Author Archives: Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

Ted Turner, the former owner of the Atlanta Braves, finally let the world know Wednesday that he would not have moved the baseball team to Cobb County.

Since the deal was announced last November, Turner has been uncharacteristically reserved when asked to comment about the Atlanta Braves plans to leave Turner Field in downtown Atlanta in favor of building a new $672 million stadium in Cobb County. The plan is for the Atlanta Braves to play in a new Cobb stadium in time for the 2017 baseball season.

But during a “fireside chat” at the Technology Association of Georgia’s 2014 Georgia Technology Summit (gathering coincidentally at the Cobb Galleria Centre), Turner let his feelings be known for the first time.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta architect John Portman has always had a soft spot in his heart for Georgia Tech — the institution where he received his architectural degree in 1950.

Going back several years, Portman let it be known that he would be interested in supporting Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture in a significant way financially.

By Maria Saporta

Two dear friends — Andrea Young and Jerry Thomas — got married on March 8 at La Fontaine Bleue in Glen Burnie, Md. near Washington, D.C.

It was a relatively small affair that included family and close friends — Andrea’s father, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, gave her away. Olympics athlete Edwin Moses was Thomas’ best man. Yolanda Renee King, the daughter of Martin Luther King III, and his wife, Arndrea, was the flower girl.

Here is a video (produced by AJ Production) that features highlights of the wedding and events leading up to the ceremony. Be sure to have a tissue handy. It is certainly helps reaffirm the notion that two people can find love after they’ve outlived their youth.

By Maria Saporta

In an unusual turn of events, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and his staff Friday presented a possible compromise on the proposed alignment of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around the new Falcons stadium in an effort to satisfy concerns expressed by members of the Atlanta City Council and members of the community.

Councilmember Andre Dickens, had led a unanimous Council effort seeking to preserve the “connectivity” of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on both sides of Northside Drive. He asked the mayor and his administration to present alternatives that would maintain that connectivity rather than have MLK be turned into the much narrower Mitchell Street west of Northside Drive.

By Maria Saporta

ROME – While odd couple Mary Matalin and James Carville rarely agree on anything, they agreed Thursday that Berry College is a special place.

The married political contrarians — she a conservative Republican and he a liberal Southern Democrat — were invited guests to the 2014 Gloria Shatto Lecture series. The series was named after Shatto, who made history on Jan. 1, 1980, when she became the first woman to become president of a university or college in Georgia. She retired in 1998 and then passed away a year later.

“What an amazing place,” Matalin said, adding that she and her husband visit many college campuses. “I don’t think we have visited one as unique.”

By Maria Saporta

Central Atlanta Progress, the influential downtown business organization, is moving from the Hurt building to a lesser known historic building in the Fairlie-Poplar district.

CAP, which has been a visible tenant on the street level of the Hurt building along Edgewood since 1988, is moving to the top floor of 84 Walton St., a building that dates back to 1907 when it was built as the headquarters for the Atlanta Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad.

CAP President A.J. Robinson made the announcement about the move at the organization’s annual meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center on Wednesday morning.

By Maria Saporta

The Metro Atlanta Chamber announced today that Brian McGowan is being named executive vice president and chief operating officer — a new position for the business organization.

McGowan has been serving as president and CEO of Invest Atlanta, the economic development arm for the City of Atlanta, since 2011. He was lured to the city by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Since coming to Atlanta, he has been leading the city’s economic development and job growth initiatives.

His start date with the Metro Atlanta Chamber will be April 28.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta’s future streetcar lines may need further review.

The Atlanta City Council’s Community Development Committee on Tuesday decided to table a proposal presented by the Atlanta BeltLine Inc. that would have outlined the next four phases of the development of streetcars in Atlanta.

The goal had been to get the committee to recommend the Atlanta BeltLine/Atlanta Streetcar System Plan as a supplement to the city’s Connect Atlanta plan. Then that recommendation could have been voted on by the full City Council at next Monday’s meeting.

Instead, the plan has now been placed on an indefinite hold.

By Maria Saporta

Don’t panic. That was the basic message that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed shared about the lack of funding for the deepening of the Savannah port in the President Barack Obama’s budget that was released last week.

Reed spoke to local business and civic leaders Tuesday during a luncheon speech at the Commerce Club — where he said the news of President’s budget failure to include the federal share of had been misrepresented.

By tapping his Democratic connections within the Obama administration in Washington, D.C., Reed has been one of Georgia’s leading advocates for the deepening of the Savannah port. He has been working closely with Republican Gov. Nathan Deal on those efforts — highlighting their cooperative bi-partisan relationship.

By Maria Saporta

A behind-the-scenes Atlanta business leader who led key organizations at a sensitive time in the city’s history — John C. Wilson — passed away on Saturday night at Piedmont Hospital.

Wilson, a fifth generation Atlantan, served as the president (a position now called chairman) of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 1970 — helping foster the idea of Atlanta as the next great international city. He was chairman of the International Air Routes Task Force in 1971 — which helped open Atlanta’s airport to inaugural international service a couple of years later.

Wilson also served as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as well as several other corporate and civic boards.

By Maria Saporta

Morris Brown College, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, 2012, is shifting gears to try to keep operating.

It no longer is trying to package a development deal for the property it either owns or controls after at least two deals fell apart in the last year at the 11th hour.

On Thursday, lawyers for Morris Brown asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Ellis-Monro for permission to hire the real estate firm of Jones Lang LaSalle to help it sell either some or all of the 36-acre property along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive just west of where the new Atlanta Falcons stadium is being built.