Conservation Fund Vies With Developers for Choice Land

ATLANTA-Conservation groups here are racing the clock, trying to sew up choice land sites before developers buy the properties, area industrial brokers in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com.For example, the 19-year-old Conservation Fund, based in Arlington, VA, has contracted with local owner Herbert Greene to buy his 100-acre Utoy Creek in the city’s southwest corridor for $1.2 million, or $12,000 per acre. The land will be used for a city park.Brokers tell GlobeSt.com Greene could have realized about $1.7 million for the property if he had sold it to a developer. Instead, the seller is expected to receive tax credits for the difference, or about $500,000, as a charitable donation.Conservation Fund owns or has under contract six properties totaling about 145 acres within the city’s limits, as the organization focuses on acquiring more urban tracts instead of scouting only for rural sites, brokers tell GlobeSt.com. The Fund’s biggest local booster has been the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation which expects to invest up to $30 million over three years to create new green space inside the Interstate 285 corridor. The Foundation gave the Fund $2.5 million to set up an acquisition fund for quick purchases, brokers familiar with the land-buying program tell GlobeSt.com. Arthur M. Blank is the owner and CEO of the Atlanta Falcons National Football League franchise and co-founder of locally based Home Depot Inc.