Cobb County paying $302 million toward Braves new stadium (Atlanta: hotel, theater)

[mattee01]

Originally Posted by Marsha33

Cobb County getting the Braves, combining SPSU with KSU, getting the Atlanta Opera and Orchestra are all signs that Cobb County is trying to compete with Atlanta. Their undoing will be their refusal to join MARTA.

It will be interesting to see if the City of Atlanta continues to let unincorporated parts of Cobb carry the Atlanta name. Atlanta will still benefit from this because Cobb is paying a good share for that stadium and visitors from out of town will probably visit and stay in Atlanta.

Gwinnett and Cobb will probably peak within the next 10 or 20 years unless they decide to join MARTA or come up with a very sophisticated transit plan on their own. Being mostly suburban only is feasiable when your demographics and population density allow it. After a point the same design aspects that have helped them in the past will come back to hurt them.

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Whoa. How'd they convince Cobb to allow that?



Yup.

More amazing is that this is basically the same deal the Braves made for the Gwinnett Braves left the county on the hook for millions since the rosy projections that got the thing approved by the BOC didn't quite pan out. Seems all you have to do is spend 5 min reading how badly they screwed Gwinnett before you sign a contract. I mean it's the same parent company and the two counties are 15 min apart. Multiple the deal by 10X and you'll see how bad it can go for Cobb.

[Humanista]

Originally Posted by Marsha33

It will be interesting to see if the City of Atlanta continues to let unincorporated parts of Cobb carry the Atlanta name. Atlanta will still benefit from this because Cobb is paying a good share for that stadium and visitors from out of town will probably visit and stay in Atlanta.

The post office determines what "city" certain zip codes have or zip code boundaries for that fact. The City of Atlanta has nothing to do with it.

Actually, I'm in unincorporated Smyrna inside 285 and I will have an "Atlanta" address next year when my zip changes to 30339.

[noah]

Actually the Braves will own and get 100% of the revenue from the restaurant and bar district so Cobb won't have any control over that.

Originally Posted by travbo

Everyone is forgetting that they aren't just building a new Stadium but a mixed-use development as well. If i were a cobb county resident i'd be asking the more important question about the approx. $300 million, How much of this is funding the mixed-use portion of the development vs. the stadium and does the county have tenants already chosen to occupy said retail/restaurant space?

I'm all for retail/mixed use development when it is done productively and efficiently. However, if you drive anywhere ITP or OTP there a tons of unoccupied retail spaces in many of the developments that have been built in the past 8 years.

Even in Inman Park which is currently seeing an influx of capital and new development there are spaces that were built years ago that are still unoccupied. I for one don't see the demand, but what do i know.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by noah

Actually the Braves will own and get 100% of the revenue from the restaurant and bar district so Cobb won't have any control over that.

Whoa, Cobb just bowed over and took. After reading the demands from the Braves I am glad the city did not give in.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by noah

Actually the Braves will own and get 100% of the revenue from the restaurant and bar district so Cobb won't have any control over that.

Can you site a source of this piece of information? Checking the two links provided at the first of the thread, all I see referencing revenue is this:


Stadium Revenues. Except for the County’s share of naming rights revenues, parking revenues and marquee advertising revenues, the Atlanta Braves will retain all revenues associated with the Stadium.

The operating words here are the last four... associated with the stadium. Where are you getting any info that 100% of the revenue from the restaurant and bar district will go to the Braves? If they are building an entertainment district surrounding it, can't see that succeeding without some involvement of the private sector.

And someone help me with the word "revenue." Is that intended to mean profits or is that including sales tax monies? Surely sales taxes on all things sold in and around the stadium still go to the state and the county.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Can you site a source of this piece of information? Checking the two links provided at the first of the thread, all I see referencing revenue is this:


Stadium Revenues. Except for the County’s share of naming rights revenues, parking revenues and marquee advertising revenues, the Atlanta Braves will retain all revenues associated with the Stadium.

The operating words here are the last four... associated with the stadium. Where are you getting any info that 100% of the revenue from the restaurant and bar district will go to the Braves? If they are building an entertainment district surrounding it, can't see that succeeding without some involvement of the private sector.

And someone help me with the word "revenue." Is that intended to mean profits or is that including sales tax monies? Surely sales taxes on all things sold in and around the stadium still go to the state and the county.

Saintmarks - While i dont know this for sure, I would imagine in this case the "revenue" is actually rentals for the companies' lease of the facilities. You are tight - a pretty unclear statement.

[cqholt]

Where are you getting any info that 100% of the revenue from the restaurant and bar district will go to the Braves? If they are building an entertainment district surrounding it, can't see that succeeding without some involvement of the private sector.

2 sports bars and 2 casual restaurants do not make up a bar district. That is the demands the Braves had for Turner Field redevelopment, so I assume they kept the same list of demands for Cobb.

[noah]

I doubt it because the Braves will own the real estate here and lease the spaces and receive the entire revenue from this, at Turner it would not have been all their revenue.

As for the source, several articles have referenced this. Here is an example

The Marietta Daily Journal - Atlanta Braves moving to Cobb County
The stadium would be owned by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, which also owns the Cobb Galleria Centre and Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

The Braves would develop the remainder of the site into a mixed-use entertainment district containing restaurants, retail shops and possibly hotels.

Originally Posted by cqholt

2 sports bars and 2 casual restaurants do not make up a bar district. That is the demands the Braves had for Turner Field redevelopment, so I assume they kept the same list of demands for Cobb.

[Saintmarks]

So, let me see if I have this down:

The Braves are like any other entity that would come in and develop the remainder of the site (the district outside the stadium) and would generate profits from those businesses just as if a mall were to build on the site. The county gets the benefit of increased tax revenue from the sales taxes that will be generated. It is what has been mentioned by others as ROI, Return On Investment. I am sure some form of property taxes will be levied on properties that are not owned out right by the county, correct? If so, another stream of revenue for the county. Also, the county will benefit from sales taxes levied on all purchases within the stadium, no? Surely we pay the normal sales tax on ticket sales, right? And then the cokes and beers and hot dogs and peanuts and tee shirts and ball caps...... Those will generate tax revenue for the county as well, right?

It doesn't make one lick of sense for the county to put up monies for no return on that investment. Currently that land sits idle and is not generating tax revenues for the county... certainly not sales taxes. Whoever owns it has been paying property taxes, yes, but will not a developed property garner much more in property tax revenue as well?

Just pointing out that some of the statements previously in this thread made it look like the county gains nothing out of this. Why would they do this otherwise? It has to be a win-win for both sides for a deal to be struck one would think.....