1]Rhodes Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The available reference material reported that the redevelopment proposed in 2003 had not taken place by this year.

• 2003

  Redevelopment of the south building is promoted

  [1]Rhodes Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Dewberry Capital promoted plans to redevelop the remaining south building of Rhodes Center.

• 1938

  Early tenant roster documents a diversified commercial center

  [1]Rhodes Centeren.wikipedia.org

  A directory listed retail stores, a theatre, food businesses, personal services, professional services, and other tenants operating at Rhodes Center.

• 1937

  Rhodes Center opens in Midtown Atlanta

  [1]Rhodes Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The shopping center was built between Peachtree Street and Spring Street by architects Ivey and Crook. It became known as Atlanta's first shopping center and one of the city's major Depression-era real-estate developments.

A historic, mixed-tenant neighborhood shopping center and commercial development associated with Midtown Atlanta.

• 2003

  Proposal to redevelop the surviving south buildingStrategy

  Background

  Only the south building of the original Rhodes Center complex remained, while the surrounding Midtown area was undergoing broader property acquisition and redevelopment activity.

  Action taken

  Dewberry Capital promoted redevelopment of the surviving building as part of its wider interest in the area historically known as Pershing Point.

  Aftermath

  The reference material states that the redevelopment had not been carried out by 2011. No later completion, financial terms, or current project status is established.

  Source

1. 1Rhodes Centeren.wikipedia.org