Sembler might build Falcons stadium in Doraville

The developer negotiating to buy the former General Motors assembly plant in Doraville is floating the idea of building a stadium for the Falcons there.

The Sembler Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla., has proposed using 90 acres for the stadium, with the remaining 75 acres going to mixed-use development, according to city documents. The stadium could have a retractable roof and cost approximately $1 billion.

“It is a possibility, but we don’t know yet what it will be,” Doraville Mayor Ray Jenkins said Wednesday. “It’s an excellent spot for anything.”

Jenkins wrote a memo to the Doraville City Council in September that said Sembler offered two scenarios: a “Town Doraville” mixed-use development similar to its Town Brookhaven project near Oglethorpe University, or mixed-use with a new Falcons stadium.

Falcons President Rich McKay said, “Sembler and a number of developers contacted us many months back when GM put the site up for sale. I guess one of the concepts being floated by Sembler was a stadium development. We have had preliminary discussions with them.”

The Falcons play at the 16-year-old Georgia Dome downtown, which is older than 20 other NFL stadiums. The NFL frequently awards Super Bowls to cities with newer stadiums.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank has said he wants a new stadium when the bonds sold to build the Dome are paid off, probably around 2015 to 2020. The team’s lease of the state-owned facility expires in 2020 or when the bonds are paid off, McKay said.

The possibility of a new Georgia Dome is included in a master plan recently announced by the Georgia World Congress Center, manager of the Dome.

“We have met with the Congress Center Authority numerous times and would love to get something done long term, and we’ll keep working on it,” McKay said.

The Dome is near CNN and Centennial Olympic Park, which has become a popular tourist destination with the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. Losing the Falcons would be a huge blow to Atlanta’s efforts to rejuvenate its core.

Doraville is a working-class town of 11,000 residents that straddles I-285. The plant site, bordered by MARTA rail and the Perimeter highway, is a desirable location for transit-oriented development and would be easy to get to for Northside residents. Buford Highway, lined with Latin and Asian businesses, and Ga. 400 are nearby.

“The site in Doraville is a special location,” McKay said. “So we felt like it was something that we had to at least look at and see what’s being proposed. But right now it’s pretty preliminary.”

Doraville Councilman Bob Roche said, “We don’t have enough information to make a decision, but I certainly wouldn’t have a problem with a stadium.”

No deal is expected soon. GM wanted to sell the property by the end of the year but talks have stalled because lending and investing have all but shut down, Jenkins said. The city projects that the first phase of the development won’t be completed for eight years, if the feeble economy doesn’t force a delay. Demolition alone is expected to take 18 months.

Sembler spokesman Angelo Fuster said the company signed a confidentiality agreement with GM, so it would not comment on any proposals. “Negotiations are ongoing,” Fuster said. Sembler’s other projects include the Edgewood Retail District near Little Five Points, Lindbergh Plaza and the Prado in Sandy Springs.

GM would not confirm it is even talking with Sembler, saying only it has been in discussions with one company for several weeks.

“Until we have a final deal, there’s certainly a lot of rumors and speculation floating around,” spokesman Dan Flores said. In September, GM produced its last vehicle at Doraville, a Pontiac Montana destined for Canada.

Redevelopment of the 165-acre site would be the largest so-called brownfield project in metro Atlanta. Atlantic Station in Midtown, a former steel mill site, is 138 acres, and the former Ford Motor assembly plant in Hapeville is 122 acres.

Originally, four companies were vying for the project. But Jacoby Development, which started Atlantic Station and recently bought the former Ford site, quickly dropped out. That left Sembler, New Broad Street Cos. of Orlando and Hines of Houston. New Broad Street and Hines have both said they are not in discussions with GM.

Stadium construction costs have soared. About $1 billion was spent on the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium, while the New York Jets and New York Giants will play in a $1.3 billion facility, now under construction.

Yet, massive spending does not guarantee a surrounding area will be lifted up. Developers have to feel confident there’s demand for housing, hospitality, retail and offices near a stadium.

“The government can’t fabricate market demand where it doesn’t exist, ” said Robert Puentes, an urban planning expert at the Brookings Institution. The area around Turner Field, for example, where the Braves play is still considered underdeveloped.

Doraville’s city council plans a special meeting in January to discuss the GM redevelopment. “We are still researching how a stadium or any project could affect us,” Jenkins said. “We have to work with DeKalb County and the city to make it work as best we can.”

— Staff writers Donna Lewis, D. Orlando Ledbetter, Michael Kanell and Leon Stafford contributed to this article.