In an email to The Signal, Georgia State spokesman Don Hale described the January 2017 date that the university hopes to break ground on its Turner Field project as “extremely premature”.
“The university, along with its corporate development partner, has made a proposal for the use of the Turner Field site. That proposal has not been accepted at this time, so it is extremely premature to consider a groundbreaking date,” Hale said.
This runs contrary to multiple reports where Georgia State and university president Mark Becker have said that they hope to break ground on its proposed project for the land in early 2017. The university would have to agree to a deal with the city of Atlanta which owns the land where Turner Field is located.
For work to commence at the Turner Field site in 2017 raises the question of where the football team will play its home games that year if the 30,000 seat football stadium included in the proposal is not complete in time for the start of the college football season.
The university’s $300 million proposal, in collaboration with the locally-based Carter Real Estate firm, includes for Turner Field to be retrofitted into the football stadium. Also in the plans is a new baseball stadium on the Turner Field parking lot that once was the home of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
Expanded student housing, retail space and parking are elements of the university’s proposal as well.
Georgia State inked an agreement to play its football games at the Georgia Dome until 2016, when it is expected to be demolished and replaced by the Atlanta Falcons’ new stadium that will also play host to Atlanta’s new Major League Soccer team.
The Panthers have scheduled non-conference games on the road against Charlotte and Penn State for 2017, but currently no home games. A home matchup has been scheduled for 2018 against Kennesaw State.
The 2017 date would position the university to break ground on its project immediately after the Atlanta Braves’ lease on Turner Field expires in 2016. The Braves plan to relocate to a new stadium in Cobb County when the lease expires. A formal groundbreaking for the Cobb stadium has been planned for later this month even though work has already commenced.
Last month, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said to WSB-TV Channel 2 that the Braves missed a deadline to inform the city on if they will extend the lease. The Braves have disputed this claim.
The city was hoping for feedback in hopes that it can move forward with the prospective suitors that include Georgia State. WSB reported in May that the site has also received interest from developers in California, Nevada, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Representatives from the city would not share specifics of the aforementioned proposals.
The Signal also reached out to Violet Ricks, executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreational Authority, which will make the final decision on awarding the property. Ricks had no comment on the story. Representatives from Carter also did not respond to requests for comment.
