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Any of y'all enjoy betting? Because I'm pretty confident this Cobb stadium deal is going to fall through and if I'm right I'd be happy to relieve you of some of your money.
Yeah, that's the other side of this story. I live in Cobb, and I'd like to attend the Nov. 26 meeting where this deal will apparently be voted on. Should be a very interesting meeting. Maybe they better move the meeting to the Cobb Energy Center to make room for all the people who will want to attend...
I'm assuming the truth is somewhere between the Saporta article and what the Mayor is saying.
On the surface, yes, we don't like handing out money to billionaires. But, there's also significant losses that will happen. The Braves lease payment, the parking revenue, local jobs, local revenue at bars and restaurants, sales taxes generated from 2-3 million visitors, hotel/motel stays, loss of ridership on Marta, the cost to demo the stadium, the cost to redo the entire area's infrastructure, et al. Is that more or less than the $10mil bond payment it would have cost to keep the Braves? It will take someone smarter than me (and with more time) to figure that out.
Loss of hotel stays...making that new football stadium a lot harder to pay for.
The Mayor is also a very smart man for waiting until after he is elected for this too happen too. Could you picture this news coming out while he was still up for election.
Honestly, if the reason below are true, I think that Reed should have given them what they wanted, especially the bolded areas as they would have been a boost to the neighborhood.
It is actually weird IMO Reed did not push his development authority to at least do something with the parking lots and make a commitment to use his pull/decent relationship with the state to see about putting a MARTA expansion into place at the Ted.
Seeing that list along with hearing what the Braves wanted during their press conference, does not seem like that much to do. Especially in regards to the private/public partnership for mixed use development. There are just soooooooo many options in regards to housing especially and I know, via working in the housing development industry that senior housing in particular is in demand in metro Atlanta and that seniors....I don't want to sound "out there" but in my industry we know....that they are stable income. Give them a good place to live - one with views of a beautiful, historic ball park that has fireworks and put some restaurants and shopping in there and the seniors will never leave and will fund the housing portion and drive retailers into the area.
I hope they will redevelop the area for Summerhill and Grant Park's benefit. I am unsure though. But the improvements wanted by the Braves didn't seem like much and due to the proximity of the Ted to downtown, doing improvements would have been beneficial for the city itself so I don't think that it would have been bankrupting the city in order to get it accomplished. I am not sure if there are any special allocation tax districts with a funding source on that part of town similar to what we have with the Westside TAD, but something like that could have been created, if it is not, years ago in order to boost the neighborhoods in proximity to the Ted and to downtown, portions of which are included in the Westside TAD.
FWIW though I am not a huge Reed supporter. I still think that he, like past administrations are not focused primarily on Atlanta for Atlantans and I think he is a lot of show without much substance. I feel he is doing a decent job but that more can be done with what we already have, especially as they relate to code enforcement and streetscape/sidewalk improvements throughout the city. Instead of fixing all the little things for residents, and little things do add up, we are focusing on stadiums and museums for tourist and suburbanites to come and visit. The Ted by itself is a great venue, but do something for the residents. Reed has been in office now nearly 5 years and even though times have been tough for the past few years, he could have started the ball rolling 2 years ago with development in those parking lots around the ball park but chose not to do so.
The Braves ARE more financially stronger versus the Falcons because of the fact that they have 80+ home games per year. The new football stadium will make money of course from college tournaments/bowls and other events but more than likely, they will not make as much money for the city as the Braves did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seatlien
I'm going to hold on giving out any kudos until the truth becomes more apparent. The city just lost one of its greatest icons and a $100mil/year economic contributor (not to mention, my favorite sports team) - I have a hard time getting excited about that.
Even Maria Saporta, Atlanta's biggest cheerleader, can't put her usual pro-Atlanta spin on this:
When the Atlanta Braves representatives were focused on renewing their lease at Turner Field, their overwhelming desire was to be able to control their own destiny.In short, the Braves would have been happy to stay at Turner Field:
if they had been able to fully control the stadium’s operations;
if they had been able to partner in the redevelopment of the parking lots around the stadium into a mixed-use entertainment- residential complex;
if they had received governmental approvals to develop a privately-funded maglev transit linefrom the Georgia State University MARTA station to Turner Field; and
if the City of Atlanta would have contributed to the maintenance and rejuvenation of Turner Field.
Contrary to some reports after Monday’s announcement, the City of Atlanta would not have had to come up with $450 million to match the public funds that Cobb County officials have offered the Atlanta Braves as part of a $672 million stadium deal near the intersection of I-75 and I-285. For the past couple of years, the Atlanta Braves have been trying to capture the attention of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and his administration. Although they have held discussions, people close to the Atlanta Braves said team officials were frustrated that the city appeared to be much more focused on getting a deal done with the Atlanta Falcons than with the baseball team. The Braves even released a new economic impact study several months ago reinforcing the fact that the Atlanta Braves generated more than $100 million in economic impact a year — twice as much as all the other city’s professional sports (Falcons, Hawks, Dream) combined. - See more at: What it would have taken for Atlanta to keep the Braves at Turner Field | SaportaReport
I really like Saporta, I'm taking this article with a grain of salt. It seems like all her info came straight from the Braves organization.
It may come out later that all this is true, but it doesn't feel that way right now.
Right, that's a good point. It seems, though, that the mayor failed to keep councilmembers in the loop on this. The lack of transparency is a bit disturbing. Usually these lease negotiations between major league teams and local governments are in then news for months (in the case of the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL, for years) before a decision is reached. Of course, the Braves organization was very secretive about this Cobb option. I don't trust them either.
The Mayor is also a very smart man for waiting until after he is elected for this too happen too. Could you picture this news coming out while he was still up for election.
This thing about why it is good for politicians to wait until after an election to disclose things is still baffling to me. I thought the whole idea was for the taxpayers to vote based on whether the politicians are doing what they were put in office to do.
How can they do that if important news is withheld until after the election?
In the video, Mayor Reed states that difference b/t the Falcons and Braves is that there is not a funding mechanism for the Braves. The dome, or GWCC, has a funding mechanism that is dedicated solely to the complex, the hotel / motel tax. Set up by the state legislature, that money can only go to the GWCC complex which includes the Dome, as I understand it.
There is no such funding mechanism for the Braves. The 150to 250 mil would have to come out of a new tax or general fund. That is the difference and it explains everything.
Well, as I understand it the stadium (and the land underneath it) is owned by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority.
The AFRCA is a an entity created by the state of Georgia.
"The Authority is, in part, authorized to: obtain, construct, equip, maintain, and operate sports and recreation facilities; issue revenue bonds or obligations; acquire property, lease, sell and operate facilities."
So why couldn't they have issued some revenue bonds, payable by the Braves and secured by the stadium?
The Fulton County and City of Atlanta development authorities regularly make huge bond issues (totaling hundreds of millions of dollars) for everything from apartment complexes to office towers to private school expansions.
As the FDA says on its website, clients served include
■ ADP, Inc.
■ Boys & Girls Club of America, Inc.
■ Catholic Health East (St. Joseph's Hospital)
■ Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc.
■ First Data
■ Georgia Tech Foundation
■ Invesco
■ Morehouse College
■ Mt. Pisgah Christian Academy
■ Piedmont Healthcare, Inc.
■ Shepherd Center
■ Spelman College
■ The Weber School
■ Turner Broadcasting System
■ Two Alliance Center, LP
■ Two Glenlake, LLC (Newell
Rubbermaid)
■ UPS
■ Woodward Academy
And consider these specific examples from just one month:
‘Billion-Dollar October’ in Bond Inducements
November 11, 2008
The Development Authority of Fulton County (DAFC) in October approved revenue-bond inducement resolutions totaling nearly $800 million for proposed economic development projects in Fulton County.
The Authority’s October resolutions totaled $790 million in proposed capital improvement projects, including $61 million for CP Northplace, LLC for a mixed-use project in north Fulton County; $20 million for Georgia Tech Athletic Association for various athletic facilities in midtown Atlanta; $137.2 million to Spring Street Hospitality Group, LLC for redevelopment of a hotel property in downtown Atlanta; and $567.5 million to BF ATL Realty Services, LLC for a project that includes renovation of portions of Bank of America Plaza in downtown Atlanta.
Well, as I understand it the stadium (and the land underneath it) is owned by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority.
The AFRCA is a an entity created by the state of Georgia.
"The Authority is, in part, authorized to: obtain, construct, equip, maintain, and operate sports and recreation facilities; issue revenue bonds or obligations; acquire property, lease, sell and operate facilities."
So why couldn't they have issued some revenue bonds, payable by the Braves and secured by the stadium?
The Fulton County and City of Atlanta development authorities regularly make huge bond issues (totaling hundreds of millions of dollars) for everything from apartment complexes to office towers to private school expansions.
As the FDA says on its website, clients served include
■ ADP, Inc.
■ Boys & Girls Club of America, Inc.
■ Catholic Health East (St. Joseph's Hospital)
■ Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc.
■ First Data
■ Georgia Tech Foundation
■ Invesco
■ Morehouse College
■ Mt. Pisgah Christian Academy
■ Piedmont Healthcare, Inc.
■ Shepherd Center
■ Spelman College
■ The Weber School
■ Turner Broadcasting System
■ Two Alliance Center, LP
■ Two Glenlake, LLC (Newell
Rubbermaid)
■ UPS
■ Woodward Academy
And consider these specific examples from just one month:
‘Billion-Dollar October’ in Bond Inducements
November 11, 2008
The Development Authority of Fulton County (DAFC) in October approved revenue-bond inducement resolutions totaling nearly $800 million for proposed economic development projects in Fulton County.
The Authority’s October resolutions totaled $790 million in proposed capital improvement projects, including $61 million for CP Northplace, LLC for a mixed-use project in north Fulton County; $20 million for Georgia Tech Athletic Association for various athletic facilities in midtown Atlanta; $137.2 million to Spring Street Hospitality Group, LLC for redevelopment of a hotel property in downtown Atlanta; and $567.5 million to BF ATL Realty Services, LLC for a project that includes renovation of portions of Bank of America Plaza in downtown Atlanta.
From what I understand the Braves didn't want bonds, they wanted COA to directly pay for the stadium upgrade, area revitalization, and mix use however the Braves wanted to collect ALL revenue associated with the stadium. The revenue from parking, ticket sales, event leasing, and any revenue from the real estate surrounding the area. On top of all of that the Braves wanted complete 100% control over the stadium. How is that advantageous for Atlanta?
From what I understand the Braves didn't want bonds,...
Why not use revenue bonds? That's the way it'll likely be handled in Cobb:
[i]f most or all of Cobb’s share of the deal is to be paid for via the hotel/motel tax or via a revenue bond issue by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, Lee likely will find the going easier. Revenue bonds could be paid off with funds generated by the stadium complex, although county taxpayers could still be responsible for making up the difference if stadium or other revenues fall short. It’s the same funding mechanism the Authority used to pay for construction of the $47 million Cobb Galleria Centre convention hall nearly two decades ago.
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