By David Pendered
Now that it’s no secret that Wall Street investors are buying distressed houses in metro Atlanta for the emerging homes-for-lease industry, the question is what that means for the surrounding neighborhoods and the future of homeownership.
Bruce Gunter, former CEO of Progressive Redevelopment, Inc., questions how for-profits and non-profits can collaborate to provide housing that’s affordable to those of average means. Credit: ANDP
John O’Callaghan, who heads ANDP, the region’s major non-profit focused on the foreclosure issue, suggests that ...more
By David Pendered
A subsidiary of the lead developer of the Gulch in downtown Atlanta has a tentative deal to sell 70 percent of its stake in a Brooklyn project to a Chinese firm in order to raise cash to continue the work on the $5 billion Atlantic Yards.
The $1 billion redevelopment of the Gulch, in downtown Atlanta, is headed by a company whose subsidiary just sold a 70 percent stake in a Brooklyn project to raise money. Credit: curbatlanta.com
If ...more
By David Pendered
Jacquelyn Treadville-Samuels is on her way to becoming a pipefitter. After commencement Thursday, the single mom hugged her 8-year-old son and said she’s considering a career in underwater welding.
Jaquelyn Treadville-Samuels hugs her son after graduating from a pre-appreprenticeship program offered by Trade-Up. Credit: David Pendered
“The pay’s good, and it would allow me the time to do other things, to give back,” Treadville-Samuels said in an auditorium bustling with beaming graduates and their families.
In all, eight women were ...more
Atlanta’s business and civic leaders are generally satisfied with the performance of the mayor and most councilmembers, according to a score sheet of incumbents and challengers released in advance of the Nov. 5 municipal election.
Mayor Kasim Reed received a score of 99 out of 100, for a rating of “excellent.” Council President Ceasar Mitchell received a score of 92, “excellent.”
In the campaigns for three citywide council posts, Councilmember Aaron Watson received a score of 95 and challenger Mary Norwood, a ...more
The great recession has fundamentally altered some neighborhoods in Atlanta, and their future is unclear as homes have moved and continue to move through the foreclosure process.
More than 40 percent of the 7,789 homes now in the sales pipeline, or heading to the pipeline, are in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process, according to a recent report of sales tracked by trulia.com, a real estate marketplace. Wall Street investors are purchasing a significant number of homes ...more
Forget Charlotte. Metro Atlanta’s rival for the title of the southeast’s most globally connected city may well be Greenville, S.C.
The BMW plant in Greenville, S.C. contributes to that region’s export strength. Credit: theautochannel.com
The Greenville-Spartanburg corridor punches far above its weight in terms of foreign exports. Greenville, by itself, ranks as the 11th most export-intensive metro area in the nation, according to a joint report prepared by the Brookings Institution and JP Morgan Chase for the Global Cities Initiative.
Metro Atlanta, on ...more
A new report on state funding for K-12 education raises some challenging questions about Georgia’s ability to provide a skilled workforce to businesses – especially in areas beyond metro Atlanta.
School districts are coping with funding cuts through measures including trimming days from the school year and assigning more students to each teacher, according to the report from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. School budgets are squeezed by shrinking state support and by the declining local tax base caused by ...more
Cousins Properties, Inc. – a bellwether Atlanta-based REIT – has closed its previously announced purchases of two office projects in Texas for a total cash price of $1.1 billion.
The two purchases increase Cousins presence in one of the fastest growing regions of the country, according to urban demographer Joel Kotkin, who’s been including the Third Coast since at least 2011 in his list of the nation’s growth corridors.
The Cousins deal includes a 10-building office project in Houston, which Kotkin names ...more
In a region still wracked by the lingering recession, metro Atlanta leaders are escalating the conversation about poverty in the suburbs. At the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum’s quarterly meeting Wednesday, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution drew a bright line under a grim statement reported by the ARC in February: “Metro Atlanta had the highest percentage-point increase in suburban poverty among the 20 most populous metro areas in the nation.” On a related point, MARTA GM Keith Parker said last week ...more
The harsh economy hasn’t spared a non-profit entity created to support Georgia Tech’s efforts to promote high-tech research and economic development. Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures, Inc., which oversees the programs including the acclaimed Technology Square and Technology Enterprise Park, is scraping by on a bare-bones budget, according to a credit report from Moody’s Investors Services. Stephen Fleming, a Tech vice president who serves as GATV’s CEO, said Monday that GATV will continue to work on its core mission. To read more, click ...more
