STORY SO FAR
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has covered the Falcons’ pursuit of a new stadium since team owner Arthur Blank broached the idea in an interview with the newspaper in 2006. The Falcons formally settled Monday on a stadium site just south of the Georgia Dome after successful negotiations with two churches to acquire their properties near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Northside drives. How the negotiations with the churches unfolded:
March 15: The Georgia World Congress Center Authority board approves a stadium deal with the Falcons. It calls for $200 million of the construction cost to be paid from proceeds of city-issued bonds backed by hotel-motel tax revenue, and the rest to be paid by the Falcons, personal seat license sales and the NFL. In all, the deal calls for 39.3 percent of Atlanta's 7-cents-per-dollar hotel-motel tax to go toward costs of financing, operating and maintaining the stadium through 2050 — hundreds of millions of dollars more than the initial $200 million, according to projections.
March 18: The Atlanta City Council votes 11-4 to approve the deal.
April: Negotiations begin with two churches, Friendship Baptist and Mount Vernon Baptist, that would have to be purchased and razed for the stadium to be built on the "preferred" site just south of the Dome.
July 30: The Falcons declare the south-of-the-Dome site "not feasible at this time" because the needed property hasn't been acquired at this point, and the team begins a study of the alternate site one-half mile north of the Dome.
Aug. 1: The GWCCA terminates negotiations to purchase Mount Vernon Baptist after the church rejects a $6.2 million offer and seeks $20.375 million.
Aug. 6: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announces a tentative $19.5 million deal for the Falcons to purchase Friendship Baptist and calls on the GWCCA to "try harder" to reach a deal with Mount Vernon Baptist.
Aug. 16: Reed announces Mount Vernon has dropped its asking price to $15.5 million.
Sept. 11: The city confirms it has made a $14.5 million offer to Mount Vernon, with the Falcons supplementing the state's $6.2 million.
Sept. 19: Mount Vernon votes to accept $14.5 million for its property.
Sept. 22: Friendship votes to accept $19.5 million for its property.
After a summer of wrangling to buy two churches that stood in its way — including political maneuvering and a bit of high drama when negotiations broke down at one point — the new Atlanta Falcons stadium is officially set for the site that the city and state preferred all along.
In a letter to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, the Falcons informed the state agency that the $1 billion-plus retractable-roof stadium will be built just south of the Georgia Dome.
“It is now the definite site for construction of the (stadium),” Falcons president Rich McKay wrote, while team owner Arthur Blank referred to the site decision as “final.”
The Falcons’ declaration came on the eve of the contractual deadline for determining the site and more than a week after the two churches, Friendship Baptist and Mount Vernon Baptist, agreed to sell their properties and relocate.
The site, located at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. and Northside drives, long has been favored by the state and city because of its proximity to two MARTA stations, downtown and the convention center. But the site was thrown into doubt in late July when the state broke off negotiations with Mount Vernon Baptist, prompting the Falcons to consider an alternate location one-half mile north of the Dome.
Firmly committed to the south-of-the-Dome site, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office subsequently negotiated deals for the Falcons to acquire Friendship Baptist’s property for $19.5 million and for the Falcons and the GWCCA to jointly buy Mount Vernon’s property for $14.5 million.
Mount Vernon’s congregation voted overwhelmingly to accept the offer on Sept. 19, and Friendship’s congregation did likewise on Sept. 22.
Although those votes made the site choice apparent, the Falcons waited until Monday to make it official.
“This final decision regarding the location for the new stadium is the result of the efforts of many leaders within the City of Atlanta, State of Georgia, Georgia World Congress Center Authority and the two churches,” Blank said in a statement. “As the preferred site, the south site serves the best interests of many important partners, including the surrounding communities. We are grateful for the ongoing support of everyone involved in this project.”
Some $200 million of the construction cost will be paid from bonds backed by Atlanta’s hotel-motel tax, with the rest funded by the Falcons, the NFL and personal seat license sales. Hundreds of millions of dollars more in hotel-motel tax money eventually could go toward interest, maintenance and operating costs.
Reed, in a statement Monday, said the Falcons’ site decision “will have a positive impact on our great city for many years to come.
“I’m proud of the hard work we invested in the south site as the best location for the new stadium,” Reed said. “It took a little more work to get us to this place, but the long-term sustainability of the stadium and the surrounding neighborhoods were important priorities for me.”
Critics of the alternative north-of-the-Dome site, near the corner of Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard and Northside Drive, had complained that it was too far from MARTA and too close to residences.
The Falcons’ latest architectural renderings show the stadium on the south site. One rendering shows a pedestrian bridge over Northside Drive connecting the stadium to the Vine City MARTA station. The Falcons said the designs remain preliminary and subject to change.
The Falcons and the GWCCA next must finalize a definitive transaction agreement on the stadium deal. The voluminous contract, which is near completion, will be more detailed than the memorandum of understanding signed in April.
Other challenges also loom before the scheduled start of construction next year.
The GWCCA has said that as many as six other tiny parcels of nearby land, currently holding advertising signage and/or event parking, need to be acquired to make the south site operationally efficient. But unlike with the churches, the option of using eminent domain to acquire those properties hasn’t been taken off the table, if necessary.
Also, before bonds can be issued for the public portion of the construction cost, an agreement must be reached on how community benefits funds will be spent in neighborhoods immediately affected by the stadium.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2017. The Georgia Dome then will be demolished.
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