Mayor Kasim Reed said at a press conference this morning that Turner Field will be demolished once the Braves leave in 2017 for a new stadium in Cobb County. Reed said a master developer would look at the 60-acre site to create a development centered on “middle class families.”
“I think we will have a significant announcement to make soon about The Ted site,” Reed said. “We aren’t going to leave The Ted vacant. The neighborhood is going to be the biggest beneficiary of the move. This is an ideal tract of land for middle class families. We need to look at New York and London, which are having an affordability problems, and having this 60 acres in the bank will go along way to addressing the issues of affordability in Atlanta.”
Reed said the City of Atlanta had been in negotiations with the Braves for 18 months. On Nov. 7, Reed met with Braves representatives who told him they had decided it was in their best interest to accept a deal from Cobb County. Reed, Gov. Nathan Deal and Braves representatives were scheduled to meet tomorrow, Nov. 13, and he was shocked that news about the move to Cobb leaked on Veteran’s Day.
Reed said he refused to put anywhere from $150 to $250 million in debt on the taxpayers and dismissed complaints that the city could have negotiated with the Braves the same way it did with the Falcons for its new stadium.
“The Falcons stadium is 80 percent privately funded,” Reed said. “The city’s commitment is $200 million, which will come from the hotel/motel tax revenue. That means we are not on the hook for the debt and Atlanta’s good faith and credit rating won’t be jeopardized by the stadium.”
Reed characterized the Braves demands as “aggressive” and said they wanted transference of the The Ted property and $150 to $250 million in money for renovations to the stadium. Reed said that the city would have to float a bond to get the money, but he and the council believed that fixing roads and infrastructure was more important to the future of Atlanta. He also said there had been ongoing talks about better connectivity to The Ted, including the Maglev train connected to MARTA’s Georgia State University station.
“The bottom line is that the city was presented with a choice and that choice was encumbering debt and not having money to do anything else,” Reed said. “The Braves got a terrific deal from Cobb County and it’s ultimately a business decision.”
Reed said his love for the Braves had not diminished and that he was focusing on boosting the region instead of “playing the Atlanta vs. Cobb” game. “The Braves are moving 12 miles up the road, but for the next three years they will be playing at The Ted and we will support them.”
Asked if the city would reopen conversations with the Braves should the Cobb deal fall apart, Reed said he wouldn’t meddle in negotiations. “Let them play it out,” he said.
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