Articles by Maria Saporta
South Carolina real estate company WRS Inc. has until the end of January to close on the sale of Underground Atlanta.
If the deal isn’t complete by the end of the month it will be time for the city to move on, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in a phone interview on Wednesday. The sale is delayed because of new title and easement issues related to the abandonment of streets.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 30, 2016
After decades of feeling burned by the false promise of new development, Turner Field community leaders have reason to be wary.
This time could be different.
With the sale of the Atlanta Braves’ former ballpark underway, community members say they are forging a closer relationship with the biggest players behind Turner Field’s planned redevelopment, Georgia State University and Atlanta developer Carter.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 16, 2016
A collaboration among Atlanta’s four regional organizations – Learn4Life – is going where no other group has gone in the region.
It is working with the eight school systems in the five-county region to figure how to have the most strategic impact on the educational outcomes among the region’s students.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 16, 2016
For Greg Block, finding jobs for the homeless has become the fight of his life — literally.
Block, 50, started First Step Staffing, a nonprofit employment agency, in 2006. After a career running businesses and a four-year stint with the CIA, Block wanted to dedicate himself to making life better for the least among us.
“When I first started First Step, I wanted to figure out how can you connect homeless men and women with income and get them out of homelessness,” Block said in a recent interview. The question he sought to answer was how one could build a sustainable organization that could fund itself through business revenue.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on De. 9, 2016
The highly influential Atlanta Committee for Progress has a new chairman – John Dyer, president and CEO of Cox Enterprises and a 38-year veteran of the privately-held company.
Dyer is succeeding Paul Bowers, president and CEO of the Georgia Power Co., who chaired his last ACP meeting on Dec. 1.
The organization, which includes many of the top business leaders in metro Atlanta, was formed to serve as a high-powered kitchen cabinet for former Mayor Shirley Franklin, and the ACP was embraced by Mayor Kasim Reed during his administration.
The Task Force for Global Health, now on a side street in downtown Decatur, has bought a signature building on W. Ponce de Leon Avenue from DeKalb County for $12 million..
The purchase of the building in downtown Decatyre, which closed Thursday, was made possible by a recent $10 million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and a $2 million gift from the Conrad Hilton Foundation.
For her 80th birthday celebration, Billye Aaron is continuing a tradition she started several years ago. In lieu of birthday presents, Billye Aaron is asking her guests to donate to her UNCF (United Negro College Fund) scholarship fund.
And her guests have responded. They have met her goal of $1 million in time for the UNCF Mayor’s Masked Ball, the annual fundraising gala. It will be held on Saturday, Dec. 17 at the Marriott Marquis beginning at 6:30 p.m.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on De. 9, 2016
The YMCA of Metro Atlanta, the oldest nonprofit in Atlanta, will be establishing its new home on the Westside about one block west of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The YMCA, founded in 1858, has been located in the Robert W. Woodruff Volunteer Center (also known as the United Way building) for more than 40 years. United Way of Greater Atlanta has decided to sell the office tower, which has led to its tenants needing to find new quarters.
The YMCA of Metro Atlanta, the oldest nonprofit in the city, is leaving its home of more than 40 years in downtown Atlanta to go to the Westside. It is buying Jordan Hall with plans to demolish the building to build a Leadership and Learning Center that will offer early learning opportunities to Vine City.
The news that Coca-Cola Co. CEO Muhtar Kent would be succeeded by President James Quincey on May 1 received the endorsement of a former CEO.
Neville Isdell served as Coca-Cola’s CEO from June 2004 through July 2008, when Kent took over the top job.
“It’s been a well-managed transition,” Isdell said. “James has been very successful at everything he has been asked to do. We wouldn’t have hired him if we didn’t think he had the skill set, and he’s demonstrated that in every job he’s been in.”
Police Chief George Turner will be retiring from his post at the end of the year – after spending 35 years with the Atlanta Police Department.
The news was met with sadness from the business-led Atlanta Police Foundation, the organization that has worked closely with Turner since he was made police chief in 2010.
Two tenacious women from Georgia have been selected for the prestigious 2017 Horatio Alger Award – Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine; and Marcia Taylor, CEO of Bennett International who also is a philanthropist.
The Horatio Alger Association honors leaders who have overcome significant adversities to attain personal and professional success.
Update: The plan was approved by the Atlanta City Council in a 10-4 vote.
The Atlanta City Council today will hear a proposal to turn several streets in and around Underground Atlanta into private property.
Over the weekend, several concerned citizens and community activists wrote about the proposed legislation, which has not been introduced through the normal committee structure where they would be fully vetted.
The Covenant House, a refuge for homeless youth, holds a unique fundraiser every year.
It invites community leaders to sleep outdoors so they can get a taste of what it’s like to be homeless. The fifth annual “Sleep Out” happened Nov. 17, when a hundred Atlanta leaders slept outdoors on the campus in Northwest Atlanta.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Nov. 25, 2016
The Metro Atlanta Chamber, which will hold its 157th annual meeting Nov. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, is unveiling its new strategic pillars as well as its 2017 leaders.
Jeff Sprecher, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), will succeed SunTrust Banks executive Jenner Wood, who served as the 2016 MAC chairman.
Despite speculation to the contrary, the city of Atlanta will host the Peach Drop to ring in 2017.
The traditional New Year’s Eve celebration for 2017 was in doubt because the city is in the process of selling Underground Atlanta to South Carolina-based developer WRS Inc.
But Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the city has decided to put off the closing of the Underground sale for a few days so it can host the Peach Drop.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has named Deputy Police Chief Erika Shields as the city’s next police chief.
The announcement was made Thursday morning at City Hall as the mayor thanked Police Chief George Turner, who announced Wednesday his plan to retire at the end of the year after 35 years with the department.
The news that Atlanta Police Chief George Turner is retiring from his post at the end of the year generated a disappointed buzz in the business community.
Dave Wilkinson, president and CEO of the Atlanta Police Foundation, said his phone had been ringing all afternoon with calls from business leaders upset that Turner would no longer be leading the force.
By Maria Saporta The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is on an accelerated construction schedule so it can open on time, but no one is ready to share the actual date of when it will open. Stadium builders and developers presented a progress report Monday morning to the Development Committee of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, and […]
The death of Cuba’s longtime leader Fidel Castro last week will not impact Delta Air Lines’ plans to inaugurate service from Atlanta to Havana on Dec. 1, according to Ed Bastian, the airline’s CEO.
“Nothing has changed,” said Bastian, who called the Cuban market “fascinating” for the long term. He added the U.S. government is allowing flights into the island before many of the trade restrictions have been lifted, which will make the business model it a bit of a challenge.
