2 mayoral candidates win backing of real estate execs

Real estate heavyweights are in opposite corners in the Atlanta mayor’s race.

Shailendra Group CEO Shai Shailendra and executives from Carter and H.J. Russell & Co. are backing state Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta). Tad Leithead, Cousins Properties’ senior vice president for development, and Matt Gove, Cousins’ ex-marketing and communications vice president, are helping Lisa Borders.

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Rich Addicks/raddicks@ajc.com

Lisa Borders is being helped by Tad Leithead, Cousins Properties’ senior vice president for development, and Matt Gove, Cousins’ ex-marketing and communications vice president.

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Georgia Sen. Kasim Reed has the backing of Shailendra Group CEO Shai Shailendra and executives from Carter and H.J. Russell & Co.

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Mayoral candidate and Councilwoman Mary Norwood does not have big-developer backing. But, she said, her contributors include 40 developers.

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Mayor Shirley Franklin cannot seek a third term. Her seat has attracted 13 candidates who have filed paperwork to raise funds. The election is Nov. 3.

Borders, president of the Atlanta City Council, is a former senior vice president of marketing and external affairs at Cousins.

She is president of the Grady Foundation, which raises money for Grady Health System. Gove is the health system’s senior vice president for marketing and strategic planning. His former boss, Cousins CEO Tom Bell, is on the Grady Memorial Hospital board.

“There are a lot of individuals inside Cousins who do and will support Lisa for mayor,” Leithead said.

Reed is a partner at the Holland & Knight law firm. Carter partners Bob Peterson, Jim Shelton, Trent Germano and Scott Taylor have been introducing Reed to the business community.

“Kasim is uniquely qualified mainly because of his legal and business experience,” Taylor said.

Carter competes with Cousins. Both companies were in the running to manage the design and construction of the Center for Civil & Human Rights project, which will be built in downtown Atlanta. Cousins and Gude Management Group were selected for the job.

A third leading candidate for mayor, City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, does not have big-developer backing. But, she said, her contributors include 40 developers.

“I have wonderful people from all over the city who’ve helped raise some money,” Norwood said. “My campaign is very grassroots.”

Real estate pros can give to more than one candidate, so their donations are not as significant as campaign help.

Why does it matter that they are helping candidates? Because Atlanta is a development-happy town. In an Urban Land Institute report that came out late last year, one critic labeled the pace of office construction in Buckhead as “goofy.”

“The real estate development community is to Atlanta what the financial services industry is to New York,” Reed said at a Midtown Starbucks one recent morning.

Borders, in a phone conversation, said almost the same thing: “Development is to Atlanta what cars are to Detroit and entertainment is to L.A.”

If real estate executives believe that by backing the winning candidate they will have a competitive advantage, they’re not saying so publicly.

“We compete day in and day out on projects throughout the city and hope we would work favorably with all the elected officials,” Carter’s Taylor said.

Borders and Reed both said business people who back them would not be rewarded with favorable treatment.

“Absolutely not,” Reed said.

“No, not in my administration,” Borders said. “Patronage goes out the window. Carter has a good record, Cousins clearly has a superior record.”

Reed disputes the contention that Atlanta is overbuilt, but added, “What we need is a very sharp focus about what is right for Atlanta. It’s time now to catch our breath.”

He suggested the creation of a new position, that of an economic development czar who would make it easier for business to interact with the city.

Borders said Atlanta is overbuilt. “We have a lot of empty space, so developers are not nearly as stable as they once were,” she said. “It means there’s no new development on the horizon.”

Developers cited transportation, homelessness and safety as three problems the mayor will have to address.

“It’s really important to have the city safe,” CEO Shailendra said.

Reed, who is championing a bigger police force, added, “If we do not get our arms around public safety, Atlanta is really at risk.”

Borders said her primary focus will be on getting the city’s finances in order. That would include outsourcing some services, like parks and recreation, to nonprofit organizations.