By Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is planning to make an “important economic development announcement” Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. – reportedly to announce the sale of Underground Atlanta, according to people close to City Hall.
The buyer is WRS Inc., a real estate investment firm based in Mount Pleasant, S.C. near Charleston. It is thought that the city has the property under contract for $25.75 million.
By Maria Saporta
A scaled-down 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Summit was held after all.
A group of less than 10 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, joined by other dignitaries, gathered in Rome this past weekend to make sure a 2014 Summit took place.
Atlanta will be hosting the 2015 Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates from Nov. 15 to Nov. 19 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
By Maria Saporta
When her younger brother won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Christine King Farris said he asked some of his friends for money so members of his family could go with him to Oslo, Norway.
“That was how Martin was,” Farris remembered during a program at the Carter Center on Tuesday night – the eve of the 50th anniversary of the day that Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 1964.
By Maria Saporta
Tyler Perry’s plans to build a movie studio complex at Fort McPherson is proceeding after all.
In a dramatic on-again, off-again, on-again week that had all the elements of a staged performance, the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution and a map of the boundaries of the 330 acres that would be owned and controlled by Tyler Perry Studios and the 145 acres that would be owned by MILRA.
By Maria Saporta
Superheroes of Planet Earth – young and seasoned – came together for the Captain Planet Foundation’s Benefit Gala of 2014 — all with a similar theme.
The earth is a special place. Let’s not destroy it.
The most super of the night’s Superheroes was Dr. Jane Goodall.
By Maria Saporta
Journalist Lee May was one of those rare human beings who was universally loved.
Whenever anyone talked about Lee May, a warm glow and a smile inevitably followed. He was an old soul with a kind heart and a contagious spirit of good will.
By Maria Saporta
After more than eight months seeking to buy most of Fort McPherson to redevelop into a major movie production studio, filmmaker Tyler Perry is having second thoughts, according to people close to the situation.
Tyler Perry Studios and the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority (MILFRA) had signed a memo of understanding to have Perry buy 331 acres of the 488-acre former Army base at a cost of about $30 million.
By Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
The price of having the country’s most state-of-the-art football stadium is “rising up” by an estimated $200 million.
The Georgia World Congress Center Authority’s board of governors approved a resolution to raise the cost of the new Atlanta Falcons stadium from $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion.
By Maria Saporta
It’s been quite a year for Valarie Wilson.
Initially Valarie Wilson took a leave of absence from her position as the founding executive director of the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership to run for State School Superintendent.
By Maria Saporta
The private, fund-raising arm for the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership has named Atlanta native Chuck Meadows as its new executive director.
Meadows, who served as vice president of public policy for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, where he worked for seven years until this past August when he became co-founder and president of Jim Adams LLC, an urban agriculture social enterprise. He now will become board chairman of Jim Adams.
By Maria Saporta
With an ample mix of tears and laughter – friends, family and associates said good-bye to Herman J. Russell at a Celebration of Life service at Saint Philip AME Church in DeKalb County for two-and-a-half hours on Saturday.
The church was filled with a Who’s Who of Atlanta and so many people who had felt personally moved or touched by Russell and his family by blood or by business or by human bonds.
By Maria Saporta
Genuine Parts, one of Atlanta’s Fortune 500 companies, will be moving to a new headquarters building at Wildwood Office Park next to its existing Operational Support Facility, according to its CEO Thomas Gallagher.
Genuine Parts, best known for its NAPA stores, has been headquartered at Circle 75 since 1979, but it just so happens that its headquarters is next door to the new Atlanta Braves stadium and development.
By Maria Saporta
Hours after a mysterious executive session of the Invest Atlanta board, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office sent out a release Thursday afternoon naming Craig Richard as the new president and CEO of the economic development agency.
Richard, who was one of three finalists for the post, has served as CEO and president of Greater Louisville Inc., where he developed their strategic plan and coordinated 32 projects that created 3,854 jobs and $571 million in capital investment.
By Maria Saporta
Former Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams is joining the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
Williams, who retired as Atlanta Chamber president at the end of last year after 17 years at the helm, will be involved in helping the university connect with the broader civic and business community. He will start teaching in January.
Update: Herman Russell’s wake will be held. at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Friday, Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22 at St. Philip AME Church at 240 Candler Rd SE.
By Maria Saporta
My personal tribute to Herman Russell.
Nationally prominent business leader Herman J. Russell, 83, passed away Saturday morning after a brief illness.
By Maria Saporta
As a crowd of 500 people gathered for the ground-breaking of the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail – a three-mile corridor that has received $43 million and will take two years to build.
While giving the invocation, Gerald Durley, pastor emeritus of Providence Baptist Church, summed up the sentiment of many in the audience.
By Maria Saporta
A collaboration of several architectural and design groups will seek to preserve the archives of Atlanta’s built environment.
The Architecture and Design Center is teaming up with Georgia and Atlanta chapters of the American Institute of Architects as well as Georgia Tech to initiate the Regional Archive Program.
By Maria Saporta
After a tumultuous period for the Atlanta-based company, Aaron’s Inc. has named a new CEO — John W. Robinson III.
Aaron’s, a lease-to-own retailer specializing in the sales and leasing of furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, had been searching for a CEO since the retirement of Ronald W. Allen in August after he lost confidence of major shareholders and board members because of poor financial results.
By Maria Saporta
Support for transit in metro Atlanta is strong and getting stronger – plus that support exists in each of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s 10 metro counties.
That was one of the major findings in ARC’s second annual Metro Atlanta Speaks public opinion poll released Friday at its State of the Region breakfast.
By Maria Saporta
As the votes in Clayton County began flowing like a landslide in MARTA’s favor Tuesday night, Dr. Lawanda Falami could hardly contain her excitement.
“No more Mama pool for me,” said Falami, who has lived in Clayton County for 40 years. She proceeded to put her hand up in the air to high five anyone who would high five her back.
Clayton County, south of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, has been without transit ever since 2010 when the economically-challenged county decided to no longer subsidize its C-Tran bus service.
