Georgia State’s portion of a $300 million redevelopment of Turner Field will not require any increase in student fees or request for state funding.
Instead, the university plans to fund its part of the project through a mix of private dollars, advertising and naming rights for the project’s athletic facilities, and other building funds. Georgia State’s president Mark Becker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that the university’s portion is estimated to cost between $100 million and $150 million.
Georgia State along with a private development team of Atlanta real estate firms Carter and Oakwood Development were named last month by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority as the winning bidders for Turner Field. The sale of 67 acres south of I-20 includes The Ted along with surrounding parking lots. A final sales agreement is expected to be reached over the next few weeks.
The team had previously unveiled to the AJC its $300 million plan that included converting Turner Field into a football stadium for Georgia State, along with academic facilities and a mixed-use community of private student housing, apartments, single-family residences and retail. Also planned is a 1,500-seat Georgia State baseball field at the former Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. An alternative option would include building a new football stadium and incorporating Turner Field into the campus and mixed-use development. No plans have been finalized, but there will “most likely” be football at Turner Field, Becker said.
Since the announcement there have been questions about Georgia State's ability to finance the project, which Becker dismissed.
“I found it humorous that people questioned whether we had the resources to to do this,” he told the AJC on Wednesday. Georgia State, through its foundation, has a real estate team — and partner in Carter — that has proven it can complete complex projects, he said.
Georgia State has become known as a catalyst for downtown development as the university has repurposed former office buildings and built new facilities for its expanding student population. Its largest development, a 4.2 acre complex of four student housing apartment buildings, opened in 2007 and cost $168 million and was funded with no public money, Georgia State officials said.
Becker likens the dynamic possibilities of the Turner Field project to Atlanta's Ponce City Market, which has reinvigorated the areas surrounding that mixed-use development.
“Georgia State is a large university and has done a lot of large capital projects, some that will come to a close as we’re introducing others,” Becker said. The university has identified projects that will be paid off or coming to a close during the expected five-year Turner Field development, and plans to redirect some of that funding to help pay for The Ted project.
That’s important for students concerned with rising college costs and state leaders guiding Georgia’s colleges. Before talking with the AJC on Wednesday, Becker also assured the Board of Regents that Georgia State could financially support the project. The board would have to approve any land the university wanted to purchase or lease for the project.
The regents finalized Georgia State's merger with Georgia Perimeter College on Wednesday, making Georgia State the largest higher education institution in the state with about 53,000 students and Becker at the helm.
Becker, who became Georgia State’s president in 2009, sees the Turner Field project as a continuation of the university’s growth. “Over time Georgia State is a university that has adapted to what Georgia has needed, what Atlanta has needed for over 100 years now,” he said. “We see this as part of the natural progression of Georgia State becoming a large, public research university known for outstanding quality and excellence in academics.”
“Having the area as a vibrant hub is our vision,” Becker said. “We expect it to be exciting during a football or a basketball game, but it is not going to require that to have the kind of activity that we want to see.”
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