Atlanta United FC has abandoned plans to build a $35 million soccer complex in DeKalb County and instead will build in Marietta, the team announced Friday.
Citing site preparation and remediation costs that were far more than expected, the team and DeKalb officials said they reached “a mutual conclusion that the site is not a viable location for the complex.” The county was prepared to spend up to $5 million on land preparation, but a team analysis indicated the cost would exceed $20 million.
“We are grateful for DeKalb County’s partnership in working through the due diligence process,” said Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank in a prepared statement.
“After reviewing the reports together, we are in agreement that the economics of the site have changed so significantly that neither party is comfortable asking the DeKalb taxpayers to take on the additional financial burden,” Blank said. “Unfortunately, the site just doesn’t work for this specific project.”
When asked whether the team’s decision was influenced by DeKalb’s recent corruption problems, spokeswoman Elena Cizmaric provided a statement: “The political situation in DeKalb County is complex, but was not the driver in our decision.”
The news is a blow to DeKalb, which hoped the soccer complex would be a key component of a new downtown near Memorial Drive. But it's a boon to Marietta, which has its own plans to redevelop the site off Franklin Road that now will house the complex.
Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin did not return messages Friday evening. It is unclear if the previous 30-year deal offered by Marietta to Blank and his soccer team is still on the table.
The Marietta Daily Journal reported in July that the city offered the team a 30-year lease of 49 acres the city owns on Franklin Road. The team would pay an initial rent of a $1 a year for five years and then fair market value priced rent for the remainder.
In DeKalb the team planned to build the complex on 41 acres near Memorial Drive. The complex would have included a 3,500-seat stadium, a corporate headquarters and three practice fields that the team planned to open before its inaugural season begins in 2017.
Just three months ago DeKalb commissioners voted to offer the team more than $12 million in incentives – including the $5 million for land preparation – over the objections of some angry residents. Some money has already been spent to begin clearing the land, though it was not immediately clear how much.
“As Interim CEO, I always am looking for opportunities for collaborations where all sides come out winners,” DeKalb Interim CEO Lee May said in a prepared statement.
“After reviewing the reports with Atlanta United FC, we decided together that the numbers going into it have changed so much that proceeding would not be a responsible decision for either party, and certainly not the DeKalb taxpayers,” May said. “We hope to work with Arthur Blank on another project in the future.”
“It is a disappointment. We were very excited about it, and we believed this would have been a great catalyst for economic development,” DeKalb spokesman Burke Brennan said. “With new money needed, everyone involved agreed it was too great an obstacle and too much to ask of the DeKalb taxpayers.”
Brennan acknowleged the loss of the facility was a disappointment, and added. “However, the land is ripe for another opportunity.”
DeKalb Commissioner Jeff Rader, who voted against the incentives, said the county should have done a better job of vetting the deal with Atlanta United.
“This was a very closely held decision on behalf of the administration,” Rader said. “We weren’t able to involve people who were more experienced in this decision-making process. We ended up with a site that had liabilities that ultimately proved to be insurmountable.”
Prior to announcing the deal with DeKalb County, Atlanta United had been negotiating with the city of Marietta for a site off Franklin Road the city hopes to revitalize.
The Franklin Gateway Revitalization project officially began in June, when the city demolished the former Woodlands Park Apartments at 861 Franklin Road. It is part of a $68 million bond initiative approved by city voters in 2013.
“This stretch of the city has been faced with higher than normal crime … and other issues,” a city spokeswoman said at the time. “Because of the bond, the city has been able to purchase extremely dilapidated apartment complexes, help those residents find other housing and demolish that property to market to other businesses”.
A recent announcement involves The Home Depot’s relocation of its IT department to Franklin Road at Newmarket, a 200,000-square-foot facility that opened in October and employs about 1,000 people. The company has plans to eventually add an additional 500 jobs.
The Home Depot deal was finalized earlier this year when the Development Authority of Cobb County approved property tax incentives on $200 million in investments by the company over the next 10 years. That money will be spent at the Home Depot headquarters, and at the new facility on Franklin Road.
Cobb Commissioner Bob Weatherford said landing the soccer team would be a huge win for the city and the county.
“I think it would help the redevelopment of the area and give us an anchor there,”Weatherford said. “It would be a catalyst, along with Home Depot, that’ll give that area credibility.”
Commissioner Bob Ott said a soccer facility would be “huge in furthering the city’s attempt to clean up and make that area more appealing and desirable.”
Atlanta United President Darren Eales said the team has done due diligence on the Marietta site and there are no environmental issues. But he isn’t sure the team can replicate the building it envisioned for the DeKalb site on the Marietta property.
Eales said the team must begin construction of the complex by early 2016.
“It is not going to be any cheaper,” he said.
Staff writers Mark Niesse and Doug Roberson contributed to this report
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