Teixeira Sells Quarry Yards Site To Mystery Buyer
Former Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira is bowing out of an Atlanta westside development site.
Teixeira and his partners sold the 70-acre mixed-use Quarry Yards site for $127M to a buyer known only as West Atlanta Acquisitions LLC, he confirmed to Bisnow.
"The buyer has asked us to remain silent," Teixeira, a partner with Urban Creek Partners, told Bisnow in an email. “We were in the middle of securing financing for Phase 1A [of the development] when the buyer came in and made us an offer that we couldn’t refuse.”
Teixeira told the Atlanta Business Chronicle Tuesday the buyer was an end user that “will be great for the city."
“I’d be happy to discuss whenever the buyer officially announces their intentions for the site,” he said in the email.
CBRE Senior Vice President Bryan Heller represented Urban Creek in the sale, Teixeira said.
Urban Creek is one of the developers that have flocked to Atlanta's westside, including Selig Enterprises and New York-based Youngwoo & Associates. The Upper Westside in particular has been a magnet because of the redevelopment of Bellwood Quarry, a former granite quarry turned reservoir that is being transformed into a 280-acre park, eclipsing the size of Piedmont Park by 95 acres. The Atlanta BeltLine also will loop through the area.
Urban Creek's original plan called for a $400M, 70-acre mixed-use project next to the park, a project that would include 575K SF of office, 75K SF of retail and a hotel. Quarry Yards also was set to include 850 apartments.
Teixeira acquired and assembled various parcels over the years to what eventually became Quarry Yards. In 2019, his firm transferred the title to 66 acres — the bulk of which was sold to the new owner — to another entity controlled by Teixeira, according to Databank, an Atlanta firm that tracks deed records. The value of that land at the time of the transfer was $58.8M, according to Databank.
But Urban Creek never managed to begin construction since announcing its plans in 2018. As development boomed on the Westside, many in the city expressed concerns about rapid gentrification, which culminated in Atlanta issuing a development moratorium on new building permits in March.
Teixeira told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, though, that the new owners are expected to address affordable housing issues beyond what the city expects in the area as part of the project.
Teixeira said Urban Creek is still retaining some West Atlanta sites that it will eventually develop into apartments and townhouses.
“It is a little bittersweet to not be developing Quarry Yards, but our vision has been validated, and this deal is a huge win for all parties. I'm extremely proud of what we created at Quarry Yards,” Teixeira said. “We’ve been approached by dozens of groups over the years trying to buy the site but this was the only deal that made sense for us and the city of Atlanta.”
