The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the city of Atlanta’s plans to help finance the new $1.4 billion Falcons stadium, allowing city leaders to move forward with issuing $200 million in bonds toward the project.
In an opinion issued Monday, the court upheld a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s decision last May to validate the bonds backed by hotel-motel taxes. Under the deal, potentially hundreds of millions more in those taxes could flow toward the project to fund interest payments, operations and maintenance.
The decision comes more than a year after a group of residents from English Avenue and Vine City first intervened in the deal brokered by Mayor Kasim Reed and approved by the Atlanta City Council in 2013, ending a legal challenge that threatened to upend a significant piece of the stadium’s financing. The stadium is set to open in 2017.
John Woodham, who represented the Rev. William Cottrell, Mamie Lee Moore, Tracy Bates, Joe Beasley and John H. Lewis III, collectively known as “intervenors” in the challenge, did not return a request for comment on Monday.
“I am pleased with today’s ruling and look forward to the completion of Atlanta’s newest world-class facility,” Reed said in a statement. He predicted the project will generate $155 million in annual revenue for the city, while retaining the football team for at least three more decades.
The Falcons, who were not a party to the lawsuit, issued a statement thanking the city and state authorities involved in the project.
Common Cause Georgia executive director William Perry said the watchdog group is “disappointed” by the decision, noting in a statement: “Not even the Supreme Court would protect two thirds of Atlanta citizens or the 75% of Georgians who did not support the public financing of this project.”
Reed — who championed the stadium after the state legislature punted on supporting the project with state-issued bonds in 2012 — has repeatedly said the stadium will boost tourism and economic development.
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