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Posted inDavid Pendered

Cousins Properties acquisitions in Texas, stock buy-back at $25 a share, show how one company fights back

by David Pendered

Cousins Properties, Inc. raised $165.1 million in a stock sale April 12 that shows how one Atlanta-based real estate firm is waging its fight back from the recession.

Cousins intends to use the money from the stock sale to further its expansion into urban markets in Texas. Cousins also plans to redeem $74.8 million of preferred stock, according to Cousins filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cousins, a real estate investment trust, was formed in Atlanta in 1958 and more than two-thirds of its office holdings remain in Atlanta – 5.3 million square feet of the 7.6 million square feet of office space cited in its 2012 annual SEC filing. The remainder of the office space is located in Charlotte, Dallas, and Birmingham.

Posted inGuest Column

Transit agencies can partner with taxi firms to serve people with disabilities

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist JOHN KEYS, transportation consultant on mobility management

Transit systems in many areas of the country successfully build cooperative, cost-effective, partnerships to deliver service. Partnerships are used to provide quality transit service at cost savings and to maintain vehicles and facilities with workers frequently hired through community organizations served by the transit system.

In these systems, the use of partners ranging from private companies to non-profit agencies, from transit unions to volunteers and faith-based groups, enables them to deliver customer-focused, tech-based mobility management. Everyone works together to meld numerous transportation options into a system benefiting all, and frequently under leadership that embraces problem-solving rather than turf-guarding.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

New GSU law school to be ‘showplace’ on key downtown block

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta and Doug Sams
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, April 12, 2013

Thanks to a $5 million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Georgia State University now has raised enough money to build a new College of Law building on a key downtown site that is currently a surface parking lot.

The $82.5 million project, to be located just off Peachtree Street just south of the Georgia-Pacific Center tower, will position Georgia State’s professional schools next to downtown’s core business district. Eventually, the J. Mack Robinson College of Business also is planned to go on the same block.

“It really puts the law school in a showplace building at a showplace location,” said Mark Becker, president of Georgia State University.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Juanita Jones Abernathy, John S. Wilson to be honored with formal reception by Atlanta City Council

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council will honor a civil rights leader of the past and an academician for the future at an April 15 reception at Atlanta City Hall.

Juanita Jones Abernathy marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and has continued her work in the human rights and corporate arenas. John S. Wilson is the 11th president of Morehouse College, King’s alma mater, taking the helm in a transitional era for the country’s institutions of higher learning.

The reception is slated from noon to 1 p.m., in advance of a council meeting at which the council is expected to catch its breath after its March 18 approval of public financing for the Falcons Stadium.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

Remembering Roger Ebert: a populist movie critic who truly loved movies

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

I’ve only met a few people who loved movies as much as Roger Ebert did.

I’ve known fewer still who played a bad hand so well and so bravely. The cancer that finally got him was an exceptionally cruel disease — disabling and, as many of us saw in his final years, as disfiguring as anything dreamt up by any horror-movie-master.

Funny how upstarts become institutions. When Ebert and his Chicago Tribune rival, Gene Siskel, first started their Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down routine — first locally, then nationally — I know a lot of movie critics who wearily moaned, has it come to this? Two Thumbs UP???!!!! Or One Thumb Down

Posted inDavid Pendered

Metro Atlanta roads: How to make do with a transportation system that’s (mostly) already on the ground

by David Pendered

State and regional transportation planners are taking the steps they think are within reach in order to relieve traffic congestion in metro Atlanta. GRTA’s board took its first step Wednesday.

The solution won’t be a magic bullet, no more so than if voters in 2012 had approved the construction program envisioned for the proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax. Transit was not part of Wednesday’s conversation.

Gov. Nathan Deal’s touch is evident in the new approach. Deal said after the sales tax referendum that the state would focus on affordable transportation solutions, or, in the words of the resolution approved by GRTA’s board: Georgia will, “improve the movement of people and goods across and within the state [in order to] expand Georgia’s role as a major logistic hub for global commerce.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

MARTA’s fare hike planned in 2015, lack of state funding, noted by Fitch, one of big three credit rating agencies

by David Pendered

MARTA’s fare hike planned for 2015 – possibly to $2.75 per trip – and the possibility of zone pricing doesn’t offset the lack of state funding for the system, a bond rating house has determined.

Fitch Ratings made its comments on MARTA’s fiscal situation in an advisory on MARTA’s planned sale this week of $26.3 million in sales tax revenue bonds.

MARTA’s entire revenue structure results in “thin financial margins,” the report states. Fitch took a look at MARTA’s financial projections and issued the following comment:

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Susan G. Komen – Atlanta gets new executive director

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, April 5, 2013

It’s been quite a week for Cati Diamond Stone. She moved from Minneapolis to Atlanta on Saturday, March 30. Two days later she started her new job as executive director of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Greater Atlanta Affiliate on April 1.

And then she spent her first week on the job giving away $1.9 million in grants to 19 organizations supporting breast health programs.

“This job is the culmination of everything I’ve worked toward in my life,” Stone said. “It was too good to pass up.”

Posted inTom Baxter

Why the U.S. Senate race matters to Democrats, win or lose

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

It’s a fact not much remarked on that the closest thing to a frontrunner we have so far in the squishy-soft field for next year’s U.S. Senate race in Georgia is a Democrat.

There’s good reason no one pays much attention to a couple of polls from February showing former Sen. Max Cleland leading every Republican contender. He’s shown no interest in the race, and even the names being seriously discussed — U.S. Rep. John Barrow and Michelle Nunn — haven’t made any commitments.

And yet there are several reasons why next year’s Senate race may be more important in the long run for the Democrats than the Republicans, win or lose.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Public transit outlook remains case of: “Better the devil you know”

by David Pendered

The landscape of public transit has become clearer in metro Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia, at least for the next year – not much will change.

The state Senate essentially gave MARTA’s new GM, Keith Parker, a year to get settled into the job and devise plans to curb costs and raise revenues. The Senate stalled expansive legislation, which the House had approved, to privatize segments of MARTA and otherwise retool its board and operations.

Gov. Nathan Deal prevailed in his effort for the state to fund Xpress, the regional bus service overseen by GRTA. Finally, the planning process continues to advance for helping people take public transit to their medical appointments, and other critical destinations, in metro Atlanta and throughout Georgia.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s fundraising accelerates in 2013, latest campaign disclosure report shows

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has almost $1.5 million in cash in his campaign coffers, according to the latest campaign contribution disclosure report.

Reed is raising funds at a rate dramatically higher than last year. The mayor raised almost $325,000 in the first quarter of 2013. By comparison, Reed raised about $200,000 during the entire last half of 2012, reports show

The mayor is heading into a reelection campaign with no other contenders raising anywhere near the same amount of money, according to Reed’s report that was received April 5 by the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Final Four fans stay close to Centennial Olympic Park – on a brilliant Sunday afternoon

by David Pendered

In 2008, Atlanta won the bid for the Final Four with a campaign theme of “1,000 steps.” On Sunday afternoon, the plan seemed to be a success.

The densest crowds were gathered around the festival in Centennial Olympic Park. Traffic, pedestrian and vehicular, elsewhere in Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead was no heavier than any normal Sunday afternoon on a pretty Spring day.

The city’s plans to rein in vendors and traffic congestion seemed to function as planned. The only items missing from the city’s plan were the huge advertising wraps that Downtown landlords were authorized to sell and drape from their buildings.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed flexes political muscle on stadium deal

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

When Invest Atlanta voted 8-to1 Thursday morning in favor of a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed almost broke out into an end-zone victory dance.

Yet the dynamics behind the two-and-a-half year effort to get all the necessary governmental approvals for a new stadium involved a series of twist and turns, handshakes and broken promises, unusual alliances and political intrigue that set off waves in this year’s city elections and next year’s state elections.

So many issues about how the stadium will be designed to fit in with the surrounding neighborhoods and how the communities can benefit from this $1 billion investment will hinge on the ability of the various personalities and entities to work together for the greater good.

Posted inGuest Column

Houses are selling like hotcakes, but appraisals are not keeping up to date

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist BILL GOLDEN, an independent Realtor with RE/MAX Metro Atlanta Cityside

You know what they say about there being no rose without a thorn? Well, the real estate market in Atlanta is looking quite rosy these days, but that does bring its share of thorns into the landscape.

With a record low inventory of homes on the market, houses are selling like hotcakes. Every agent I know has a backlog of ready, willing, and able buyers waiting for the right listing to come up. The same scene plays out over and over again — a good new listing comes up for sale, and there are multiple bids on it within a few days, sometimes within a few hours.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Buckhead recycling gathered tons of waste; April 27 is next city event for disposing hazardous materials

by David Pendered

Atlanta’s spring cleaning of hazardous materials started with the collection of tons of stuff in March, even as the city looks ahead to a major collection effort on April 27.

The Eco Collection event, in Buckhead, brought in a mind-numbing amount of hazardous waste such as paint, electronics and fluorescent lightbulbs, according to a fact sheet released by sponsors Livable Buckhead and Live Thrive.

The next recycling event on the city’s agenda is the EcoDepot Recycling Day, April 27 at Turner Field. Mayor Kasim Reed’s Office of Sustainability and Councilmember Carla Smith are co-sponsoring the event, which is reported to be the largest of its kind in Atlanta.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

Eleanor goes to the movies —top four at the box office — not top four to see

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

When the top four movies at the box office are (in descending order) “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “The Croods,” “Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor” and “Olympus Has Fallen,” which do you choose to write about?

Why not take a stab at all four?

“G.I Joe” is based on a doll — I mean, action figure — first popularized in 1964. He has gone through several incarnations since then, including movies, comics and video games. He has even, like Alice and her mushroom, changed sizes: 12 inches originally, then shrunk to 3 ¾ inches, then released in both sizes.

Posted inDavid Pendered

BeltLine’s Eastside Trail: Replacement bridge to improve access, safety

by David Pendered

Construction started Wednesday on a replacement bridge above the Atlanta BeltLine, one that is to improve safety for users of the bridge and to provide better access to the Eastside Trail and the BeltLine’s proposed transit line.

The $4.5 million, yearlong project was delayed from a planned start date of March 18. The cause was utility work that had to be done before crews started to demolish the existing bridge.

As with many public construction efforts in Atlanta, this one is presented as a BeltLine project. Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. is involved and funding comes from a federal program that provides bonds for projects in economically distressed areas, which were provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Tough economy hurts United Way of Greater Atlanta campaign

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, March 29, 2013

The economic recovery has not yet trickled down to United Way of Greater Atlanta.

When United Way holds its campaign celebration April 1 on the center court at Philips Arena from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., it will announce an expected shortfall of $2.7 million from its$80.7 million goal for 2012.

“The campaign is hard,” said Milton Little, president of United Way of Greater Atlanta. “The economy may have some positive signs for some, but for those of us raising money, it’s still a very difficult environment.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Airport expanding concession space to make money, serve passengers

by David Pendered

Atlanta airport officials are adding retail and restaurant space in a move that will generate more money for the facility through concessions contracts.

The airport is adding an unspecified amount of concessions space through expansion projects on Concourse C and Concourse D. In addition, other existing space is to be converted to concession use as it becomes available, according to airport General Manager Louis Miller.

The process of selecting prime vendors to operate some of the new space is to begin closer to the time space becomes available, Miller said. The FAA’s review of the airport’s last round of concessions contracts ended last month, when the agency dismissed its probe into the certification of disadvantaged businesses that won contracts in 2012.

Posted inTom Baxter

In Tennessee boundary dispute, a river of lawyers’ fees

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

Here’s one way to estimate the chances of getting Tennessee to change its mind and give up a thin strip of its existing territory so Georgia can gain access to the water in the Tennessee River.

Right now, the Tennessee legislature is considering a bill that would end party primaries for U.S. Senate nominees, and give the Republican and Democratic legislative delegations the power to choose their respective nominees.

The idea of giving up some of their existing territory for our convenience has so far met with overwhelming resistance in Tennessee. But you figure, if they’re fools enough to go for the idea of giving up the voters’ right to select their U.S. Senate nominees, we just might be able to talk them out of that land without a fight.

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