The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reed is sure Underground will be sold
Mayor to unveil ‘huge, consequential’ plans to address homelessness.
Mayor Kasim Reed on Monday said he anticipates he will get a deal to sell Underground Atlanta done by today’s drop-dead deadline and that Atlantans can expect a major announcement on homelessness this week.
In an exclusive, wide-ranging preview of his “state of the city” speech set for Thursday, Reed handicapped the upcoming mayor’s race, struck a confident tone on the negotiations with College Park over car rental taxes needed to keep the Atlanta Hawks downtown and said he’s going to leave redevelopment of the civic center to his successor.
But while he was forthcoming about most things, he only teased about his plans on homelessness.
“It’s going to be huge and consequential,” Reed said.” We’re getting ready to make the biggest push around bringing an end to
homelessness that we have made as a community.”
It was the mayor’s last editorial board meeting with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before his second term ends at the end of the year and it was clear he wanted to convey what he had done to leave the city better off than when he found it.
He spoke of increasing reserves from $7.4 million when he took office in 2010 to $153 million today. He boasted of developments such as Ponce City Market and Buckhead Atlanta. And under his watch, he said, residents agreed last year to increase sales taxes to raise some $2.5 billion for MARTA, the biggest investment in MARTA and transportation in a generation.
“When you’re riding the new MARTA lines and all of the rest, that will be because we went for it,” he said.
He steered clear from much of the ongoing federal bribery investigation that has rocked City Hall over the past few weeks. Atlanta contractor Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr. last week pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery in order to obtain city construction contracts, as well as conspiring to launder money, from 2010 to August 2015.
Reed said he did not know who is being targeted by federal officials beyond Mitchell and said the city is fully cooperating with the U.S. District attorney’s office.
And he said he felt comfortable withholding property deeds from Atlanta Public Schools until the district’s decision in December to add affordable housing to future land development plans.
While his tenure is winding down, Reed laid out a full throttle agenda. Some of his biggest goals have yet to be fulfilled, including the sale of Underground. In an ultimatum earlier this month, Reed said the $34.5 million sale to South Carolina-based WRS Real Estate Investments needed to close by month’s end or he would look elsewhere.
During Monday’s meeting he sounded confident that an agreement could be forged in time, but seemed to indicate flexibility because of the complexity of the deal.
“That was effective,” Reed said of his deadline. “I’m trying to remain forceful without being unreasonable.”
He said he is considering leaving development of the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center to his successor in part because he hopes an agreement can be reached before the end of his term to close the nearby PeachtreePine homeless shelter.
“I think that PeachtreePine is going to be resolved before I exit office and I don’t believe there will be individuals using that facility,” he said.
In October, Reed scratched negotiations to sell the civic center property to a Texas development group for $30 million. He said closing Peachtree-Pine could increase the property’s value.
Here’s what Reed said on a host of other matters:
On the race to succeed him:
According to polling he’s seen, Reed said the horse race to replace him comes down to five candidates: Former city of Atlanta Chief Operating Officer Peter Aman and Atlanta City Councilmembers Keisha Lance Bottoms, Kwanza Hall, Mary Norwood and Ceaser Mitchell.
He dismissed his fiercest critics, candidates Cathy Woolard and Vincent Fort, as polling near the bottom of the heap and only making news when dinging him.
Fort, a state senator, said, “I understand why the mayor doesn’t like it when I say City Hall has lost its way. But that’s been confirmed by the U.S. Attorney a couple weeks ago.”
Said Woolard, a former Atlanta City Council president, “I’ve complimented Mayor Reed when I think he’s doing the right thing. When I disagree, I’m going to speak out because I’m running for mayor and it’s important for people to understand where I stand.”
On a possible casino downtown:
Reed said he would reserve final judgment on a casino until he sees what happens with a Georgia gambling bill as it maneuvers through the legislature. But his first inclination is to pass. “I don’t have very good feelings about gaming for cities,” he said.
On homelessness in Atlanta:
Reeds said there has been a 52 percent decrease in the number of unsheltered homeless individuals, 61 percent decrease in the chronically homeless and 62 percent drop in homeless veterans.
On negotiations with College Park on Philips Arena redevelopment:
In November, Reed and the Hawks announced an agreement in principle to renovate Philips Arena largely using taxpayer dollars. The $192.5 million overhaul will include $142.5 million in public funds, much of it to come from an extension of the city’s rental car tax. Atlanta shares tax dollars with College Park, where rental car companies operate their Atlanta airport outlets. Reed said he had received a list of wants from College Park though he did not give any details. “I’m a big boy, so we’ll engage in good faith negotiations,” Reed said, adding that he hopes the Hawks’ plan to put a D-League team in College Park sweetens the deal.
On the future of Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center:
Like the Underground sale, the deal to sell the civic center was part of a campaign to sell money-losing city properties to help fund the debt on a bond program for infrastructure projects. Many in the real estate community have speculated that the nearby Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter had been a hindrance to redevelopment of the site.
In early October, the Atlanta City Council gave Reed the go-ahead to begin negotiations to buy Peachtree-Pine, which he has said he wants to convert into a state-of-the-art police and fire facility.
“The lanes have operated exactly as planned,” she said. “Overall, traffic did seem to be lighter all across the metro area this morning. Vehicles did use the express lanes even with the traffic flowing well in the regular travel lanes.”
Goldberg said it will be about a week before GDOT has statistics on how many motorists have used the lanes.