Home » Atlanta Falcons stadium » Page 3

Tag: Atlanta Falcons stadium
Posted inDavid Pendered

Stadium deal: Clock ticks as city, neighborhoods deal on jobs, public safety, other community benefits

by David Pendered

To get a sense of the complexity of providing assistance to neighborhoods near the future Falcons stadium, consider the case of just one house built under a benefits program created when the Georgia Dome was built.

The house at 221 Maple St. was built with a $79,000 construction loan from the $8 million Vine City Trust Fund. Vine City Housing Ministry, Inc. sold the house in 2002 for $118,000. Today the house is valued by Fulton County at $28,900 and the trust fund is owed just over $59,000 of the $76,100 in mortgage financing it provided the buyer, according to records of Invest Atlanta and Fulton County’s tax assessor.

Multiply this type of dynamic across multiple issues – job creation, environmental mitigation, public health and safety, historic preservation, and green space – and the task of finalizing a community benefits deal in the next four weeks of September takes on a whole new perspective.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Clues of interest rate on Falcons stadium bonds may come from another Atlanta bond sale Tuesday

by David Pendered

Atlanta is scheduled to sell more than $550 million in revenue bonds Tuesday in order to refinance existing water and sewer bonds, according to bondbuyer.com.

The refund itself appears unexceptional, though the sale may have prompted credit rating agencies to review – and improve the rating on – Atlanta’s $3.1 billion in outstanding wastewater system revenue bonds.

However, the sale planned for Tuesday does offer a window into the current state of municipal debt at a time Atlanta prepares to sell $200 million in bonds for a new Falcons stadium. Atlanta will be selling into a volatile market in which buyers demand increasingly high interest rates for bonds maturing in more than 10 years, according to an Aug. 8 report by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management:

Posted inDavid Pendered

Uncle Sam joins fight against blight in Falcons stadium neighborhoods

by David Pendered

Beleaguered neighborhoods near the future Atlanta Falcons stadium have received a tremendous promise of help from the federal government.

The same program that was recently expanded to these neighborhoods is credited in cities across the country with helping create amenities including a river walk, a new waterfront greenway, fast-track studies for slow-moving projects, and job-training programs for construction trades.

These are just a few examples of the benefits that have developed since 2011 in areas that are in the federal Urban Waters Federal Partnership. Atlanta’s Proctor Creek basin, which includes the stadium neighborhoods, was added May 17 to the water partnership.

Posted inDavid Pendered

With stadium deal approved, GWCC seeks new lobbyist for state, local affairs – especially Atlanta City Hall

by David Pendered

Now that Atlanta has approved public funding for the Falcons stadium, the Georgia World Congress Center is hiring a new lobbyist at a salary that could exceed $100,000 a year.

The GWCC was sidelined during the final financial negotiations for public funding for the $1 billion stadium. Gov. Nathan Deal decided against asking the Legislature to get involved in the tax issue and asked Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to broker a deal with the Falcons.

Frank Poe, the GWCC’s executive director, told ESPN.com on the day the preliminary deal was announced, March 7, that he was not aware of the financial agreement until, “the last 24 hours.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Falcons stadium: An uphill fight to right a community beset by wrongs

by David Pendered

“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

That sentence, popularized by President Reagan, could well sum up the first challenge facing the effort to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods around the future Falcons stadium.

From the 2006 shooting death of Kathryn Johnston by Atlanta police during a botched drug raid, to the cheating scandal that touched Bethune Elementary School, to recurrent flooding problems – the neighborhoods of English Avenue and Vine City have seen plenty of efforts to help them either go no where or go awry.

Neighborhood residents have their own share of problems, as well.

Posted inDavid Pendered

A relation between stadium deal and stalled MARTA bill? Who’s to say

by David Pendered

There may be no relation whatsoever, but the plan to build a new Falcons stadium is moving forward and the proposed legislation to restructure MARTA and privatize some of its operations appears to be fading for the 2013 session.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration delivered a final deal within two months after receiving a troubled proposal from Gov. Nathan Deal. Reed’s team provided the $200 million in construction financing, plus somewhere around $100 million in public/private funds to fix up the area around the future stadium.

Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven) indicated Tuesday that he’s done about all he can to sweeten his team’s proposal to reorganize MARTA. Jacobs has offered to eliminate the privatization provision in House Bill 264 and to resolve in MARTA’s favor all but one concern MARTA has raised. Still, the bill is stalled in the Senate.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta City Council passes stadium deal; two approvals down, one to go

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta and Dave Williams

Despite pleas from constituents to slow down the train, the Atlanta City Council voted Monday evening 11 to 4 to approve a funding plan for a new $1 billion football stadium in downtown Atlanta.

The City Council vote, which did not go through the normal multi-week committee process, was pushed through on a super fast track on Monday after a six-hour meeting of the whole council.

That approval followed Friday’s unanimous vote by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority that endorsed the new retractable roof stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. Only one more governmental body is needed to approve the deal — the board of Invest Atlanta.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Revive communities by designing new Falcons stadium on a human scale

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Part Two: A new football stadium and the surrounding communities

If the first time you don’t succeed, try again.

When the Georgia Dome was developed 23 years ago, setting aside $10 million for the adjacent community — including an $8 million housing trust fund — was seen as a way to address the area’s multiple problems.

But two decades later, the situation has only gotten worse. Population has declined from about 9,000 to 3,000. Nearby blocks that used to be filled with homes are now boarded up or vacant lots, some victims of flooding that could have been caused by run-offs from downtown developments including the convention center and the Georgia Dome.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Stadium deal: A briar patch with free tickets, wary partners, hardened blight

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council really doesn’t want to be thrown into the briar patch when it comes to its role in the deal for a new Falcons stadium.

As council members realized Thursday, they have no choice but to find a way through the thorny thicket of a deal that they inherited this year from the Georgia Legislature. Their meeting was scheduled for two hours and it lasted five and a half.

A lot of fur went flying. Such as – Why is Invest Atlanta slated to receive free tickets to events in the new stadium when other city entities are barred from accepting such items by Atlanta’s ethics rules?

Posted inMaria's Metro

To the rescue — City of Atlanta carries the ball for new Falcons stadium

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Part One: The politics of the new Atlanta Falcons stadium deal

Once again, the City of Atlanta is leading the way.

The tentative agreement reached between the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Falcons holds great significance — far beyond the building of a new home for one of the state’s top professional sports teams.

The agreement is yet one more example that without Atlanta’s leadership, Georgia would have been stuck in reverse.

There are too many examples to name.

But here are a few. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, arguably the most important economic engine for the whole state, was and is a creature of the City of Atlanta.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Tech’s study of Northside Drive could guide improvements in communities near planned Falcons stadium

by David Pendered

The pending deal for a new Falcons stadium on Northside Drive ensures the road will be a busy corridor for years to come.

As that deal comes together, Georgia Tech graduate students are putting the finishing touches on recommendations that intend to transform Northside Drive into a grand transit boulevard. Tech’s study is to be complete in May.

One goal of Tech’s study is to improve east-west connectivity, from Midtown and Downtown into some forgotten neighborhoods to the west of Northside Drive. The study also calls for improving north-south connectivity to provide a strong spine for future development and mobility that will solidify Atlanta’s core center.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Stadium deal offers Atlanta biggest opportunity since airport concessions contracts to shape social policy

by David Pendered

Atlanta’s role in funding the proposed Falcons stadium provides Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council with their biggest opportunity since the airport concessions contracts to shape social objectives through public investments.

With the city’s airport contracts, the city strongly encouraged joint ventures and required a minimum of 36 percent of contracts be awarded to disadvantaged businesses. In another example of tightly drawn requirements, a group of restaurant contracts required specific types of food to be served – food unique to the American South.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s new workforce law among possible community agreements to be addressed by city, Falcons

by David Pendered

A central question facing the Atlanta City Council is how to harness the city’s influence in the proposed deal to help pay for the planned Falcons stadium.

Just this month, the city enacted a new law that seems to require the stadium’s builders to hire a certain proportion of disadvantaged and underemployed residents. Falcons President Rich McKay said the team is committed to such social objectives – and that they will be addressed.

In addition, some on the council want the new stadium to address blight in nearby neighborhoods, specifically along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. However, Councilmember Michael Julian Bond noted that the project can’t be a panacea for, “every social ill under the sun.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta Council looks for ways stadium deal could be required to help residents, nearby neighborhoods

by David Pendered

In about three weeks, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s staff expects to deliver to the city council the meat of the legislation that will enable the city council to vote to help fund a new Falcons stadium.

Given the level of support for the new stadium voiced by several councilmembers, its evident some of them will spend the next three weeks figuring out how to ensure that community benefits agreements are created to help city residents and the neighborhoods around. Such concerns were a major issue at the council’s four-hour work session Wednesday.

Falcons President and CEO Rich McKay assured the council several times that team owner Arthur Blank is committed to being a good civic partner. McKay emphasized that Penny McPhee, president of the Blank Foundation, will oversee that outreach effort.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta City Council set to grill stadium advocates on why city should help finance it by extending hotel tax

by David Pendered

Advocates of a new football stadium are to get a chance Wednesday to try to convince members of the Atlanta City Council that the city should help build a new facility.

The work session, set for 11:30 a.m., will be the first real opportunity for councilmembers to engage the advocates. Councilmembers already have raised questions about how neighborhoods around the stadium could benefit from its construction and operation.

Without the council’s support, Atlanta’s development authority likely won’t be able to borrow enough money to help build the stadium. No funding source other than the city’s hotel/motel tax has been publicly identified to fill the gap between what the NFL and Falcons are willing to pay, and the actual cost of construction.

Posted inLatest News

Kasim Reed: Building new stadium is right decision at right time for Atlanta

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

At his fourth annual State of the City Business Breakfast, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said building a new $1 billion stadium for the Atlanta Falcons is today’s defining decision for the city.

Reed introduced his challenge to city leaders by providing a list of defining decisions for Atlanta over the decades.

Mayor William Hartsfield made the right decision at the right time when he gave a favorable lease to Delta Air Lines.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s role in stadium may become clearer Wednesday; council’s role suggests use of Westside TAD

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council is to receive its first official briefing on the proposed deal to build a new Falcons stadium Wednesday at a meeting of its Finance Committee.

The presentation may reveal the city’s possible role in providing at least $100 million in financing for the planned stadium. Representatives of the mayor’s office, Falcons, and Georgia World Congress Center Authority, are expected to discuss topics including the authority and the hotel/motel tax.

One reason the council may be asked to vote on the stadium deal is to approve any financing that Mayor Kasim Reed may suggest be provided to develop the stadium or the surrounding area through the city’s Westside Tax Allocation District – which had a reported fund balance of $95 million in 2011. The city’s other, more likely, sources of major stadium funding are not typically overseen by the council.

Posted inMaria's Metro

City of Atlanta in pivotal position to benefit from new Falcons stadium deal

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

The City of Atlanta has now become the center of gravity for a new deal on a proposed stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.

The city government was put in that position because state elected officials chose to bypass voting to raise the bonding capacity of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) because they were concerned about a possible political backlash.

Consider this statement Gov. Nathan Deal shared with me on Jan. 25: “I have tried my best to relieve the members of the General Assembly from difficult decisions that they have to make that have political consequences.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s role in stadium bond deal may involve Downtown Development Authority, a wing of Invest Atlanta

by David Pendered

The city of Atlanta has at least four entities that could sell bonds to help finance construction of a new Atlanta Falcon’s stadium. The Atlanta Downtown Development Authority stands out as a likely candidate.

The DDA is beholden only to Atlanta City Hall – Mayor Kasim Reed chairs the DDA’s board, and he supports the new stadium; City Hall appoints or confirms the board members. State law sets no limit on the amount of bonds any DDA can issue.

The next Atlanta DDA board meeting is set for Feb. 21, if the board keeps to its routine schedule. Should the DDA be the chosen vehicle, this date would allow Atlanta to keep its proposed end of the project moving apace – which is in keeping with Gov. Nathan Deal’s approach to this year’s legislative session.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Despite lower bonding limits, new Atlanta Falcons stadium would receive same amount of hotel-motel taxes

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

It’s time to set the record straight.

Reducing the bonding capacity on the proposed $1 billion Atlanta Falcons stadium from $300 million to $200 million will not impact the amount of taxes that will be invested in the project.

The amount of hotel-motel taxes that would be invested in the project was determined nearly three years ago when the General Assembly agreed to extend the hotel-motel tax collected in the City of Atlanta and in unincorporated Fulton County.

Gift this article