Braves' Bridge Chances Dim (Atlanta: lawyers, neighborhood, buying)

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by DirkMcGirt

The Braves have decided to tank this season and next in order to try to build excitement toward a young, improved team in 2017. No one wants to go to Turner Field anyway in that part of town, so no big loss for the fans. Things will be improved by the time the are playing in a nice part of town in a great new stadium.

What a massive FU to every Braves season ticket holder... I'd definitely be super-excited to buy seats in the new stadium after two years of being expected to pay for a product no one, even the owners, thinks is any good.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by jsvh

No Bridging the Difference?

I do not understand why Tim Lee & Co. want to build a bridge that would remove such prime parking. It's 2015--how freakin' hard is it to design a bridge despite all the land-use constraints? This is a pedestrian bridge; it can turn 90 degrees as needed, you know.

[demonta4]

Another great planning decision from yours truly.

[DirkMcGirt]

Originally Posted by magnetar

What a massive FU to every Braves season ticket holder... I'd definitely be super-excited to buy seats in the new stadium after two years of being expected to pay for a product no one, even the owners, thinks is any good.

Anyone who knows anything about sports understands that sometimes a rebuild is needed. It is either this, or wander through mediocrity. Go big or go home.

Its not like anyone really wants to go down to the ghetto and visit Turner Field anyways.

[Born 2 Roll]

This proposed bridge over I-285 and the parking plan that it was proposed to be the centerpiece of was always going to be a stretch.

First, the estimated $9 million cost of the bridge was far too low. Bridges of the type that is proposed often cost about at least $30-35 million at a bare minimum.

Second, it was always unclear who was going to pay for the bridge. Cobb County was already effectively tapped-out by paying for its share of the cost of the new stadium and accompanying infrastructure improvements and getting the equally cash-strapped state government and/or the Feds to pay for the bridge always seemed like it would be an impossibility.

Third, as the article reflects, it was always going to be extremely difficult to get nearby existing property owners for properties and establishments like the Cobb Galleria, etc, to agree to let their parking spaces be used for Braves' games. Owners of properties like the Cobb Galleria, etc, were never going to be very receptive to the idea of possibly not having enough parking to serve their own customers on at least 81 days out of the year.

Overall, the bridge as proposed and the plan to have nearby properties make their spaces available for Braves' game-day parking just is not very viable and never was very viable from the beginning.

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by DirkMcGirt

Its not like anyone really wants to go down to the ghetto and visit Turner Field anyways.

I feel the same way about Cumberland. Haven't found the need to visit that part of town since I quit my job in Vinings over 4 yrs ago. Throw in stadium traffic and that laughable management/parking plan and I'll never feel the need to go up 75 again.

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I do not understand why Tim Lee & Co. want to build a bridge that would remove such prime parking. It's 2015--how freakin' hard is it to design a bridge despite all the land-use constraints? This is a pedestrian bridge; it can turn 90 degrees as needed, you know.

A 1/4 mile long pedestrian bridge uphill w/ an over 1/2 mile overall hike to rectify the lack of onsite parking doesn't sound too pleasant in the heat of July-August. The goal was always to budget for a pedestrian bridge and panhandle their way into a bus bridge (w/ buses they didn't budget for) once people realized the horror that Cobb Parkway would become.

[cqholt]

I do not understand why Tim Lee & Co. want to build a bridge that would remove such prime parking. It's 2015--how freakin' hard is it to design a bridge despite all the land-use constraints? This is a pedestrian bridge; it can turn 90 degrees as needed, you know.

There was going to be 1 vehicle lane for buses.

So what is Plan B?
Ask people to ride bikes? Run GRTA Express buses from P&R lots? What happens when the buses get caught in traffic?
Where is netdragon, saying this bridge was part of Cumberland CID's plan even before the Braves move?

[ElleKaye]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Nope. They probably won't tear down many of the buildings initially. Just let them sit. Not unlike many of the parking lots that populate south downtown and around Sumerhill. And just like south downtown in the 1960s, land on Cobb Parkway is priced out of the range of anyone wanting buy them besides "investors". Those investors cover their costs with parking fees while they hold the parcels a decade at a time hoping for someone coming by to pay the $2M+ an acre.

A lot of the buildings are already gone like Tires Plus and whatever else was front facing on Cobb Pkwy on that block. They could probably work with the office park on Windy Ridge next to the Doubletree to help them expand the existing parking garage. I'm not saying as the only option but as an additional one since it's sitting there already.

[jsvh]

Some math to demonstrate how parking lots will push out other business and residents surrounding the new stadium:

You can fit 150 parking spaces per acre (Could be up to 169): https://ag.tennessee.edu/cpa/Informa.../CPA%20222.pdf

Then let's assume the parcel isn't making a dime outside of the 81 home games a year.

And even though they probably can get $20 a space being right next door, let's assume they only get $15.

That gets you: 150 * 81 * $15 = $182,250 a year just by letting your acre lot sit empty.

Even if we assume that acre is going for the $2M suggested above, a 30 year mortgage on that is about $10K a month. That leaves you with a $60k, 50% profit margin per year while doing nothing more than holding the land. Not bad considering most of the people that buy these lots are really just looking to break even each year and make their profit selling the land after holding it for a couple decades.

Even things like hiring guys to monitor the lot, keeping the lot freshly paved, (or other things to be a good neighbor that most of these lots won't be doing) will not cost more than a few thousand a year or bring the profit margin down out of the double digits.

What other businesses can expect to come near a profit margin like that on land costing $2M an acre in the suburbs?

See how easy it is for the demand for parking to drive up the cost of land and create a wasteland surrounding stadiums?