Cobb County paying $302 million toward Braves new stadium (Atlanta: hotels, maintenance)

[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.

[westau]

Originally Posted by Mishap

The county isn't that tight & efficient if they have a secret 8.6M/yr slush fund they magically found after they cut services & school funding rather than burden their residents w/ higher taxes. That's almost 3% of their annual budget which isn't exactly chump change.

You're also assuming the County has any control over this. While the Braves may have responsibility on the stadium (and potentially the bidding process there), I'm sure there's additional details in terms of the infrastructure improvements and other items.

The 2014 Cobb Budget is $815.22 million so $8.6 million is much closer to 1% then the 3% you mentioned unless you aren't talking about the total budget.

Originally Posted by jsvh

I will be interested to read the actual contracts if anyone can find them. It says the Braves are paying minimum $230m but "up to" $280m. However, are responsible for cost over runs. So what happens if they go over the initial budget more than $50m?

It says initial contribution up to $280 million but it also specifically says the Braves will be responsible for any cost overruns. Maybe that would be added to the bonds but the Braves have to pay for it either up front or over time. The other side is maybe if there are cost overruns they Braves would choose to cut out stadium options to keep the cost down to that $672 million number.

[Mishap]

^My mistake, I was reading the property tax revenue line which is where that cash is coming from.

[JoeP]

How much we pay is an issue because it should be $0.

However, it's irrelevant because even if it cost us zero in construction cost, it will still not be acceptable to build a ball park in that location, given the already congested traffic, the fact that no plan can solve for the 40,000 fans who will basically all be traveling by car and the immeasurable mess that it will be us locals who shop and dine in the area as a normal week night will be hell.

[ericsonga]

I'm very interested to see how the good constituents of Cobb are going to publicly react to this. Cobb tends to be a very fiscally conservative area. There is a lot to be wary of with the deal.

Go ask a Gwinnettian about being burned on a baseball stadium.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by ericsonga

I'm very interested to see how the good constituents of Cobb are going to publicly react to this. Cobb tends to be a very fiscally conservative area. There is a lot to be wary of with the deal.

Go ask a Gwinnettian about being burned on a baseball stadium.

This. Someone on the Cobb County Commission is getting paid.

[Mishap]

^They really should just post up articles about how badly Gwinnett got screwed over by Liberty. I mean it's the same exact company, making super optimistic projections about revenues and glorious projections about mixed use developments nearby. If the contract doesn't protect Cobb in case of every one of the downsides they're seeing, we ought to get the GBI/FBI to check in on how many offshore accts those Cobb Commissioners are hiding.

Taxpayers on the Hook for Gwinnett, Ga. Baseball Stadium - Reason.com

[Ant131531]

It would be cool if they built an urban village around this stadium. 10-15 block area of mixed used buildings that can be used on gameday and for every day uses.

[Marsha33]

Originally Posted by ericsonga

I'm very interested to see how the good constituents of Cobb are going to publicly react to this. Cobb tends to be a very fiscally conservative area. There is a lot to be wary of with the deal.

Go ask a Gwinnettian about being burned on a baseball stadium.

The silence is deafening.

[westau]

Originally Posted by ericsonga

I'm very interested to see how the good constituents of Cobb are going to publicly react to this. Cobb tends to be a very fiscally conservative area. There is a lot to be wary of with the deal.

Go ask a Gwinnettian about being burned on a baseball stadium.

There is a poll on the MDJ site currently sitting at 52% for, 39% against, and 9% undecided. It is obviously unscientific but seems like a pretty good gauge to me. Most of my friends around Cobb seem to be for it overall.