JOURNALISM
Atlanta willing to pay 8 percent interest on Falcons stadium bonds
- The retractable roof on the future Falcons stadium is specified in the bond validation petition. Credit: newstadium.atlantafalcons.com Atlanta is willing to pay an interest rate of up to 8 percent for the $278.3 million in revenue bonds it intends sell to provide construction financing for the new Falcons stadium. To put that rate in perspective, Atlanta’s airport is paying rates ranging from 2 percent to 6 percent on its $3.1 billion in outstanding bonds, according to the airport’s 2013 Comprehensive Annual ...more
BeltLine creates job of economic development director, hires from Savannah
- Jerald Mitchell. Credit: linkedin.com The Atlanta BeltLine has created the position of director of economic development and filled it with a former director of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. Terms were not disclosed. Jerald Mitchell is to devise and implement a strategy for economic development around the BeltLine, according to a statement the BeltLine released Thursday. Mitchell’s hiring was announced 11 weeks after Mayor Kasim Reed announced he intends to develop the BeltLine as a public private partership. Reed said he is ...more
Falcons stadium: MLK Drive bridge severed, hearing set for Feb. 17 on $278 million in city funding
- A segment of Martin Luther King Drive has been demolished as part of the Falcons stadium construction project. This area is east of Northside Drive. Credit: David Pendered Progress on the new Falcons stadium has hit a new high gear. A demolition crew worked Wednesday to rip out a portion of the viaduct of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive A Fulton County Superior Court judge on Tuesday set a hearing date of Feb. 17 to validate the $278.3 million the city ...more
Easy money as landlord of cheap houses proving to be an elusive dream
- Foreclosed houses aren’t the bargain they were in the depth of the recession. This bank-owned home, on Devonshire Place in Atlanta, is listed by Wells Fargo at $925,000. Credit: reowellsfargo.com The once-hot “REO to rental” business has cooled in metro Atlanta and beyond. A year ago, average investors were kicking themselves for not getting in on the ground floor of an emerging industry: Buy cheap bank-owned or foreclosed houses and rent them for a tidy profit. News that Blackstone Group alone ...more
Georgia’s business plan for Savannah port could make Louisiana Purchase blush
- Network Georgia, the business development plan for Georgia’s ports, is an ambitious outreach to manufacturers and shippers in Georgia and five neighboring states. Credit: Georgia Ports AuthorityIn the push to deepen the Port of Savannah, one issue that’s not received much attention is how the facility will handle the hoped-for increase in cargo that’s driving the desire to serve bigger ships.The Georgia Ports Authority does have a $1.4 billion plan to expand its cargo handling capacity. What’s still to ...more
Rent a bike just like a Zipcar: Atlanta to close deal on bike-share program
- A SoBi bike comes equiped with fenders, front basket capable of handling a 20-pound payload, step-over frame, and adjustable, non-removable seat to accommodate riders ranging in height from 4 feet, 11 inches to 6 feet, 6 inches. Credit: socialbicycles.com The centerpiece of Atlanta’s plan to start its first bike-share program is slated to be approved Monday by the Atlanta City Council. Bikes are to be rolling within a year. The plan is for a private vendor to provide at least 500 ...more
New life for talks about transportation funding, but no quick fixes in sight
- The once-popular Brain Train, to link Athens and Atlanta, is the type of project that could be funded by a revised TSPLOST, advocates say. Credit: home.comcast.net/~tomchouston/bt The air in Atlanta and Washington suddenly seems filled with talk about creative methods of financing to pay for repairs to roads, bridges, sidewalks and other so-called transportation infrastructure. At the state Capitol this week, a new consortium announced it was backing a revision of the TSPLOST approach to upgrading transportation. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, ...more
Good news for icy metro roads: Savannah port closed, reducing number of trucks in Atlanta area
- This weather map shows the strong northerly winds that have affected shipping along the east coast and in Savannah. Credit: passageweather.com The Savannah port was closed Wednesday, which provided one saving grace for metro Atlanta’s weather-clogged roads. “Any truck traffic that would have been moving from the port to the city of Atlanta was eliminated or reduced significantly,” said ports authority spokesman Robert Morris. Gov. Nathan Deal said Wednesday that jack-knifed tractor-trailer rigs on metro Atlanta roads had contributed to the region’s ...more
Atlanta council slows plan to reroute MLK for reported VIP parking lot at Falcons stadium
- Earth movers have started working, in recent days, on an apparent roadway beneath the MLK Drive viaduct. This work is being done near at least one of the parcels Atlanta has been asked to abandon. Credit: David Pendered A committee of the Atlanta City Council tapped the brakes Tuesday on what had been a fast-moving proposal to allow Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to be rerouted in a way that’s said to provide for VIP parking at the new Falcons ...more
VIP parking at Falcons stadium to require big changes in MLK Drive
- The Falcons seek to revamp this intersection of Northside Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in order to build a new stadium. The Georgia Dome is to be demolished. Credit: Donita Pendered A planned VIP parking lot at the future Falcons stadium will require a virtual dead end of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive at the stadium, and will affect the road’s ability to become the grand boulevard envisioned by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. The first public discussion of this ...more