By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 21, 2015
Zoo Atlanta continues to get help from its friends.
It has just received a $1 million gift from the Georgia Power Foundation as part of the $20 million capital campaign called “A Grand New View: Elephants, Events and Expansion.”
That brings the total fundraising so far to $6 million, according to Raymond King, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed pledged to do all he could to preserve the historic Gaines Hall on the Morris Brown campus.
Gaines Hall, which was built in 1869 and was one of the original buildings in the Atlanta University campus, caught on fire last Thursday evening. Gaines Hall currently is owned by Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency which acquired the building earlier this year as part of the Morris Brown College property sale.
Mercedes Benz and the AMB Sports & Entertainment (owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United) announced a 27-year naming rights agreement Monday morning.
But neither side disclosed the dollar value of the deal – which will extend through 2042 – two years between now and when the stadium opens in 2017 plus 25 years.
Atlanta’s two largest utilities – the Southern Co. and AGL Resources – are becoming one.
Southern Co. announced Monday morning that it is acquiring AGL Resources in a $12 billion transaction – one that will create a leading electric and gas utility in the nation.
Manuel’s Tavern could be surrounded by an array of homes, shops and offices if the Atlanta City Council approves the first step in a rezoning process that is to get its first hearing Tuesday at the council’s Community Development Committee.
Original Story on WABE by Maria Saporta When it comes to the environment, it’s not often for Atlanta to have bragging rights. But when it comes to the Better Buildings Challenge — a national program to promote energy efficiency — Atlanta ranks No. 1. Atlanta has outpaced all its other competitors when it comes to […]
Georgia’s population of Northern Bobwhite Quail has declined by 90 percent since 1966, and the state has won national recognition for a program to promote the bird’s recovery – and to stabilize the $125 million quail-hunting industry clustered around Albany.
Gaines Hall – one of the most significant historic buildings in Atlanta – must be saved.
That is the “rallying cry” from two leading preservationists about the 1869 vacant dormitory on the Morris Brown campus that went up in flames Thursday night.
Mark McDonald, president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation; and Sheffield Hale, president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center; went together to see Gaines Hall on Friday to see for themselves the extent of the damage.
Proximity to a charter school increases home values in three metro Atlanta school districts, according to a new report released by Georgia State University.
A calm and composed President Jimmy Carter faced the media Thursday morning to update the world about his cancer and answer as many questions as he could.
The briefing attracted an onslaught of national and local media attention – probably more than the Carter Center has seen in decades – despite all the significant initiatives that the former president has launched from his base in Atlanta.
Thanks to several new partners, the City of Atlanta’s Better Buildings Challenge has passed a milestone – 100 million square feet.
That means owners of buildings totaling 100 million square feet have agreed to reduce energy and water consumption by 20 percent by 2020 – using 2010 as a baseline.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 14, 2015
Several Atlanta public health organizations are leading an effort sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to curb infant mortality around the world.
Gates is funding the initiative – Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) – with a $75 million grant for the first three years. The intention is for the program to be in place for 20 years. As it steps up its operations around the world, it is estimated that it could cost about $50 million a year. That would total $1 billion – as large a gift as the Gates have ever made.
Original Story on WABE by Maria Saporta
What a week for the Coca-Cola Company! First, Coca-Cola Enterprises announced a merger that will lead to Atlanta having one less Fortune 500 company but would make the company the largest independent bottler of Coca-Cola’s products. Then the Coca-Cola company announced a new president and COO, a […]
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 14, 2015
Ever since the formation of the “new” Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. in 2010, a lingering question has been whether the company would keep its headquarters in Atlanta. Despite all of CCE’s bottling business now being based Europe, CEO John Brock has insisted that keeping the headquarters in Atlanta made sense.
Until now.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 7, 2015
Back in January 1991, when then-Delta Air Lines CEO Ron Allen was named to the board of The Coca-Cola Co., it provided a closer link between two signature Atlanta companies.
Now Delta has made a similar move. The airline announced July 24 that Kathy N. Waller, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Coca-Cola, is joining its board.
Starting in spring 2016, every GRTA Xpress bus route will be affected by an overhaul of bus routes that’s intended to increase bus ridership.
By Maria Saporta and Douglas Sams
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 7, 2015
State economic development officials have made their pitch to General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) to relocate its Connecticut headquarters to Atlanta.
The meeting with General Electric took place the week of July 27 in Fairfield, Conn. and involved the company’s committee investigating its options to relocate, Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned from sources familiar with the discussions.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has said Atlanta will condemn a homeless shelter located at the corner of Peachtree and Pine streets because controversy has lingered, “too long.” Meanwhile, the Obama administration has filed a brief in a federal lawsuit in favor of the rights of homeless persons.
The Coca-Cola Co. Thursday named James Quincey, president of its Europe Group who has spent 19 years with the soft-drink company, as its new president and chief operating officer.
“We haven’t had a president since 2007,” Coca-Cola’s Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said in a media conference call Thursday morning. “It’s great to have someone of James’ caliber to take over.”
But Kent stopped short of naming Quincey the heir apparent of the company.
Three higher ed campuses in Georgia rank among the greenest schools in the nation, according to the ninth annual rankings of colleges and universities released Tuesday by Sierra magazine.
