Tyler Perry deal dead at Fort McPherson?

* Fort McPherson was formerly home to the Third Army, the U.S. Army Reserve Command and the headquarters of the Army Forces Command or FORSCOM.

* An original master plan for the site called for a science and technology park, mixed-use development and the preservation of historic buildings and green space.

DIGGING DEEP

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to report media mogul Tyler Perry’s interest in purchasing a portion of Fort McPherson for a possible expansion to his film and television businesses. The AJC will continue following each development concerning the future of the former Army installation and its potential impact on shaping the surrounding community.

DIGGING DEEP

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to report media mogul Tyler Perry’s interest in purchasing a portion of Fort McPherson for a possible expansion to his film and television businesses. The AJC will continue following each development concerning the future of the former Army installation and its potential impact on shaping the surrounding community.

Filmmaker Tyler Perry is expected to pull out of a deal to buy most of Fort McPherson and turn it into a massive movie studio, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned. It’s a move that would be a blow to redevelopment of the former Army post and the surrounding community just south of downtown Atlanta.

The media mogul now plans to expand his Tyler Perry Studios operations on more than 1,000 acres he acquired in recent years in Douglas County, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told the AJC.

Attempts to reach Perry were not immediately successful. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office declined comment, and several leaders of a civilian authority tasked with redeveloping the post declined comment.

A break-up of the would-be deal would cast doubt on the future of the 488-acre property, whose closure in 2011 removed about 7,000 military and civilian workers from an economically challenged slice of Atlanta. Local leaders and civilian authorities had long planned a life sciences campus and mixed-use development there, but no viable candidates for development of any kind had come forward until Perry.

The person, who declined to be named because the person is not authorized to comment publicly, said the sale process at Fort McPherson has taken too long and Perry needs to quickly move forward with plans to expand his production base.

The person said it is not clear if talks could resume in the future, but Perry is focused on the Douglas land.

An initial planned Oct. 15 closing date for a land sale with the Army came and went, and the transaction at one time faced a legal challenge from another group that wanted to build a studio there.

In June, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced the city and Perry were in talks to put a massive studio complex on most of the property. Reed then pitched the deal to the civilian authority — known as the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority, or MILRA. By August, MILRA and Perry entered into formal negotiations on a complicated purchase agreement.

The deal called for Perry to acquire about 330 acres, about two-thirds of the property, for a studio complex and tourist attraction. In a complicated transaction, MILRA would use $30 million from Perry to acquire the post from the Army. The authority would retain the remaining 144 acres — property about the size of Atlantic Station — for future development.

MILRA leaders have said Perry would essentially provide the money needed to bring the Army land into civilian control.

But Perry has grown frustrated at red tape and delays working with the civilian development authority and the Army, the person with knowledge of Perry’s thinking said.

Perry currently operates a large studio campus near Greenbriar Mall, but the person said no decision had been made about that facility’s future.

Redeveloping Fort McPherson has been a city and state priority since Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration. The plan envisioned a mixed-income housing complex that preserved green space and historic buildings and surrounded a life sciences campus that planners hoped would bring high-paying jobs. It also wanted housing and services for the homeless.

But little happened with the plan, and the Perry deal was the best shot at the site meeting its development goals.

In the months since MILRA began negotiations with the filmmaker, residents on a MILRA community engagement subcommittee have met to devise a wishlist for the filmmaker and the former military post.

The filmmaker’s apparent decision to now spurn Fort McPherson comes just hours before the committee with the MILRA board Thursday to discuss its vision for the site.

The MILRA board did not discuss with residents Thursday night the possibility of Perry walking from the deal.

Instead, committee members told the board that they would like to see all potential buyers of land pay fees — equal to 3 percent of the sale price, and 1 percent of future resales — that would fund a future community organization.

During the meeting, MILRA board chairman Felker Ward declined to respond to a resident who asked about the possibility that Perry has pulled out of the deal.

Resident Ron Shakir, a regular at Atlanta City Hall, later admonished the board for what he says is a lack of answers.

“To me that has been pretty much the problem about transparency,” he said. “We really need to know about what’s really going on at every important move.”

The Perry plans courted controversy in other ways. A competing studio team challenged the deal in court. The suit was recently dismissed, not because a judge found the case had no merit, but because the judge said the deal hadn’t been completed and, therefore, the court had no jurisdiction.

Fort, the state senator, said Perry is a man who “is used to getting what he wants, how he wants it and when he wants it.”

“If Tyler Perry thought a deal to be done quickly without delays and input from community he was wrong,” Fort said.