A coalition of organizations around Turner Field intend to ask Mayor Kasim Reed on Tuesday to defer any deal to redevelop the ballpark and its parking lots until after a $275,000 visioning plan is complete.
The Turner Field study area, that’s to be evaluated in a $275,000 visioning plan, encompasses about 1,340 acres at and around the ballpark. Credit: ARC
In February, the Atlanta Regional Commission announced it will help fund a study of about 1,340 acres around the stadium. The $275,000 review is specifically intended to provide a roadmap for revitalization efforts after the Atlanta Braves depart following the 2016 baseball season.
However, an emerging notion has it that Reed won’t give the process time to work. The scenario is unsettling to some area residents and organizations.
“We don’t want a quick fix solution,” Summerhill resident John A. Colabelli said in a statement. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore the surrounding neighborhoods and reconnect downtown to the entire south side of Atlanta.”
Colabelli was referring to some of the redevelopment plans for Turner Field that have circulated during the past year. Reed’s been generally supportive of a proposal from Georgia State University to buy the ballpark and its parking lots. GSU has proposed building ball fields, student housing, non-student housing and retail.
The notion has it that now that Reed has prevailed in his effort to have most of Fort McPherson sold to filmmaker Tyler Perry, the mayor is likely to turn his redevelopment eye to the historic opportunity to reshape an area that’s been home to a ballpark since 1966.
The Perry/McPherson deal took a year to consummate. Reed’s term of office expires in about 2 ½ years.
In April, Reed was able to help install a political ally as executive director of the body that will oversee the sales of Turner Field. Atlanta City Councilmember Keisha Lance Bottoms took over leadership of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, despite protests from Fulton County Chairman John Eaves.
Colabelli serves on the Turner Field Benefits Coaliton, which is comprised of about 30 organizations including several that aren’t neighborhood organizations:
The coalition intends to stage a media event on the steps of old City Hall, the side facing Mitchell Street, Tuesday at 10 a.m. Following the comments, a group of about 50 civic leaders intends to hand deliver a letter to Reed that asks him to defer any deal until after the ARC-funded study is complete.
The ARC in February announced that it would provide Atlanta with a planning grant in the amount of $212,000 to study the Turner Field area. Atlanta had applied for the grant. The additional $63,000 for the study is to include an undisclosed sum from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which has worked in the area since 2001, and Invest Atlanta, the city’s development arm.
In applying for the ARC Livable Centers Initiative Grant, the city providing the following description as its leading justification of the visioning project:
