Report: Norfolk Southern move tied to Gulch

The CEO of Norfolk Southern reportedly said in an interview Wednesday his company won’t move its headquarters to Atlanta if the City Council spikes a development deal for downtown’s Gulch.

The ultimatum comes as the council is expected to vote Monday on a $1.9 billion financing package for the planned $5 billion downtown project. California-based developer CIM Group plans a 40-acre mix of offices, apartments, hotels and retail above the empty swath of railroad lines and parking lots between the Five Points MARTA station and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Norfolk Southern owns key land CIM wants to buy to make its downtown mini-city a reality. The railroad wants to use proceeds from the sale to help finance its new home, likely in Midtown.

An employee complained via a hotline, an internal investigation began, and the findings were troubling.

Some lowentrance exam results were intentionally deleted, investigators found. Waivers to omit test results from applications were routinely granted to students, although they didn’t request them, the investigators’ report says.

Kacy Jackson, who worked there for more than two years, said supervisors made her job so difficult after she complained about demands to change data that she resigned in January. Jackson filed alawsuit last week against the University System of Georgia, which oversees operations at Georgia State, under the Georgia Whistleblower Act.

The complaint says Jackson and other employees were directed to manipulate admissions records by Toby McChesney, who was the assistant dean of graduate recruiting in the college.