ATLANTA—Talk about a massive deal. Cobb County, GA just closed on a $376.6 million bond transaction to build SunTrust Park, which will serve as the Atlanta Braves' new home. The bonds will fund over half the cost of the $622 million stadium construction.
Butler Snow served as bond counsel for the issuance by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority. The firm also served as special counsel and disclosure counsel to Cobb County, where the new stadium will be located. Butler Snow attorneys Lesly Gaynor Murray, Blake C. Sharpton, and Ryan L. Pratt handled the transaction.
"This state-of-the-art stadium is opening a new era in sports for the Braves organization and Major League Baseball and a major impact development for Cobb County," says Donald Clark, Jr., chairman of Butler Snow. "Butler Snow is proud to be part of this historic new chapter in our national pastime and in the future of Cobb County."
The 41,500-seat stadium, located at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 285, is scheduled to open in April 2017. It will occupy about 15 acres of a larger tract being developed by the Braves as a mixed-use development.
The county is not relying solely on the bonds. Other stadium funding sources in the public-private partnership include businesses in the Cumberland Community Improvement District and the Braves.
The Atlanta Braves brought in a mega hotel partner in April. The 16-floor Omni Atlanta Northwest Hotel will offer 260 rooms, 12,500 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant, and an elevated pool deck and bar overlooking the plaza and ballpark.
Of course, the new stadium is bringing some challenges to Atlanta's local construction market. With construction booming, commercial real estate builders like Balfour Beatty are facing a familiar problem: labor shortages.
“The increased demand for labor since the economic comeback—especially considering large projects such as the new Atlanta Falcons Stadium, the new Atlanta Braves Stadium and other similar complex projects in Georgia—coupled with the reduction in workforce has led to the hiring of workers that are not as skilled as those that left the industry during the downturn,” Al Petrangeli, president of Balfour's Georgia division, tells GlobeSt.com. “This is affecting not only general contractors but the subcontractor community as well.”
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