Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced Wednesday that the city would be transferring the title of the Adair School property to the Atlanta Board of Education.
He said he was agreeing to transfer the title because APS had just adopted an affordable housing policy that mirrors the city’s policy.
Atlanta’s new police chief – Erika Shields – was welcomed by the city’s business and civic leaders on Tuesday evening at the Commerce Club.
The reception, hosted by the Atlanta Committee for Progress and the Atlanta Police Foundation, drew nearly 300 people who witnessed a re-enactment of the swearing-in of the new police chief.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Jan.6, 2017
For four years, South Carolina-based WRS Realty has been pursuing a deal to buy Underground Atlanta – becoming the sole bidder to buy the property from the City of Atlanta.
But now, WRS has until the end of January to close on the sale of Underground, a transaction that has been delayed several times because of the complexities involved in the deal.
One of the quiet heroes of the Civil Rights movement – Dr. Leslie W. Dunbar – passed away Jan. 4, just three weeks shy of his 96th birthday.
Dunbar, a political science professor at Emory University professor until 1951, when he joined the Atomic Energy Commission as chief of community affairs.
By Maria Saporta As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 30, 2016 The Task Force for Global Health, based in downtown Decatur, is the second-largest nonprofit in the United States, according to Forbes Magazine’s 2016 list of the largest U.S. charities. The Task Force ranked second only to United Way Worldwide, which had […]
The sale of Turner Field to Georgia State University and Carter closed today – one of the most visible transactions during Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration.
Georgia State,, along with the Carter, Oakwood Development and Healey Weatherholtz joint venture, plan to build a mix of housing, retail, and athletic and academic space on the 68-acre site. Georgia State plans to convert Turner Field into a new home Panthers football.
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.
