Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Wednesday he’s open to buyers outside of the private sector for the troubled Underground Atlanta complex.
Reed declined to “play real estate developer” with reporters, but he said he wants any redevelopment of the site to expand on the college atmosphere downtown cultivated by nearby universities, such as Georgia State. The city isn’t in talks with the school, he said, though he didn’t rule out the possibility of the university pursuing the property.
“I want to bring the university energy into the heart of the city,” he said, noting an influx of young residents in the area. “Having Georgia State in our downtown and the Atlanta University Center in our downtown, if you put the right product in the middle of it, I think we’re going to move.”
A Georgia State spokeswoman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Georgia State is often cited as a potential buyer by downtown boosters because of its work in transforming much of the eastern part of the city core into a contiguous campus.
When a Reed spokeswoman confirmed plans to put the complex up for sale, she said the administration wanted to free itself from bond payments — totaling about $8 million a year — that stem from a late 1980s reboot of the property.
Speaking at the Central Atlanta Progress annual meeting Wednesday, Reed told hundreds of influential executives and politicians that the deal to find a new owner will help the historic downtown complex “to finally be what it needs to be, a vibrant center of commerce.”
He invoked Ponce City Market, the $200 million-plus reimagining of the old City Hall East, which is being transformed into a mix of shops, offices, restaurants and hundreds of residences along the Atlanta Beltline.
Reed later told reporters that while universities do not pay property taxes, they boost the economy in other ways.
Georgia State has invested years and millions to build new instructional facilities and housing that has converted the commuter school to a more traditional campus with thousands of students who live, study and play downtown.
Reed said the driving force behind the Underground sale is preparation for a 2015 bond referendum worth $150 million to $250 million.
No matter what development comes next, Reed said, removing the property from the city’s books is a savings.
The city needs about $15 million in annualized savings to fund the infrastructure bond effort.
Reed said he isn’t worried about finding a potential buyer. The city receives weekly calls from developers interested in the 77-acre Turner Field property, to be vacated by the Braves in 2017, and based on that interest, he doesn’t anticipate trouble selling Underground.
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