Atlanta Braves moving? (Buckhead: motels, estate, automobile)

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Well, now we are gonna have to be even more afraid in Cobb County - there are a lot of conservatives there!

LOL.

I would be more afraid of the "only one street" phenomenon versus the conservatives lol!

FWIW, I actually did enjoy living in Cobb. If hubby didn't work downtown it would have been okay even though I felt stuff was WAY to spaced out and it irked me that only one street would go a certain way (Spring Rd, Cobb Pkwy, Windy Hill - all twisty/turny and not many options besides those streets so I felt like I was in a traffic nightmare).

[Jimmeh]

For those of you saying the commute will benefit Cobb Residents, where do the majority of people work? Downtown. We're all going to be leaving from the same location to make a 7:30 game. It's only beneficial for the drive home.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Jimmeh

For those of you saying the commute will benefit Cobb Residents, where do the majority of people work? Downtown. We're all going to be leaving from the same location to make a 7:30 game. It's only beneficial for the drive home.

Your assumption that everyone that wants to go to a Braves game works downtown and lives in Cobb is a false one.

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by arjay57

This was a decision by a private company, not a planning agency.

Reputation is always regional. Cobb county which is a part of the region is allowing a stadium to be built without any rapid rail mass transit. That is the problem here. Until the Atlanta region gets on the same page for smart growth, the region will still have this reputation. The same would be true in D.C. region, Boston region, Philly region, or New York region when it comes to these decisions. The failure of the T-SPLOST is pretty telling too I guess. It sucks for the smart growth supporters in Atlanta.

[joey86]

I thought this quote was funny.

“Four hundred and fifty million dollars in public funding is a pretty good deal. We can’t spend money that liberally in the city of Atlanta. We are fiscal conservatives here….These folks are putting up $450 million. Congratulations to them." Kasim Reed

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by Jimmeh

For those of you saying the commute will benefit Cobb Residents, where do the majority of people work? Downtown. We're all going to be leaving from the same location to make a 7:30 game. It's only beneficial for the drive home.

In Atlanta the highest concentration of employment is not downtown. The largest commercial real estate submarkets (Northwest, Central Perimeter and North Fulton) are all north of downtown and closer to the new stadium than the current stadium and Buckhead is closer to the new stadium as well. The city of Atlanta has one of the smallest portions of total metro employemnt of any major metro area.

Unfortunately MARTA is useless for many Atlanta area residents because it serves such a limited geography and has no express service. Consequently the overwhleming majority of Braves fans drive to games currently. So little is changing in that regard.

The new stadium will be closer to where the majority of the metro area's high income households live and work. Those are the people who buy most of theseason ticket packages or are decision makers for corporate purchases and they are the ones from whom the Braves can extract the most total revenue. Combine this with the wasteful tax subsidy the Braves will receive and the move is a no-brainer for them.

This has the potential to be good for the city as well. The stadium does nothing to promote development in the immediate vicinity. If they can replace the stadium with decent residential or mixed-use development, the city will be better off.

[Cameron H]

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

The stadium does nothing to promote development in the immediate vicinity. If they can replace the stadium with decent residential or mixed-use development, the city will be better off.

I hope this is true, and I agree that the stadium hasn't spurred development in the area. But how is demolishing the stadium going to promote development in the area? Is it just that developers will be able to purchase the land for pennies on the dollar?

It seems like the area around downtown has a lot of cheap blighted areas that could be developed if someone wanted to. They aren't, for the most part, so what makes this different?

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Cameron H

It seems like the area around downtown has a lot of cheap blighted areas that could be developed if someone wanted to. They aren't, for the most part, so what makes this different?

Because it is one large contiguous piece of land owned by one owner. This allows a developer to get good economics of scale on the redevelopment and put a "critical mass" of development in an area with one pass. I don't know of any land in the city like this right now. Plus it is on the edge of gentrification anyways.

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by Cameron H

I hope this is true, and I agree that the stadium hasn't spurred development in the area. But how is demolishing the stadium going to promote development in the area? Is it just that developers will be able to purchase the land for pennies on the dollar?

It seems like the area around downtown has a lot of cheap blighted areas that could be developed if someone wanted to. They aren't, for the most part, so what makes this different?

I'm very skeptical that there will be good development in that area in the period immediately after the Braves leave. For one thing, the lack of of good transit access that makes it an undesireable location for the stadium makes it less desireable for residential development as well. However, I don't think it's impossible that over time it can't be developed into something better than its current use.

If nothing else the good news is that Atlanta residents are wasting their tax money to subsidize the business of only one billionaire rather than two. I would not be happy if I were a Cobb resident right now. Public subsidization of stadiums is invariably a bad deal for tax payers.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

If nothing else the good news is that Atlanta residents are wasting their tax money to subsidize the business of only one billionaire rather than two. I would not be happy if I were a Cobb resident right now. Public subsidization of stadiums is invariably a bad deal for tax payers.

If you're talking about the Falcons stadium, then said residents would only be paying the tax if they stayed in a hotel in Fulton County/CoA (the same tax that's existed for over 20 years).