HOW COBB WILL PAY
Cobb County estimates its portion of the stadium deal will result in annual debt service, including interest, of $17.9 million per year over 30 years. How Cobb plans to pay the annual tab:
$8.67 million from reallocating property tax revenue currently used to pay off bonds issued to purchase parkland
$5.15 million from a new tax on owners of commercial property and apartment complex in the Cumberland district
$2.74 million from a new $3-per-night fee on hotel rooms in the Cumberland district
$940,000 from an existing hotel-motel tax in the county
$400,000 from a new rental car tax
Total: $17.9 million per year
WHAT’S NEXT
- The Braves plan to hire a lead architect and proceed with design work on the stadium. Dallas-based architecture firm HKS has consulted on the project to this point.
- The Braves plan to immediately seek proposals from private developers interested in partnering on the mixed-use development that the team envisions adjacent to the stadium.
- The Braves and Cobb County must negotiate a series of more definitive contracts on various aspects of the deal.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved a deal Tuesday night to build a new Atlanta Braves stadium in the Cumberland Mall area.
By a vote of 4-1, the commission accepted a memorandum of understanding negotiated with the Braves that contains the key terms of a stadium deal and commits $300 million in public money to construction of a $672 million ballpark near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 285.
“We welcome you to our community of Cobb County,” commission Chairman Tim Lee said to Braves President John Schuerholz as the vote was cast.
If all stays on track, a 41,500-seat, open-air stadium will be built in time for the 2017 baseball season. At that time, the Braves would leave downtown Atlanta, their home since relocating from Milwaukee in 1966, and Turner Field, their home since 1997.
There is much work — and negotiation — ahead before Major League Baseball is played in Cobb County. The Braves and Cobb must complete a series of definitive contracts about various aspects of the deal. Some will require further approvals from the commission.
“We’re moving forward,” Braves Executive Vice President Mike Plant said as he left the commission meeting. “This was a big night for us. We were always confident in the leadership and wisdom here.”
The only commissioner to vote against the deal was Lisa Cupid, who said she wasn’t opposed to bringing the Braves to the county but felt the decision on the transaction was being unnecessarily rushed.
“The reasons offered for why we can’t wait … just don’t make sense to me,” she said, adding that she didn’t have “adequate time to make sure I am diligently protecting the best interests of the county.”
Others commissioners, though, expressed enthusiasm for the project.
“I have been looking for the next great economic development proposal for Cobb County,” Commissioner Helen Goreham said. “And I truly believe this is (it).”
The Braves have said they intend to build a privately funded, $400 million mixed-use development of restaurants, shops, condominiums and hotel adjacent to the stadium.
Lee, the commission chairman, said Cobb is “grateful” for the Braves’ willingness to call the county home.
Before the vote, Lee announced a change in the memorandum of understanding, capping the county’s obligation for capital maintenance and repairs on the stadium at $35 million over 30 years. The county’s exposure for such expenses had been open-ended in previous drafts of the MOU. Commissioner Bob Ott said that change was significant.
Seated in the front row of a packed meeting room for the vote were six Braves executives. Four of them, including Plant, who initiated discussions with Cobb in July, arrived almost three hours early — obviously eager for the night’s business to be conducted.
Behind the Braves executives, the room was packed with citizens on both sides of the issue, many making their positions clear with signs. Some stadium proponents wore blue T-shirts proclaiming Cobb “home of the Braves.” An opponent’s T-shirt pleaded for “No Cobb Co. Tomahawk Tax.”
The commission allowed an hour for public comments from county residents before taking its vote. Strong opinions were expressed for and against the deal. Several speakers sought more time and transparency for the public to examine a proposal that was announced on Nov. 11.
“I’ve been really disappointed in the veil of secrecy and the rush … to approve this deal,” resident Kevin Daniels said. “It’s not characteristic of the government I’ve grown accustomed to having in Cobb County, that I grew up with.”
Andrew Windham, who spoke in favor of the deal on behalf of the Cobb Young Professionals, said they “understand the epic and life-changing impact this opportunity avails not only to us and our community but future generations.”
But resident Amy Barnes asked commissioners to vote against the deal, calling it “nothing but a back-door SPLOST.”
Cobb businessman John Loud urged the commissioners to resist calls for a delay that he said might jeopardize the Braves’ move.
“We’ve got City Council members in the city of Atlanta who would love us to miss this golden opportunity,” Loud said.
The commission’s vote came two weeks and a day after the Braves stunned the state by announcing — initially to five reporters gathered in a Midtown conference room — the team’s plan to abandon Turner Field and build a new stadium in Cobb. From that early-morning meeting until Tuesday night, the Braves and the Cobb commission marched resolutely toward the vote, the Braves ignoring a call to reconsider from the Atlanta City Council and the commission rejecting calls to slow down from critics of the hasty process.
And the vote came less than five months after Plant and Lee, in a three-hour lunch on July 3, first discussed the idea of building a stadium in the county. Such stadium deals typically take two to three years, if not much longer, to get from initial conversation to governmental approval of an agreement.
The deal commits Cobb for $300 million toward the construction cost: $24 million upfront and $276 million from proceeds of bonds that will be repaid over 30 years from a mix of existing property taxes, existing hotel-motel taxes, a new 3 percent car-rental tax, a new $3-per-night room charge for Cumberland area hotels and a new tax on Cumberland area commercial property and apartment complexes.
That leaves the Braves responsible for up to $372 million, which could drop to $322 million if the team exercises its option to reduce the project budget by $50 million. The reduction, if made, would be related to a decreased need for parking structures, according to Plant.
In any case, $92 million of the Braves’ contribution will come from additional bonds to be issued by Cobb but to be repaid, including interest, with annual payments of $6.1 million by the team to the county. In all, the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority will issue $368 million in bonds, the total of the $276 million to be repaid with the various taxes and the $92 million to be repaid with the Braves payments.
The authority on Monday voted unanimously to approve the deal with the Braves and agreed to issue the 30-year bonds.
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