The FTAA office would expedite trade among the region's 800 million consumers. So far, only the US, Canada, Mexico, most Central American countries and Andean nations are supporting the FTAA.
The city is ready to offer the FTAA free land, buildings, infrastructure, equipment, discount Delta Air Lines tickets, low hotel room rates and space for 200 headquarters employees, Perdue says. Possible sites are Centennial Olympic Park, Atlantic Station, Carter Center and suburban College, Park, GA. The FTAA expects to pick a winner by summer or fall, local officials in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com.
Atlanta's venture for the FTAA would be called Center of the Americas. The city's and state's formal presentation to the FTAA was made by Hemisphere Inc., the political and business group formed to bid for the event.
For Atlanta's commercial real estate community, hosting the FTAA headquarters would mean a development contract for at least a 100,000-sf building and a golden opportunity for new retail outlets to surface in the headquarters vicinity, area brokers following Atlanta's bid tell GlobeSt.com. The city last hosted an international event in 1996 when the summer Olympics were staged at Centennial Olympic Park.
"The spinoff from a project like this could be new development locally of condos, apartments, retail, office and entertainment venues," a local broker who has sat in on several meetings of the Atlanta bidding group, tells GlobeSt.com.
In the running besides Atlanta, are Miami, Houston, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Galveston, San Juan, Panama City, Port-of-Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Cancun and Puebla, both in Mexico. Panama City and Miami have the inside track, Atlanta officials say.
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