Turner Field Transformation

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As everyone expected, Georgia State University and Atlanta-based developers Carter and Oakwood Development have been selected to become the new owners of Turner Field and the surrounding parking lots.

The joint venture plans to spend $300 million turning Turner Field into a college football stadium and the adjacent sea of asphalt into student housing, retail, and some greenspace....

image-1A process that will take six or seven months and end with a big document showing what residents want out of their four neighborhoods started Thursday night in a failed arcade and putt-putt complex across from Turner Field.
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? That is, the first public meeting of the Turner Field Stadium Neighborhoods Livable Centers Initiative study. More than 200 residents from Pittsburgh,...

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?Come Monday's deadline, three development teams had stepped forward to pitch ideas on how to transform the 67 acres that includes Turner Field and the sea of asphalt next to the soon-to-be-vacant baseball stadium. 
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? One, Georgia State University's joint venture with Carter and Oakwood Development that envisions student housing, greenspace, and retail — and which Mayor Kasim Reed...

image-1What people from Mechanicsville, Peoplestown and Summerhill want on the old Turner Field site is not surprising: shopping, fresh groceries, and green space rank high on their list.
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? What they don’t want, according to the neighborhood speakers at a public meeting Monday night, is to be ignored by developers.
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? “We want something we can be proud of,” said Jane Ridley, a...

image-1Cathy Woolard, the former Atlanta City Council president who's running to succeed Mayor Kasim Reed, is wasting no time dropping clues about her campaign message.
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? What in God's name is happening to the area around Centennial Olympic Park? The SkyView Ferris Wheel might soon be joined by other attractions, including a slingshot ride.
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? Atlanta Police used a phone's GPS...

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Georgia State University President Mark Becker, who's interested in building on Turner Field when the Atlanta Braves leave, says retrofitting Turner Field might be cheaper than building a new stadium. And could The Ted see a second life as a retail center a la Ponce City Market?

After some reluctance, Atlanta's Zoning Review Board has denied approval for a $55 million office...

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• Maggie Lee??
• Members of the Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition, wearing white, appeared at Atlanta City Council Monday in support of a LCI study of their neighborhood.?

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? Something huge is coming to the site of Turner Field ... sometime. People who live nearby hope a study just commissioned by the Atlanta City Council will inform what eventually happens...

image-1The Atlanta Braves told Mayor Kasim Reed on Tuesday that the team will be out of Turner Field by Dec. 31, 2016 — or possibly earlier.
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? In a statement released today by Reed's office, the mayor says the team has informed the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, the entity that oversees Turner Field, that it will not extend its lease agreement.
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? The team, which is...

• Joeff Davis/CL File

Sometime after 2017, Turner Field and its sprawling parking lots will be redeveloped when the Atlanta Braves head north to their new home in Cobb County. The residents living in nearby neighborhoods want assurances from the city that the future of the nearly 80-acre swath of land will be guided by their vision of the site — not just a developer's.

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More than 50 people...

• Dustin Chambers/CL File

The only developer that has publicly expressed interest in transforming Turner Field and its sprawling parking lots into a new mixed-use development last night shared its vision with local residents. Or, at least tried to share its vision. But outspoken and organized community members sent a loud and clear message to all developers: scrap your plans, start from...

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Hold up, Mayor Reed. He says the city is ready to expedite the sale of post-Braves Turner Field. According to Reed, the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority can seal the deal without public bidding or the approval of the Atlanta City Council or the Fulton County Commission. Unsurprisingly, some officials, like Fulton County Chairman John Eaves, are not cool with that.

Speaking of...

• Dustin Chambers/CL File
• What will replace Turner Field's parking lots?

Sixteen months have passed since Atlanta Braves officials announced that the team will leave Turner Field behind for a shiny new stadium in Cobb County. With their departure date getting closer by the day, many residents are wondering what will replace a site built for America's pastime but which hasn't served their...

• Joeff Davis/CL File

Atlanta residents should have an idea of what will replace Turner Field and more than 70 acres of adjacent land in the near future. Mayor Kasim Reed says in an interview that a deal might be finalized "very soon." Will the city work with Georgia State University and Carter or another private group?

Tesla Motors wants a Georgia judge to toss out a petition from local...

• Dustin Chambers/CL File
• Georgia State's campus could soon extend to Turner Field neighborhoods

Georgia State University has apparently decided that it will dominate much, if not all, of this week's news cycle. The AJC reports the state school has partnered with private developers and wants to buy Turner Field - plus the sea of parking lots that surround the baseball stadium:

Georgia...

• Wikimedia Commons
• "Can we still do the tomahawk chop?"

It's still anybody's guess what will replace Turner Field when the Braves make their controversial move to Cobb County in 2017. Affordable housing is one possibility, Mayor Kasim Reed has suggested. But here's another log for the fire: a horse-racing track with legalized pari-mutuel betting.

Elected officials have increasingly...

• Joeff Davis/CL File

"I've been so shocked by them moving the Braves out of Atlanta ... I just learned the last couple of days that they intend to tear the stadium down. I thought maybe they'd find, yet, a woman's soccer team or something like that. ... But the idea of turning it into a green-space park would be wonderful."

Ted Turner, who somehow just found out that Turner Field will...

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• 'Where will all this history go?'

As the Atlanta Braves and Cobb County continue to hammer out terms over the term's potential move to the suburbs, longtime Summerhill resident Tracey Long reflects on what she considers missed opportunities - and wonders how all the history that took place at the former Olympic Stadium, and subsequently Turner Field, will be preserved....

• PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOEFF DAVIS AND BROOKE HATFIELD/CL FILE
• HIGH ROLLER: Fulton Commissioner Robb Pitts is a leading advocate of casino gaming in Georgia.

The Atlanta Braves have already started packing for Cobb County. With the way team officials and county commissioners are talking, the final approval of $300 million in public funding seems increasingly imminent. If the ball club does in...

So what did the Atlanta Braves want from the city to stay at Turner Field? According to documents obtained from Mayor Kasim Reed's office, the team's executives wanted to split the cost of stadium renovation costs between the city, county and Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, get out from under AFCRA's oversight and deal with City Hall directly, and manage parking.

The team also...

• Dustin Chambers/CL File
• Mayor Reed says he does not want another Atlantic Station.

With the Braves' move to Cobb in motion, people are turning their attention toward what might replace Turner Field and its surrounding parking lots.

Mayor Kasim Reed, who yesterday told reporters that the TED would be demolished if the ball club moves, hasn't yet shared specifics about the potential...

• Joeff Davis
• Mayor Reed speaks at this morning's press conference at City Hall.

Major changes will head to Peoplestown, Mechanicsville, and Summerhill if the Atlanta Braves finalize a new stadium deal in Cobb County. Among the biggest: the razing of Turner Field and a massive middle-class-oriented redevelopment of the former Olympics complex and adjacent parking lots.

At a packed...

• Atlanta Braves
• Team hopes mixed-use development and parking will surround the new Atlanta Braves stadium in Cobb County.

The Atlanta Braves shocked the city this morning with its proposed move to Cobb County. It's a decision that had largely flown under the radar as city officials bent over backwards to keep Falcons' new facility Downtown (Atlanta City Councilwoman Carla Smith said she...

• Invest Atlanta
• Invest Atlanta wants parking lot outlined in red to become 'sports and entertainment district'

Atlanta's economic development agency tomorrow will ask developers how they'd transform the massive parking lot across the street from Turner Field into a "sports and entertainment district" that would include greenspace, retail, and residential developments, CL has learned....