Home » Archives for Maria Saporta » Page 86
Avatar photo

Author Archives: Maria Saporta

Maria Saporta, executive editor, is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. From 2008 to 2020, she wrote weekly columns and news stories for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. Maria received her Master’s degree in urban studies from Georgia State and her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Maria was born in Atlanta to European parents and has two young adult children. She launched SaportaReport in February 2009.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Sales of Underground, Civic Center face delays

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Doug Sams and Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 20, 2016

Nearly a year after the city of Atlanta announced an agreement to redevelop Underground Atlanta and almost eight months after plans emerged to transform the Atlanta Civic Center, neither deal has closed — and cranes for the intown projects are nowhere in sight.

The delays come as the country enters a period of uncertainty surrounding the presidential election, and the real estate cycle — which has flooded Atlanta with new investment and dotted its central skyline and intown neighborhoods with apartment buildings — may be peaking.

Recently, the outlook for the nearly $300 million Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center redevelopment took an unexpected turn when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told a reporter “the deal is a little shaky. It’s taken longer than I had hoped it would.”

Posted inColumns

Recent firings by Mayor Reed a contrast to Atlanta City Hall under Maynard Jackson

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

After the news broke of the Friday firings of two key officials from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration, once again I was struck by how much City Hall has changed over the years.

On May 20, Reed parted ways with Miguel Southwell, aviation general manager who was in charge of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport; and Jo Ann Macrina, commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Arthur Blank and his team roll up their sleeves to help Atlanta’s Westside

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 20, 2016

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has committed about $7 million of the $15 million it has pledged to invest in improvements in the communities on Atlanta’s Westside near the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said the commitment to improve the Westside is just getting started.

On May 13, hundreds of associates from Blank’s multiple business and philanthropic entities descended on the Westside to work on seven different projects — including refreshing six existing Habitat for Humanity-Atlanta homes. The effort — called Brush with Kindness — mainly involved repainting people’s homes.

Posted inLatest News

Hartsfield-Jackson airport loses another general manager as Miguel Southwell exits

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

A marquis member of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration is out of a job.

The City of Atlanta issued a release late Friday stating that “Miguel Southwell’s service as Aviation General Manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has ended.”

The statement did not explain why Southwell was leaving the post.

Posted inLatest News

Chick-fil-A names Tim Tassopoulos as its president and COO

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

The new president and chief operating officer of privately-owned Chick-fil-A ­– Tim Tassopoulos – is part of the chain’s family that one can be without being related by blood.

He was only 17 in 1977 when he first started working as an hourly employee for a Chick-fil-A store at North DeKalb Mall. He had applied there as a back-up when applying for a job at Rich’s and decided to have lunch at his favorite restaurant.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Zoo Atlanta raises $41 million for its ‘Grand New View’ campaign

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 13, 2016

Zoo Atlanta has accomplished a feat that many in town wondered if it could be done. It has been able to match – and even exceed ­— a $20 million challenge grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation made in November 2014.

“We can declare victory,” said Raymond King, Zoo Atlanta’s president and CEO. “Who would have thought we would get 12 gifts of $1 million or more.”

In all, the zoo has raised $41 million for its “Grand New View” campaign, significantly exceeding its original $38.1 million goal. The gift that put them over the top was a $2 million gift from Chris Carlos, son of the late Thalia and Michael Carlos. In return, the new ballroom will be named after his parents.

Posted inLatest News

Home Depot welcomes Arthur Blank at its 2016 annual meeting

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

A special guest attended Home Depot’s annual meeting Thursday morning – co-founder Arthur Blank
It was only the second annual meeting that Blank had attended since he left the company in 2002. The last time was in 2008 – the first year that Frank Blake was CEO of the home-improvement company.
“They are doing a fabulous job,” Blank said adding that “fabulous” was an inadequate word to describe how well the company was doing.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Former Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell launches ‘Epic Ireland’

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 13, 2016

Former Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell has embarked on a major venture in Ireland, the country of his birth.

Isdell, who left The Coca-Cola Co. in 2008, has bought an historic warehouse building near the Port of Dublin and turned it into a multi-faceted project – a business incubator, stores and the project’s centerpiece, a major tourist attraction called Epic Ireland. So far, he has invested $27 million of his own money into the development.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Eric Robbins named CEO of Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 6, 2016

After 11 years at the helm of Camp Twin Lakes, Eric Robbins will become the next president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, an organization that’s more than 100 years old.

“It’s been the best job in my life,” Robbins said about Camp Twin Lakes. “I feel this organization is capable of doing anything it sets its mind to do.”

Under Robbins leadership, Camp Twin Lakes tripled the number of campers it served and went from having one camp site to three with the addition of Fort Yargo State Park and Warm Spring.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta

Veritiv holds second annual meeting – attracting one shareholder

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Sandy Springs-based Veritiv – which will soon be officially designated as a Fortune 500 company – held its second annual meeting Thursday at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter Norh – close to its new corporate offices.

For the second year in a row, the meeting attracted only one Veritiv shareholder. This year it was Suzanne Mulcay from Marietta.

Posted inColumns

After 20 years, LINK trips offer lasting lessons for Atlanta; Dallas delivers helpful insights

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

For 20 years, metro Atlanta leaders have been traveling to other cities to gain insights on how to address our most pressing issues by seeing how other urban areas address theirs.

The LINK trips – organized by the Atlanta Regional Commission – also have played another vital role. They have helped leaders from all over the region get to know each other in an away-from-home setting – hopefully creating relationships so we can reach consensus and collaborate as we move forward.

Posted inLatest News

Operation HOPE welcomed to Atlanta with hopes of greater equity

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

As Atlanta’s top business and civic leaders officially welcomed Operation HOPE moving its global headquarters in the city, the conversation quickly turned to equity.

The welcome luncheon was held Monday at the Federal Reserve of Atlanta, a rather elegant setting to talk about poverty along with financial inclusion and literacy. Operation Hope also announced Atlanta Uplift 2020 – to help make it a model city of lifting people out of poverty.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Operation Hope moving HQ from L.A. to Atlanta

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 6, 2016

An influential poverty-fighting organization – Operation HOPE – is consolidating its global headquarters in Atlanta.

A lunch meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on May 9 will be a time to “introduce Operation HOPE to Atlanta,” said Bill Rogers, CEO of SunTrust Banks Inc., which is hosting the event.

At the same time, Operation HOPE will be announcing a major local initiative called Atlanta Uplift 2020 that will become a model for how the organization plans to fight poverty on a national and even international basis.

Posted inLatest News

Ron Kirk: Dallas and Atlanta ‘are building the new American cities’

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who was mayor when the LINK delegation last came to this Texas city in 1999, said the Atlanta region and the Dallas-Fort Worth have much in common.

“We are two regions that have a lot of high class problems,” said Kirk, referring to the two fast-growing Sun Belt cities that are trying to have their infrastructure keep up with their growth.

Gift this article