Plans are brewing for a $1 billion redevelopment of the area around Turner Field that could make initial ideas for the district's makeover seem like small potatoes. Back in May, Georgia State University, Atlanta developer Carter and Columbia Residential teamed up to offer their vision for a $300 million overhaul of The Ted and its vast parking lots, to include baseball and football stadiums, a mix of housing and retail villages. (Here's a .pdf of the preliminary analysis). The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that those ambitions have basically darted from home plate to third base, with a projected $1 billion in investment that would go far beyond repurposing the ballpark. New plans call for bringing a leg of the Atlanta Streetcar down Capitol Avenue and reinventing the unremarkable corridor as an active streetscape lined with new apartments, the newspaper reports. But in order to get a jump on the market, time could already be running out.
The newspapers cites unnamed people familiar with the deal who say the project hasn't proceeded as far as expected by now — namely because the acreage around Turner Field isn't even for sale yet. The land, instead, remains under the Fulton County Recreation Authority's control, and that group is hamstrung from marketing it until the Braves agree to end their lease. Laws dictate that the property, once on the market, must be offered to the highest bidder, and the Carter-led team reportedly isn't the only builder hungry for a piece of Ted pie. Complicating matters even further, analysts interviewed by the newspaper said, the current development cycle could be reaching its halfway point now, meaning a years-long project costing $1 billion had better get a move on.
According to GSU's earlier plans, the MLB stadium would be flipped into a 30,000-seat arena for football, soccer and track-and-field sports. Just north of that, the school wanted to develop a new Georgia State baseball stadium in the footprint of former Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (leaving Hammerin' Hank's famed home-run wall intact). Plans for the 80 acres beyond The Ted called for private student housing, single-family homes, market-rate apartments and a mixed-use mélange of shops and restaurants, including a possible grocery store. GSU predicted the project would add 1,200 beds for students and help solve its parking issues.
· Clock ticks on $1B Turner Field redevelopment [ABC; subscriber]
· GSU's Vision For Turner Field, Parking Lots Emerges [Curbed]
· Braves Stadium Concepts Include Giant Pool, Integrity [Curbed]
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