The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Forsyth vote advances arena plan
Hoping to lure NHL team, commission OKs $225M in bond money.
An agreement to commit millions in taxpayer dollars to support a Forsyth County arena trying to woo an NHL franchise back to Georgia was greenlit Tuesday — after undergoing a significant overhaul and some last-minute changes.
Forsyth commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a memorandum of understanding for $225 million in bond financing for the proposed 18,500-seat arena at The Gathering at South Forsyth, a $2 billion mixed-use project. That’s considerably smaller than the $390 million package disclosed to the public in January when commissioners approved an earlier nonbinding deal.
The decrease in public incentives is offset by cheaper rent payments for the developer and the county receiving less money per ticket sold at the arena.
To obtain the taxpayer support, developer Vernon Krause still must land an NHL expansion franchise, even though league officials say they aren’t looking to expand at this time.
The Gathering project is of an unprecedented scale for Forsyth, one of the metro area’s fastest-growing counties, and it has prompted some heartburn over the number of apartments, the potential public subsidies and the promise of bringing big-city events to the wealthy and conservative suburban enclave.
Commissioner Todd Levent, the sole dissenting vote, warned his colleagues against letting their guard down for the pursuit of pro sports.
“If we’re putting a glistening carrot out there to attract all of this over hockey, great,” Levent said Tuesday during three hours of debate. “But let’s make sure that we’re protected and not looking at a (hooked) worm that we bite real quick and they snatch us up.”
On Wednesday, Krause said he was “shocked and extremely disappointed” by some of the changes, which followed months of negotiations. He said in a news release that his team would evaluate whether to proceed after the commissioners tweaked some of the multiphased project’s timeline and asked for more ticket revenue.
“The goal continues to be to strike a deal that is beneficial to the county, its residents — of which I am one — and Krause Sports and Entertainment, and present a solid plan to the NHL for consideration as they ponder possible expansion,” Krause said. “However, the county cannot keep moving the goal line if that is to happen.”
The new terms reflect, in part, an inability by the county to obtain state law changes that would allow Forsyth to create an arena authority to manage the facility, instead having to rely on the county’s existing development authority to issue the bonds.
However, the plan still involves the creation of a Tax Allocation
District, which, if approved by voters, would allow the developers to tap into newly created property taxes generated by the development to help fund the project.
The agreement allows the development team to move forward with the zoning and permitting to begin construction on the first phase, which is slated to include 600 apartments, a hotel and at least 500,000 square feet of office and retail space.
Krause’s team also has agreed to build a fire station and sheriff ’s precinct and a connector to the county’s trail network, and to set aside 5% of apartments to be built at rents affordable to first responders and teachers.
The development team — led by Krause, who owns a network of car dealerships — refined some details of the proposed 84-acre project along Union Hill Road near Ga. 400.
Consisting of four phases, the entire project is proposed to include the $700 million arena, 1.6 million square feet of office space, hotels with a total of 500 rooms and about 2,000 residences, mostly apartments.
Krause’s group is one of two in metro Atlanta that have proposed arena and entertainment district plans anchored by an expansion
NHL franchise. In Alpharetta, a group led by former NHL player Anson Carter has proposed a similar project at North Point Mall.
The NHL is not currently in expansion mode. If either development team lands an NHL franchise — and that’s a big if — it would be the third time the league has attempted to make top-level hockey work in metro Atlanta, following the departures of the Flames and Thrashers. Other competitors such as Houston and Salt Lake City haven’t had their first crack at the NHL.
The Gathering’s arena is scheduled as part of the second development phase. If built, the arena will be transferred to the county, where it won’t generate property taxes. The Gathering team agreed to pay $100,000 annually in rent — down 95% from January’s proposal of $2 million per year. The county also will receive $1.50 per ticket sold at the arena.
The county economic development arm, Forward Forsyth, was not included in the memorandum of understanding, even though its board would have to agree to issue the bonds.
Alex Warner, vice president of economic development with Forward Forsyth, said it will likely be structured where the county pays off the debt over 20 years, requiring $18 million in annual payments to cover the debt issuance fees. The county expects to pay off the debt through increased hotel-motel tax collections, ticket sales and the creation of a TAD.
In theory, as the area develops, increases in property taxes within the TAD are diverted to repay bonds. After the bonds are repaid, the city, county and schools receive the benefit of the new higher property values.
Warner warned that the Gathering team will likely ask for more public investment as the arena gets older, similar to Atlanta pitching in more than $142 million to refresh what’s now known as State Farm Arena.
“A lot of our tax revenue benefits come down the line,” Warner said. “It feels like by the time it starts to get good, there’s going to be another ask.”
Several Forsyth residents sporting hockey jerseys showed up in support of the project during the three-hour meeting.
“My whole life, we went somewhere else to have fun and we left our money with them,” said Forsyth native Derek Brooks. “So I think it’s awesome to have an opportunity for people somewhere else to come to Forsyth County to have fun and leave their money that will improve our community long-term.”
Others decried having to take trips to Atlanta, saying it is urbanites’ turn to wait in traffic along Ga. 400 to attend events.
Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills tried to leverage fears of Atlanta crime when attempting to get the Gathering team to commit to giving the county $2.50 per event ticket at the arena, which the developers said would put them at a competitive disadvantage.
“I don’t see how this dollar more per ticket is going to put us out of competition,” Mills said. “You’re not having to go to downtown Atlanta. That means you’re not getting your purse stolen. You’re not going to get mugged.”
Only a few residents spoke against the project, fearing the number of renters who would move into the county and the potential financial risk to taxpayers if pro hockey does come to town.
“We’re putting $225 million on the line,” said resident Brian Hughes. “That’s a lot of money.”
In her bid to be the Republican nominee for president, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley drew votes from Democratic and Republican voters as she positioned herself as an alternative to former President Donald Trump and the candidate more likely to defeat President Joe Biden.
With Haley out of the race, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of votes cast in the March 12 presidential primary found no clear evidence of whom the majority of Haley supporters likely will support in November. But some political scientists say those voters are likely to vote for Trump — if they vote for president at all.
“By and large, the No. 1 factor when we consider vote intentions is partisanship,” said Jeffrey Glas, a lecturer in the political science department at the University of Georgia. “I think those Nikki Haley supporters are as likely to vote for Donald Trump as to not vote, and I suspect those are both more likely than voting for Joe Biden in 2024.”
Cross-party approval ratings — that is, approval of one party’s president by supporters of the opposing party — have decreased since 2008. While 14% of Republicans approved of former President Barack Obama after his second term, just 7% of Republicans approve of Biden, the Pew Research Center says. From Democrats, Biden’s current ratings also are lower than Obama’s while in office.
Cami Nail, a Fulton County volunteer for Haley’s campaign, is not enthusiastic about Trump being the Republican nominee, but she still plans to vote for him in November. “Would I love to have a candidate that doesn’t have the baggage that this candidate has? Absolutely,” she said. “There’s no perfect candidate, so you have to go with who will support the majority of your values.”
A large share of voters polled are unhappy with Trump, and many may choose to sit out the election instead of voting for Biden. In Virginia, a state with an open primary like Georgia’s, 95% of about 1,700 Haley voters who responded said they would be dissatisfied if Trump wins the nomination, an exit poll by CNN showed.
Tom Bell, chairman of the real estate investment firm Mesa Capital Partners, endorsed Haley and donated to her campaign. He did not vote for Trump or Biden in 2020, and said that he would not vote for either candidate in this year’s general election.
“The way I look at it, I’m a real Republican, and the Republican Party that (Trump’s) created is something very different from what I subscribe to,” he said.
It is unclear how many of Haley’s 77,000 Georgia voters are Democrats likely to vote for Biden in November. Roughly 19,000 voters in the Republican primary this year cast a ballot in the 2020 Democratic primary. If all 19,000 of these voters cast a ballot for Haley, they would account for one quarter of her votes, leaving the remaining majority as probable Trump supporters or those who plan to abstain.
Further, some of the 19,000 votes from 2020 Democratic voters may be canceled out in the general election by voters with a history of voting Republican who cast Democratic ballots in this primary. There were about 7,500 voters in this year’s Democratic primary who voted in the 2020 Republican primary. These crossover voters account for 3% of the votes in each primary.
Other indications of Haley’s Democratic base come from her vote share. Some of the areas where Haley’s vote share is highest — such as Atlanta, Athens and Savannah — voted for Biden in the 2020 election. Haley won her highest vote share in DeKalb and Fulton counties, where combined she had about 15,000 votes.
An AJC analysis of political donations to the Haley campaign provides more insight into what her supporters might do in November.
Haley’s campaign attracted more than four times as many former Trump donors than donors who contributed to Biden four years ago. More than 380 Georgia donors who gave money to Trump in the 2020 election donated to Haley’s campaign this election cycle. Just 80 of Biden’s 2020 Georgia donors gave money to Haley’s campaign. More than 8% of Haley’s campaign contributions from Georgia came from donors who donated to Trump’s 2020 campaign, totaling roughly $160,000. Just 2% of her donations came from previous Biden donors, totaling about $36,000.
More than 100 Georgians — or 2% of Haley’s donors — have donated to both Haley and Trump. Just 12 Georgia residents donated to both Haley and Biden, according to an AJC analysis of Haley’s most recent fundraising report with the Federal Election Commission. The report catalogs donors who give at least $200 and does not represent Haley’s fundraising from super PACs and joint fundraising committees.
Leah Aldridge, president of Women Lead Right, gave both her time and money to Haley’s campaign — donating and traveling as a volunteer to New Hampshire and South Carolina. She told the AJC that her vote is Trump’s to lose and that she will not vote for Biden.
Disappointed at Haley’s truncated run for office, Aldridge believes the former candidate’s influence is far from over.
“I don’t believe Nikki Haley is going to be a footnote in history,” she said.