By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, August 16, 2013
Two veteran Atlanta search consultants have been selected to handle the effort to find the next superintendent for the Atlanta Public Schools.
Sam Pettway, founder of BoardWalk Consulting LLC, and Veronica Biggins, an Atlanta-based managing director of Philadelphia’s Diversified Search, were selected unanimously by the Atlanta Board of Education at its meeting late Aug. 12.
By Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed held a press briefing late Friday afternoon to announce that Mount Vernon Baptist Church would sell its property for $15.5 million instead of the $20.3 million that it has been asking.
The Georgia World Congress Center has said that the most it could offer, because of state law regarding the acquisition of property, is $6.2 million.
Mount Vernon is one of two churches that would need to be acquired for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium to be built on the site south of the Georgia Dome.
By Maria Saporta
Georgia and Atlanta leaders welcomed what they hope will be their next Fortune 500 company headquarters to Atlanta Thursday morning.
Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed Richard Dugas Jr., the chairman, president and CEO of PulteGroup, to Atlanta at the location of its new headquarters a year from now.
PulteGroup is moving its corporate headquarters from Bloomfield Hills, Mi. in the Detroit area to the Capital City Plaza building right next to the MARTA Buckhead station.
The PulteGroup’s ranking in the 2013 Fortune 1000 list? No. 501. Oh so close.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, August 9, 2013
Park Pride, the nonprofit advocacy organization that seeks to expand and improve green space in Atlanta, has named a new executive director — Michael Halicki.
Halicki has served as chief operating officer of the Southface Energy Institute for nearly three years and has been involved in the Atlanta environmental community for more than 15 years.
By Maria Saporta
Even Bill Shipp was amazed by the folks who showed up for his 80th birthday party at Vinings Bank on Tuesday.
There were former governors — Carl Sanders, Zell Miller, Joe Frank Harris and Roy Barnes. There was former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, and current Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens.
There were university presidents — Dan Papp of Kennesaw State, and former presidents — Betty Siegel, also of Kennesaw. There was former UGA football coach Vince Dooley. DeKalb Schools chief Michael Thurmond. There were bank CEOs — Kessel Stelling of Synovus as well as executives from Vinings Bank.
By Maria Saporta
Mount Vernon Baptist Church received the support of two Atlanta mayors Tuesday night as it weighs its option on whether to make way for a new Falcons stadium.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young met with Rev. Rodney K. Turner and members of his congregation to talk about the status of negotiations with the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
“We are all committed to continuing the ministry of this church in this community,” Young said after the meeting. “The mayor (Reed) made a commitment to work with them to continue their ministry at an improved site and circumstances.”
By Maria Saporta
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has been in his job for less than 40 days, and it’s no accident that one of his first stops in his new role was a trip to Atlanta on Monday.
Foxx, the former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., was a keynote speaker at the 2013 Legislative Summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures at the Georgia World Congress Center Monday morning.
But Foxx then went to a private “roundtable” meeting at the Metro Atlanta Chamber with 33 business, civic and transportation leaders from metro Atlanta and Georgia. The meeting lasted for more than an hour.
By Maria Saporta
The decision to build a new football stadium on the north or south site is heading down parallel tracks this week.
The Georgia World Congress Center and the City of Atlanta will be meeting to talk about the situation with Mount Vernon Baptist Church, which would have to be acquired for the stadium to be built on the south site.
The state and the church, according to the latest reported offers, are $14 million apart. The state had offered Mount Vernon $6.2 million while the church was asking for $20.3 million. Mount Vernon will be holding a family meeting to discuss the situation among themselves on Aug. 13.
How does one spark a new tradition? Have a former Nobel Peace Prize winning President and the daughter of a Nobel Peace Prize winning civil rights leader invite you to Sunday Supper.
Former President Jimmy Carter and Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, invited several dozen civic leaders to the Carter Presidential Center as a kick-off event for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The actual anniversary will be Aug. 28.
The event also gave a public boost to the Sunday Supper movement — an effort being launched by Points of Light, with support from Target, to get people of diverse backgrounds to come together around the dinner table to exchange ideas.
By Maria Saporta
It was a day of pride for the three Morton brothers.
On Saturday morning, the City of Atlanta officially dedicated a 1.2 mile multiuse path in Southwest Atlanta just blocks away from where they grew up — a trail that meanders through one of Atlanta’s few remaining forests and a trail that eventually will connect to the Atlanta BeltLine.
“We are standing on the shoulders of our parents who fought to save this forest,” said Bruce Morton, a leading citizen environmentalist who learned to value nature when he was growing up and spending time playing in the forest and the creek.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, August 2, 2013
Maybe the third time will be the charm.
The Georgia State Properties Commission is putting the historic Olympia building at Five Points up for bid — again.
The bids for the triangular two-story building in the heart of downtown must be submitted by 2 p.m. on Aug. 20, and the process is a request for qualifications — giving the state some leeway in deciding who might end up being the new owner of the building.
By Amy Wenk and Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 2, 2013
An Atlanta company intends to fuel the franchise growth of a Georgia pizza chain.
Private equity firm Georgia Oak Partners LLC has announced it will make a “significant” investment in Your Pie, a fast-casual concept out of Athens that lets pizza lovers customize everything that goes on their personal pies, from the dough to the cheese.
By Maria Saporta
In an attempt to revive the south site as the preferred option for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced Tuesday that the city has reached a deal to buy Friendship Baptist Church for $19.5 million.
“I believe the south site is the right long-term vision,” Reed said about his dedication to making the south site work. “It has two MARTA stations. It is close to the convention center. There would be less traffic and less congestion. And it would not have as great a mitigating impact on the neighborhoods.”
By Maria Saporta
The City of Atlanta sent out a media advisory Monday afternoon saying that Mayor Kasim Reed will make an announcement regarding the new Falcons stadium.
The speculation is that the press conference will announce that a deal has been reached between the City of Atlanta and Friendship Baptist Church, one of two churches that would have to be acquired for the stadium to be located on a site south of the Georgia Dome.
But the question is whether such a deal would be too little too late.
Over the past couple of weeks, the proposed football stadium development has taken several twists and turns as negotiations to acquire property south of the Georgia Dome has stalled.
By Maria Saporta
Martin Luther King III was only five years old when his father led the March on Washington and delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech — 50 years ago this month.
Now King’s own daughter, Yolanda, is five years old — and he has dedicated his book — My Daddy — a children’s book about his memories of growing up with Martin Luther King Jr. — to her.
The book is being released on Aug. 6, just in time for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the March on Washington.
The symmetry among the generations is powerful. Yolanda is named after King III’s older sister, who passed away in May, 2007 when she was only 51. Her namesake is the only grandchild of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, who passed away in January, 2006.
By Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 2, 2013
The Atlanta Braves have an annual economic impact of more than $100 million — paying $8.6 million in state and local taxes each year.
That’s according to a new study that measures the team’s contribution to the Georgia economy. The findings are being released just as the Braves begin efforts to renegotiate their lease of Turner Field. The current lease expires Dec. 31, 2016.
By Maria Saporta
Two Atlanta legends passed away in the last 10 days — architect Cecil Alexander and business leader and philanthropist Charles West.
Much has been written about Alexander’s contributions to Atlanta and its skyline. And a heartfelt memorial service was held for Alexander at the Temple this past Friday (more on that later).
But little has been written about Charles B. West, who also had a profound impact on the building of Atlanta as well as the nurturing of its heart and mind.
West was 92 when he passed away on July 26. One of the West’s greatest contributions was being the founding force behind Skyland Trail in Atlanta, today one of the nation’s leading institutions providing treatment, hope and rehabilitation for the mentally ill.
By Maria Saporta
The proposed $20 million deal by FD LLC to save Morris Brown College, buy some of its property and settle its debt has run into several obstacles, but attorneys for the college Thursday morning asked for more time to resurrect the deal.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Ellis-Monro agreed to give the Morris Brown group two extra weeks to put together an alternative proposal. The Morris Brown group legally has the exclusive rights to put together a deal on the property through Aug. 26.
“Some of the terms from the buyer that we thought had been (settled) were unable to go forward with the bondholder side of the transaction,” said Anne Aaronson, an attorney with Philadelphia-based Dilworth Paxson, which is representing Morris Brown.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, July 26, 2013
As Junior Achievement of Georgia prepares to unveil the Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center — a novel financial literacy experience for middle school students — it has several reasons to celebrate.
It raised more than $15 million for the Discovery Center, which is being constructed on the mezzanine level of the Georgia World Congress Center’s Building C. It will include two interactive venues — JA BizTown and JA Finance Park — as well as the Delta Career Exploration Center, that will feature career opportunities and jobs of the future.
By Maria Saporta
The Atlanta Falcons issued a letter to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority Tuesday declaring that the south site is not a feasible location for a new football stadium “at this time.”
The letter mentioned several reasons including the fact that Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Friendship Baptist Church and other necessary parcels on the south site had not yet been acquired and the fact that they had been unable to complete environmental and other required testing on those properties.
For those reasons, the Falcons and GWCCA decided Tuesday that the $1 billion stadium would be built on the north site, about a half mile away, at the corner of Northside Drive and Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard. The south site is located next to the Georgia Dome at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Northside Drive.
