For Atlanta Historic Property, 200 Is The Key Number ATLANTA, GA. (WABE) - 180 Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta first opened in 1927 as Davison-Paxton's Department Store. Later it became a Macy's. Investors who bought a part of the building in 2008 made one more change: they've added another address.

If you walk through downtown near the Westin Hotel, the building at 180 Peachtree stands out. In fact, a three-dimensional sign that reads 180 sticks out into the street, high above pedestrians.

It's one of the few buildings in the city with a large street number attached to the facade. But that number is about to change.

The investors received permission from the City of Atlanta to change the address of the bottom three floors to 200 Peachtree.

"That's the first time I've heard of that," says Roy Black, a professor of real estate at Emory University.

He continued, "I've heard of combining two buildings and using the more prestigious address, you know maybe building a bridge between the two. That would be, I guess, a horizontal change, but I've never heard of a vertical address change."

The two dozen investors who bought a part of the building two years ago are renovating the bottom three floors. They will become retail and conference space. The former main sales floor will become a ballroom.

One investor, Robert Patterson, says the ballroom will become the premier spot for high-profile events. And he says an address of 200 Peachtree St. better conveys the space's cachet.

"We wanted something that we could build a brand around, that had a personality," Patterson said. "And so we thought the address - well, a new address -- would do it. The Westin is at 210 Peachtree and our upstairs neighbors are at 180 so we split the difference. Plus, 200 Peachtree has a nice ring to it."

Real estate experts say perception plays a big role in marketing. Chris Lemley is a professor at Georgia State University.

"There are numbers that people like and there are letters that people like better and both are used in market research quite a lot," Lemley said.

Even numbers tend to fare better than odd, says Black with Emory University.

"Just like with office numbers on floors, apparently if it has zeros after it, that carries some prestige," he said. "200 as opposed to 180 [Peachtree] would be better, and if I was on the 15th floor of an office building, office number 1500 would be better than 1520."

Patterson waved aside the address change in an interview. He said the key is that the street-level portion of the building will have new life and provide much needed downtown conference and events space.

Patterson said the first special event will take place in early June. © Copyright 2012, WABE