Braves’ neighbors hope for real estate rebirth

In many neighborhoods, it would be pretty grim news to hear about the departure of a huge business – an entity that brought millions of people into the area who spent hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

But in Summerhill, such an exit is apparently just the opposite.

In the community just east of Turner Field, for two decades the home of the Atlanta Braves, the talk is of rising home values and new activity when the team bolts for a new stadium and mixed-use complex in Cobb County.

Prices are already rising and the climb will continue, said Eugene James, a real estate expert who, as a Summerhill resident, also has some skin in the game.

“Property values will increase 5 percent a year,” he said. “It could go up as much as 15 percent a year.”

In the past six months, sale prices in Summerhill have averaged $185,000, up 37 percent from 2010, James said.

That compares with an overall increase in metro Atlanta prices of 19 percent during the same period, according to the index calculated by Case-Shiller.

In 1997, when the stadium built for the Olympics began hosting the Braves – who had been playing next door at Fulton County Stadium – hopes were high that the team’s continued presence and upgraded digs could bolster the local economy.

Instead, various investment plans fizzled or evaporated. About 81 times a year – more during the playoff years – the fans arrived, watched baseball, got back into cars or Marta buses and went home. Worse, some of them drank and misbehaved. And the games seemed to draw at least some people looking to sell drugs or rob fans.

James, regional director of real estate data firm Metrostudy, thinks the Braves exit cannot come too soon.

“I really want to tell them to leave because, if anything, I think they have been a drag on the community.”

Real estate values have already been rising in the area, he said, “in anticipation of better things to come.”

Those expectations are driven in part by a plan for Georgia State University and private concerns to transform the stadium site into a more mixed, year-round development.

Not so upbeat

Ben Kubic, chief executive of real estate agency Virgent Realty, isn’t quite as upbeat. The steepest price-hikes are already in the rearview mirror, he said.

“Any speculators trying to take advantage of the Turner Field purchase in the immediate Summerhill area are too late,” he said.

About half the neighborhood’s property is now owned by investors, Kubic said. “The real speculation happened between 2010 and 2012.”

Roughly 2,400 people live in Summerhill, an area bounded on the east by Connally Street and Grant Terrace, on the south by Ormond Street, on the west by the Downtown Connector and on the north by I-20.

The homes are a chronological mix: About one-fifth of the houses were built before 1949, while one-third were built in this century.

It’s not just the Braves’ departure and the prospect of renewal stirring the pot. A series of factors are pulling prices up:

— More people want to live in the city, especially millennials. Summerhill has not been all that popular a destination, but it is getting more looks as many people are priced out of more expensive intown areas.

— While there’s still no grocery store in Summerhill, a series of projects along Memorial Drive to the north are bringing retail options closer. Moreover, construction of apartments and condos on Memorial add to the area’s profile and help to lift neighboring values. And a 109,000-square foot Kroger market is under construction at Glenwood Park south of I-20, a fairly quick drive from Summerhill.

— Schools are a crucial factor for homebuyers as they become parents. And several area schools are getting make-overs.

There is also hope that the next owners of Turner Field have plans that will do a lot more for the area than park cars.

While not final, the plan by Georgia State and private developers include a football stadium, a baseball field, instructional facilities, private student housing, apartments, single-family residences and retail — essentially a southern extension of the school’s downtown campus.

Bill Adams has been in the area long enough to have attended the Braves first Atlanta home game in 1966, but he thinks trading the team for Georgia State is a good exchange for the local economy.

“I think Summerhill will return to its past as a solid middle-class neighborhood,” said Adams, who runs a nearby real estate business. “For better or for worse, government entities and colleges are like anchors.”

A note of caution

Jill Reed, business development director and real estate agent for RE/MAX Greater Atlanta, sounds a note of caution about a new round of high hopes.

The area has some great strengths – some old houses, closeness to downtown — but its history itself is something of a burden, she said. The Braves’ departure will leave a vacuum until the redevelopment can take hold, she added.

“In the short run, I think it’s negative,” she said.

But Georgia State can be the game-changer, Reed said. “Look at the impact of Georgia State on downtown, that whole district is much more vibrant. You couple that with some business interests and I think they’ve got a shot.”

Yet for one resident – who is also an investor – the departure of the Braves and redevelopment of Turner Field are part of a broader trend, said John Colabelli, who lives in Summerhill.

“And unless there is a massive downturn in the economy, like in 2008, I think the trend is embedded.”

He has seen the trend first-hand.

A technology consultant, Colabelli also “dabbles” in home rehab and resale. He bought a two-bedroom, 105-year-old Summerhill house in 2013, gutted it, rebuilt it and put it on the market a few months ago.

“I got four offers in the first four hours. By the end of the open house, we had had 30 to 40 parties come through and I had nine offers to buy.”