Author Archives: Maria Saporta

Standing in the bowl of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it feels as if you’re in the middle of an erector set – a giant erector set.

The event on Wednesday was seeing workers sign one of the final steel beams to be placed on the top of the fixed portion of the roof. The beam then was lifted up through the middle of the stadium to its final resting spot.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber invited current and former board and staff members to say good-bye to its headquarters building as well as its roof-top pavilion.

The Atlanta Chamber has sold its building to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which plans to demolish the building across Marietta Street in order to expand Centennial Olympic Park.

The board of trustees of Morehouse College announced Saturday night that President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. (Class of 1979) continues to have its full support.

The trustees had just held a two-day meeting, and they had to make a decision about Wilson’s contract, which was up for renewal.

Martha Looney asked to be buried in red stiletto heels.

It may seem odd that someone who had suffered from the effects of polio since 1949 would want to be buried in shoes that she could not wear in life.

“I want to dance in heaven,” she told her only child – daughter Sylvia Looney Dick.

What a difference $50 million can make.

Since 2009, Billi and Bernie Marcus have donated a total of $50 million to Grady Hospital.

Their donations have gone towards the creation of the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center as well as the Marcus Trauma Center.

The former CEO from the Home Depot, Frank Blake, on Tuesday received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in Leadership Character at a luncheon at the Georgia Aquarium.

The award was given by the Turknett Leadership Group and the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. The organizations also recognized a host of other leaders during the Twelfth Leadership Character Awards.

The architectural firm of tvsdesign has named Janet Simpson as its next president. She is only the third president in the firm’s 48-year history, and she is the first woman in that role.

Simpson will succeed Roger Neuenschwander, who has been president since 1994 and joined the firm in 1973 as an intern. He will remain as board chairman as he transfers day-to-day governance to Simpson, who will assume her new role on Jan. 1.

The American Planning Association on Monday declared Midtown Atlanta as one of five neighborhoods to make the APA’s 2016 list of Great Places in the country.

APA’s Great Places list celebrates places that demonstrate exceptional character, composition, and planning—attributes that foster community ties, spur economic growth, and raise the bar for quality of life. Recognition is given for best practices in community planning, execution, facility design, public safety, infrastructure, cultural identity, innovation and environmental sustainability.