Turner Field Redevelopment RFP Going Out Next Month (Atlanta, Pitts: appointed, sale)

[jsvh]

Mayor Reed: Find Turner Field buyer that can redevelop project in 'five years' | ABC

The Authority that controls Turner Field plans to issue a request for proposals to redevelop the ballpark early next month, launching an ambitious timetable for the project.

The Authority wants responses to the RFP from developers and their capital partners by mid-November. CBRE, the largest commercial real estate services firm in Atlanta, plans to send the RFP to a global database of at least 14,000 potential buyers.

...

Reed expressed an urgency to get the project underway before the real estate upswing ends. Over the past three years, the construction boom has added thousands of apartment units to the city skyline and brought several thousand jobs back to the urban core. Even though cranes have returned and the regional economy continues to strengthen, it would likely take at least two years from today to plan, design, and begin to complete the first phases of the project.

Historically, the economic cycle is probably past its halfway point, analysts say. Developers and their potential equity partners would be less comfortable delivering new housing and retail toward the end of an upswing.
“Capital doesn’t sit and wait for opportunities,” Reed said.

...

The notion of a casino rising in the wake of Turner Field causes a lot of angst among the ballpark’s surrounding neighborhoods *— and they expressed it Wednesday night.

“I hear you,” Reed told an increasingly rowdy crowd, tipping his hand that he’s not exactly a fan of the idea.

“I don’t want a casino either,” Reed said.

The neighborhoods are counting on a bigger say in the redevelopment this time. For years, community activists say the neighborhoods such as Summerhill, Peoplestown, Mechanicsville, Pittsburgh and Grant Park have been promised powerful urban renewal projects since the 1970s.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, the authority’s new executive director appointed by Reed, pledged the RFP will have to take the findings of the LCI study into consideration.

[CCATL]

I have mixed opinions. I'm a Grant Park resident, and I definitely want Turner Fields to be redeveloped with the community in mind. I loved GSU's proposal. The area needs apartments, shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and movie theatre would be icing on the cake for me. The parking lots need to become a densely populated area that has smart urban growth. I think to be done right, the community needs to have input. Community input needs to be realistic - Whole Foods isn't going in at Turner Field. The development needs to be geared towards the community, needs to be what the community needs and wants.

However, I also see the point about waiting too long for the study to be completed, and then nobody wants to buy Turner Field and it sits and decays, bringing the area surrounding it down with it. If there are developers wanting to buy it now, and they can work with the community to make it a community oriented development, then I think that needs to happen. We can't wait a year if those development opportunities will disappear. But, the development needs to have the community in mind. AKA, NO CASINO'S ON TURNER FIELD!

[red92s]

The Mayor might have a point about development cycles and needing to act quickly. It just seems like he has been pandering for the better part of 2015 about really valuing the community input, when they aren't going to wait for that input to be formalized.

ARC allocated $212,000 to the Turner Field LCI. It certainly appears that Hizzoner Reed intends to make a decision about developments well before that LCI is complete. At this point, why even sink that money into an LCI that will be irrelevant the day it's published? Use those funds to install a splash pad, or build a playground, or make a community garden or something. At least that way there is something to show for the quarter million dollars invested other than a flashy report that will immediately be going in the trash?

The below are comments from Reed's camp in March. He's certainly had a change of heart in the 6 months since then. Sounds like they still intend to let the LCI process "go forward" while ignoring anything meaningful that might come out of it.

"The City just won the LCI grant for $200,000, and we are happy to let this process go forward," she tells CL. "We have been listening and continue to listen to the communities around Turner Field. That’s why we applied for the LCI grant that we won this week."

[jsvh]

Agree with both the comments above.

I understand the need to get moving on this because letting the stadium sit empty would be the worse option. Hopefully they integrate the neighborhood desires / LCI results as the bidding and design stages move forward. You don't (and rarely do) have final construction plans to buy property.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by CCATL

I have mixed opinions. I'm a Grant Park resident, and I definitely want Turner Fields to be redeveloped with the community in mind. I loved GSU's proposal. The area needs apartments, shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and movie theatre would be icing on the cake for me. The parking lots need to become a densely populated area that has smart urban growth. I think to be done right, the community needs to have input. Community input needs to be realistic - Whole Foods isn't going in at Turner Field. The development needs to be geared towards the community, needs to be what the community needs and wants.

However, I also see the point about waiting too long for the study to be completed, and then nobody wants to buy Turner Field and it sits and decays, bringing the area surrounding it down with it. If there are developers wanting to buy it now, and they can work with the community to make it a community oriented development, then I think that needs to happen. We can't wait a year if those development opportunities will disappear. But, the development needs to have the community in mind. AKA, NO CASINO'S ON TURNER FIELD!

Almost like a design/build scenario.

[hilltop180]

The GSU plan sounds like the best idea I have heard. I have relatives in the Tunica, MS area and the effect of big casinos on a community should not be under-stated. MS is a different region but the overall cultural impact of a casino is negative. The GSU plan would have a stadium, possible student housing, and some retail but I don't see that drawing in further housing or retail. A plan I haven't heard is put in some commerical office space. Why not bulldoze and build a park with some type of revenue draw? Not sure if there is demand downtown.I heard one quote - time is ticking fast and there's no solid plan.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by hilltop180

The GSU plan sounds like the best idea I have heard. I have relatives in the Tunica, MS area and the effect of big casinos on a community should not be under-stated. MS is a different region but the overall cultural impact of a casino is negative. The GSU plan would have a stadium, possible student housing, and some retail but I don't see that drawing in further housing or retail. A plan I haven't heard is put in some commerical office space. Why not bulldoze and build a park with some type of revenue draw? Not sure if there is demand downtown.I heard one quote - time is ticking fast and there's no solid plan.

The GSU plan has two stadiums (foodball and baseball), student housing complexes, accedemic / support offices, retail villages, and lots of market housing. Unless i am mistaken on the relationship between the city and the college, this development would bring in a fair amount of tax revenue where currently there is asphault.

Earlier in the suggestions from Reed on this area, any large developments should be looking at how they are going to impact the neighborhood around them. One of the point specifically mentioned was transit and traffic. Now, the streetcar plan has two lines intersecting here in the development area, and, while it's a long-shot, I would love for anypart of the deal that goes down to include some backing for future build of city transit.

In fact, if you look through the renderings booklet, it becomes very apparent that they are taking the streetcars / Beltline LRT into consideration with their site plans.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

The GSU plan has two stadiums (foodball and baseball), student housing complexes, accedemic / support offices, retail villages, and lots of market housing. Unless i am mistaken on the relationship between the city and the college, this development would bring in a fair amount of tax revenue where currently there is asphault.

Earlier in the suggestions from Reed on this area, any large developments should be looking at how they are going to impact the neighborhood around them. One of the point specifically mentioned was transit and traffic. Now, the streetcar plan has two lines intersecting here in the development area, and, while it's a long-shot, I would love for anypart of the deal that goes down to include some backing for future build of city transit.

In fact, if you look through the renderings booklet, it becomes very apparent that they are taking the streetcars / Beltline LRT into consideration with their site plans.

This plan reintroduces the street grid into the area and connects well with the area.

[cqholt]

Breaking: Turner Field bidding process begins | www.ajc.com

The race to purchase Turner Field has officially begun.

The Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority formally began the bidding process for The Ted on Friday, releasing a long-awaited request for proposals that will guide redevelopment of the ballpark.

Among the objectives:

Breaking: Turner Field bidding process begins photo
Aerial of Turner Field May 7, 2014. (BRANT SANDERLIN /BSANDERLIN@AJC.COM)
Renovating, reusing or re-purposing the stadium structure “as a key asset in the development program or provide an ‘iconic’ replacement structure;”
Creating a “dynamic mixed-use” destination;
Finishing development within five years of breaking ground;
Incorporating recommendations from the ARC’s community development study;
And incorporating Atlanta’s sports heritage, such as Hank Aaron’s home run records, the Braves World Series Championship and the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.
The documents set out a competitive and sealed bid structure. The chosen developer will be the one determined to be best able “to create an economic anchor that drives demand for new development in the immediate area, generates new jobs and tax-paying activities while simultaneously facilitating the long-term integration of Atlanta’s Downtown business district and surrounding neighborhoods.”

The RFP documents set a submission deadline of Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. The redevelopment area contained in the RFP includes six parcels, including the ballpark, totaling 67 acres of land.

The Turner Field site is nearly 80 acres, but AFCRA executive director Keisha Lance Bottoms said the media lot, lots across the interstate and FanPlex are not included in the bid.

Just last week, Bottoms told residents in a packed community meeting last week that the property must be sold quickly as the Atlanta Braves are poised to vacate the ballfield by Dec. 31, 2016.

“I don’t stand here as an alarmist. I stand here as a realist. Time is of the essence,” Bottoms said during the Sept. 23 meeting at Turner Field. “This is a 48,000-seat stadium that in 15 months will be empty.”

Just what will become of the longtime home of the Atlanta Braves has been a hot topic for stadium communities since the team announced its departure in late 2013.

Georgia State University and real estate firm Carter have made the only public proposal: a $300 million mix of student housing, apartments, retail and the conversion of Turner Field into a football stadium. Mayor Kasim Reed has also said casino interests have inquired about the stadium site.

The move defies requests from many residents to delay the sale until the completion of a community study funded by the Atlanta Regional Commission, a process that could take through next summer. Officials have insisted the RFP will require the potential buyer to incorporate some of the study’s findings.

[Zanarkand A East]

When they said "next month," they meant damn near as soon as the sun went down September 30th. Wow.