The Atlanta Braves are in the process of completing the purchase of an additional 25 acres of land in the Cumberland area of Cobb County for about $15 million, team officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The land is near, but not contiguous with, 57 acres the Braves closed on in January for $34.2 million as the site of their planned ballpark and private, mixed-use development.
The additional 25 acres, consisting of several parcels the team has had the option to buy since last year, will be used for parking and a later phase of development, according to Braves Executive Vice Presidents Mike Plant and Derek Schiller.
“We’re doing what we said we were going to do,” Plant said Thursday, just before leaving to sign pre-closing documents.
The Braves will officially take ownership of the property next week when an electronic funds transfer is made.
While Plant was signing the documents, representatives from no fewer than 17 construction firms gathered at Cobb County’s administration building to hear details about the stadium project in advance of a May 8 deadline for submission of bids from general contractors vying to oversee construction of the stadium.
To qualify for the project, firms must have experience building at least three major sports facilities in the past 10 years, including one Major League Baseball stadium.
Among the firms represented at Thursday’s meeting were heavyweights in stadium construction, including the Hunt, Holder and Turner construction firms. Hunt and Holder are part of the general-contractor team for the Falcons’ new downtown stadium, which will be built during the same time as the Braves’ ballpark.
Michael Hall, a senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle, the project manager, said the county and team are still “working through all the parking solutions” at the site, but added that the most current plan is to build two parking decks “shelved into the hillside.”
The stadium will be a total of 1.1 million square feet, and the site preparation work will cost between $50 million and $100 million, Hall said.
That site prep work includes relocating two gas pipelines from the middle of the site to its southernmost edge.
“The pipeline is driving us right now,” Hall said. “Work has recently started on erosion control, and we’ll start on clearing trees soon.”
According to the project timeline, the general contractor will be selected by May 27, site clearing will begin in July, utility relocation and removal will start in September, foundations will begin being poured in October, and stadium construction will commence in February 2015.
The Braves are purchasing the additional land from the same seller — Maryland-based real estate titan B.F. Saul Co. — and at the same $600,000-per-acre price as the larger parcel the team already owns.
When the additional purchase is completed, the Braves will have paid almost $50 million for 82 acres of undeveloped land near the intersection of I-75 and I-285.
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