The Atlanta City Council on Monday voted to approve the budget for Fiscal Year 2020, which begins July 1. The proposed general fund is approximately $677 million. The budget was approved by a 14-0 vote. The budget includes no increase in the millage rate, a 3.1 percent pay increase for Atlanta Fire Rescue Department sworn personnel and 911 dispatches, increasing the minimum wage for city employees to $15 per hour, $800,000 in initial funding for the Office of Independent Compliance, and $150,000 for enhanced programming of senior services.
Emory University has purchased more property around the former Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter in the SoNo (South of North Avenue) district, according to a report at Curbed Atlanta. In May, Emory spent $8 million for almost an acre of land around the shuttered shelter in the 400 blocks of Peachtree and Courtland streets. Emory has already spent $6.2 million to buy the former homeless shelter at 477 Peachtree St. The property could become and innovation hub for arts, sciences and humanities programs.
North American Properties has announced that law firm Jones Day will fully occupy the new Building 500 at Colony Square in Midtown. The 135,600-square-foot, six-story building at the corner of 15th and Peachtree Streets will feature a lobby for Jones Day and retail space. The firm will move approximately 250 employees to the space in Summer 2021. Part of Colony Square’s renovation and reimagining by North American Properties, work on Building 500 is set to begin later this summer.