This Week's Atlanta Deal Sheet: Forsyth Approves $390M Tax Break If Arena Lands NHL Team
A mixed-use development proposed in Forsyth County has been approved for $390M in subsidies and tax breaks so long as the developers can lure a National Hockey League team to the state.
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, in a 4-1 vote, approved on Wednesday a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Krause Auto Group CEO Vernon Krause for an incentive package for The Gathering at South Forsyth, a project that would include an 18,700-seat arena for an NHL expansion team, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Krause is leading a group of investors proposing the $2B project, which, aside from a hockey arena, would also include 1.4M SF of offices and retail, multiple parking decks, 450 hotel rooms and 2,000 residences on a site off Union Hill Road some 30 miles north of Atlanta along Georgia 400, according to the AJC. If the project moves forward, developers would build it in four phases that would be complete in 2033, the AJC reported.
According to an EY analysis of the arena project, Forsyth would need to contribute $350M for the arena, splitting the cost with the developers, while also chipping in $40M for a parking deck, according to the AJC. But the road to reality for The Gathering is long and far from certain. Aside from getting an NHL team back to Georgia - the Atlanta Thrashers left for Winnipeg in 2011 - Forsyth voters would need to approve a tax allocation district, and the Georgia General Assembly would need to approve the creation of an arena authority and an increase in the hotel-motel taxes from 5% to 8%, according to the AJC.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Piedmont Healthcare completed its 43K SF expansion of the North Tower at its Piedmont Cartersville hospital campus. The project, which broke ground in August 2022, cost $24.8M and added two more floors to the three-story North Tower. This addition allowed the hospital to increase storage and add 20 short-term patient beds and an 11K SF expansion for its sterile processing department. McCarthy Building Cos. was tapped as the general contractor.
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Nonprofit religious group Christian City is planning an expansion of its 500-acre, socially conscious, mixed-use campus in Union City. The 69-year-old organization teamed up with Atlanta architect Jeff Floyd and Choate Construction founder Millard Choate to design a neighborhood at the corner of Peters Road and Highway 138 that would include retail, medical office, townhouses, lofts-over-retail, a self-storage facility and the Early Learning Center, a child-focused education center run in partnership with the YMCA.
Christian City already provides housing, healthcare, crisis intervention and support for youth and senior adults. Its existing facility houses more than 1,000 residents.
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ECI Group, in a joint venture with The Griffin Fund, has launched construction of the $78M The Averly Collins Hill apartment project in Lawrenceville. The project will include eight three-story, garden-style apartment buildings encompassing 300 units as well as a 7K SF clubhouse.
ECI obtained a $46M construction loan from Synovus Bank for the project, located at 700 Collins Road, more than 2 miles east of the newly expanded Northside Gwinnett Hospital.
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DXD Capital just delivered a 71K SF, 700-unit Public Storage facility at 895 Thornton Road in Lithia Springs. ECI landed a $12.2M construction loan from Century Bank, according to data compiled by Reonomy. The cost of the project was undisclosed.
PERSONNEL
Emily Richardson has been named vice president of the landlord services group at Colliers in Atlanta. This marks Richardson's return to Colliers after taking a "career pause" from the firm starting in 2020, a spokesperson said. In Richardson's previous stint at Colliers, she served as senior associate. The 15-year commercial real estate veteran was also a vice president of business development with Office Images.
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Cortland has hired Abby Bowden as vice president of investor relations for the multifamily development and investment company. Bowden will be tasked with communicating with investors in Cortland’s various investment funds and prospecting new institutional investors. She will report to Cortland Senior Managing Partner Ned Stiker. Prior to Cortland, Bowden was vice president of client services and capital formation at Atlanta-based Stockbridge.
SALES
Unilev Capital Corp. purchased a light industrial portfolio totaling 141K SF in Norcross from Berkeley Partners. Unilev paid roughly $18.2M for three buildings, according to Gwinnett County records.
The buildings at 6420-6476 Warren Drive all were built between 1973 and 1978 and are 86% leased to 13 tenants. Berkeley purchased the buildings for $12.2M in 2021, according to the Reonomy database.
JLL Senior Managing Directors Matt Wirth, Dennis Mitchell and Britton Burdette and Directors Jim Freeman and Mitchell Townsend brokered the sale.
