Mayor Shirley Franklin today announced that the City will enter into negotiations with a partnership of local developers for the purchase and redevelopment of City Hall East. The building was the former regional headquarters of Sears & Roebuck Company on Ponce De Leon Avenue.
"We are pleased to announce that the City has selected the Ponce Park team, a partnership of several distinguished local firms, to enter in the next phase of negotiations," the Mayor said. "We are excited to move to the next step. We believe we can create an exemplary mixed-use development for the neighborhood while enabling the City to identify new and improved space for our police, fire and parks and recreation employees."
The Ponce Park team, comprised of Lane Investment and Development Corporation, The Integral Group, The Morsberger Group, Adams & Company Real Estate, and the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, has proposed a dramatic transformation of the City Hall East site. Included in the proposal is the construction of over 1,300 residential units and substantial retail and office space. Significant upgrades in the public infrastructure are envisioned and will include nearly eight acres of parks and greenspace.
Emory Morsberger, Chairman of The Morsberger Group, speaking on behalf of the Ponce Park team said, "we are looking forward to working with the City. We realize that we have a long way to go, but we are pleased to have been selected and we are confident that we can make this an incredible development that works for everyone's benefit. Progress is coming.”
The team was selected following a thorough review of three proposals submitted earlier this year. A panel of external advisors, chaired by A.J. Robinson, President of Central Atlanta Progress and including Samuel G. Friedman, Chairman of AFCO Realty, Sherman Golden of Golden and Associates, Bob Hunter of the Metro Group and Catherine Ross of Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, assisted the City with the analysis and assessment of the proposals. The City also conferred with the impacted Neighborhood Planning Units and interested council members to understand the neighborhood's preferences for the site.
Terms of the sale and redevelopment will be negotiated over the next several months. Environmental assessments, traffic studies, and other analyses will have to be completed before the financial and other development terms are finalized. "We look forward to working with the Ponce Park team, neighborhoods, and the City Council to move to the next stage," Mayor Franklin said. "I am confident that by working together we can develop a plan that will accomplish the goals of the neighborhoods and the City of Atlanta."
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