So much for breaking off talks: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has just announced that the city has reached a deal to buy Friendship Baptist Church for $19.5 million, clearing one of two hurdles to the Falcons getting to build their new stadium on their preferred site.
If the church congregation ratifies the deal, talks are expected to reopen with the other church on the proposed stadium site, Mt. Vernon Baptist Church.
Friendship Baptist isn’t the important one though it was the one that conventional wisdom thought would be the most difficult to get since it has significant historic value and is the larger church. Mt. Vernon Baptist is inside the footprint of the stadium while Friendship was only needed for rerouting a street. This is why the GWCCA is handling Mt. Vernon while the city is handling Friendship.
The hitch with Mt. Vernon appears to be that the GWCCA by law cannot purchase land for more than the appraised value. Replacement cost of Mt. Vernon is significantly higher then the appraised value so they’re not going to budge even if they’re not looking for a payday. The difference will have to come from somewhere else. Given the value of the whole stadium deal, this money should come out of Arthur Blank’s pocket or at least from the Falcons organization. It’ll be interesting to see if Blank tries to use money from his foundation instead of from his personal account.
It bears repeating: replacing the 21 year old Georgia Dome with an even larger & more preposterously indulgent structure to be used fewer than twenty times annually is just obscene, particularly when contrasted against other pressing public needs in Atlanta. Truly repulsive prioritization.
It’s not just about the money, it’s about the amount of time the mayor and city council have spent trying to make this deal happen. The city has many other needs that require attention but the focus on government has been to make this stadium deal happen no matter the cost. From the amount of attention they’ve given it, you’d think the city had absolutely no problems.
Let’s see, you can spend $19.5M + the buyout of the 2nd church or you can go with Plan B a couple of blocks north on land that you already own. Brilliant beyond words.
Rumor I’m hearing is that Reed has pretty much gone off the reservation. The Falcons and the GWCCA have decided on the north site and want to move forward. Today’s announcement only strengthens the bargaining position of Mount Vernon. The money above the assessed value for Mount Vernon cannot legally come from the GWCCA. It must come from the Falcons, who don’t seem to want the south site.
One of the local papers covered the press conference and said the mayor was very defensive and on edge. He’s spent a lot of time and effort trying to bully the churches into doing what he wants. If the Falcons go to the north site, that will have been for nothing. He doesn’t have a viable opponent for November’s election but come 2018 when he plans to run for governor, people will remember him as the man who bullied historic churches for the benefit of a billionaire. http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2013/08/06/reed-strikes-195-million-deal-with-friendship-baptist-church
A couple of those comments on that CL link are pretty great.
“Good lord Reed, it’s a stadium for grown men to chase around a ball. You’re not MLK. You’re not John Lewis. At best, you’re a low quality Xerox of Wal-Mart ambassador Andy Young. Get over yourself.”