This story has been updated. 

Preservation advocates are planning to hold another rally to save the historic Pullman Yard.

The rally is set for Wednesday, March 15, at 11 a.m. and will be held at the Pullman Yard, located at 225 Rogers St NE, Atlanta, GA. There’s also a walk through of the property scheduled for the same time, according to an email from the Atlanta Preservation Center.

Pullman Forest, a local conservation group, is organizing Wednesday’s rally. The group says the rally is, “Our last chance to show developers our demands for preservation and conservation.”

One of the members of Pullman Forest is David Epstein with executive director for Atlanta ContactPoint, which had been pushing a proposal to turn the property into office space and greenhouse space. The plan once included multi-purpose fields, but that idea was later removed from the plan, Epstein said.

Epstein told Decaturish that ContactPoint will not bid on the Pullman Yard property but said ContactPoint is “involved with a couple of different partners.”

“At this point, we’re just trying to conserve as much as we can,” he said. “We are hoping any developer who gets the property will conserve the buildings.”

He added, “Pullman Forest is about conserving the forest which holds the headwaters of Hardee Creek. By doing so, we can create community programming with nature center and gardens. Pullman Forest is made up of organizations like Wylde Center, Trees Atlanta, Healthy Heart Coalition, and Atlanta ContactPoint.”

There’s an online petition in support of preserving the site. The petition has received nearly 2,000 signatures. Preservation advocates also held a rally on Jan. 10.

[adsanity id=34994 align=aligncenter /]

Representatives of the the Georgia Building Authority, which owns the property, have declined to comment on the proposed sale.

In late November the Atlanta Urban Design Commission backed away from a proposal that would’ve given Kirkwood’s Pullman Yard landmark status. The state pressured the Urban Design Commission to drop its proposal, saying it was immune to any actions taken by the city to preserve the structure. The minimum bid is $5.6 million.

According to the bid documents, The Pratt-Pullman Yard – originally farmland purchased in 1904 by the Pratt Engineering Company for a sugar and fertilizer processing plant – was used for munitions manufacturing during World War I.

It was purchased in 1922 by the Pullman Passenger Rail Company and used as a rail car service and repair facility. Southern Iron and Equipment Company used it from 1955 to the 1970’s. The facility was closed after the federal court order split up the Pullman Passenger Rail Company.

Georgia Power used the facility for its fleet of Trackless Trolleys, a name for electric buses. The Georgia Building Authority bought the property in 1990. It was briefly used as part of the New Georgia Railroad, a dinner train running from Underground Atlanta to Stone Mountain. In recent years, it has become a popular filming location.

[adsanity id=19194 align=aligncenter /]

[adsanity id=35171 align=aligncenter /]