ATLANTA-Instead of demolishing what local historians call Atlanta's oldest wood construction commercial building, locally based Southeast Capital Partners, along with local developers Larry Wolfe and Billy Bauman, plan to use the former excelsior manufacturing site as a sales magnet for its 158-unit loft condominium and retail-restaurant complex. The $28-million development will rise in the center of the fast-developing Poncey-Highlands neighborhood.

Southeast partner Jay Clark tells GlobeSt.com the developer group plans an October groundbreaking on the condos which will be adjacent to the mill building. The developers are considering developing retail and restaurant space in a portion of the old structure.

The project is tentatively called Excelsior Lofts in recognition of the former 30,000-sf DuPre Excelsior Manufacturing Co.'s building opened in 1901 and closed in 1966. The building currently houses the Masquerade night club and is across from the soon-to-be-redeveloped City Hall East undertaking, Ponce Park and the proposed Beltline railroad corridor redevelopment.

The manufacturing building, on North Avenue near the Carter Center, was headed for extinction after Wolfe initially planned to tear down the structure and redevelop the site on his own as a condo-retail venture, area brokers tell GlobeSt.com. However, neighbors fought the demolition plan by asking the Urban Design Commission of Atlanta to designate the structure as an historic building. That halted Wolfe's plans for the moment, brokers familiar with the site and the residents' complaints tell GlobeSt.com.

Southeast partner Satish Lathi and his team then began working with the Urban Design Commission to give the building some sort of historical status. That satisfied the neighborhood groups monitoring all development in their area.

Lathi and his associates also cut a deal with Gwinnett County real estate investor Wayne Mason to acquire a portion of the five acres Mason owns behind the nightclub--a deal that will help Southeast develop a surface parking lot for the planned condo project.

The one-bedroom and two-bedroom condo homes will be priced from $17,000s to the $300,000s, Clark tells GlobeSt.com. The five-story condo building will have open floor plans, sliding glass partitions and 10-foot ceilings.

"The Poncey-Highlands neighborhood and the Old Fourth Ward is one of the most rapidly developing intown areas of Atlanta," Clark says. "Its close proximity to major thoroughfares and the highway system, Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead make it an ideal location to live."