Mayor Kasim Reed says the sale of Underground Atlanta to a South Carolina developer “represents a new day” in the history of the long-struggling shopping center and for downtown Atlanta.
“It’s sometimes easy to forget that Underground Atlanta was once a thriving center for entertainment, dining and nightlife. It also happens to be the place where the city of Atlanta started,” Reed said during a press conference on the sale. “Today represents a new day. Underground Atlanta will once again attract consistent and diverse patronage.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported on Tuesday that Mount Pleasant-based firm WRS Inc. is under contract to purchase the nearly 12-acre underground site for $25.75 million.
Developer T. Scott Smith plans to convert the struggling center into a mixed-use development with a grocery anchor and apartment homes in coming years.
The city and WRS anticipate closing on the deal in mid-2015, Smith said, with construction to begin by 2016. Smith said he expects a total investment of $150 million to $200 million in the project.
Reed said the funds will pay off the $8.8 million the Atlanta City Council approved to buy out CV Underground, which has 72 years left on its lease to manage the site, and pay off the remaining bond debt.
“You all saw Underground. It was never going to change. It was never going to have (hundreds of millions in investment) and the city was never going to put that much money in it again,” he said.
Reed said WRS is “committed to making Underground Atlanta a place people can live and shop every day, instead of a place they visit once in awhile.”
For updates, return to AJC.com.
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