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New
Convention Center for DeKalb County
$410,000 · Builders personal home with all the bells and whistles you want in yours!
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Tuesday’s
Tip First Step for Arts Center $2 Million Sought to
Lay Groundwork
Years of
planning for a convention center in DeKalb County appears to be
materializing with a proposal for a $100 million campus, possibly south
of Northlake Mall, that officials envision as one of metro Atlanta's
premier destinations for the performing arts and lucrative national
conferences. The DeKalb
Convention Center Authority, which had operated in virtual obscurity
until now, has asked the DeKalb County Commission to approve $2 million
for the early groundwork for opening an office, hiring a project manager
and scouting potential sites for a facility with 82,000 square feet of
meeting and exhibit space and a 2,500-seat theater.
"If we can
get this help, we can make DeKalb a player in the convention business,"
J.C. Cole, a member of the Convention Center Authority's board, told
commissioners last week. "It will bring in new business; it will
showcase existing businesses. We think this is exciting. We think this
is the right time." Competing
for conventions and concerts with Atlanta and the Gwinnett Arena, as
well as planned arts centers in Cobb and north Fulton counties, would
elevate DeKalb beyond its status as an affordable haven for the middle
class. Shopping
centers such as Perimeter Mall and the Mall at Stonecrest have
established DeKalb's retail economy, but arts and entertainment venues
in the county are limited. The
largest meeting spaces in the county include the Crowne Plaza Ravinia
near Perimeter Mall, which has a ballroom with a capacity of about
1,400, and the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church sanctuary, which
seats about 6,100. Perhaps
the two most sensitive and politically charged matters will be the
location of the convention center and how it will be financed. No
decisions have been made on either, though the Northlake-area site ranks
at the top of the list. Options for both location and financing were
laid out in a 2002 report commissioned by the authority. Northlake
ranked No. 1 The study,
which is expected to be updated with 2004 economic figures, should guide
the process. The report narrowed the nine recommended sites to three:
the Mall at Stonecrest, downtown Decatur and the intersection of La
Vista and Briarcliff roads, between Northlake Mall to the north and
Northlake Tower Festival Shopping Center to the south.
Stonecrest
ranked second in part because its virgin land will cost the least to
develop. The project would make the property, which already has a large
movie theater, a major entertainment complex. "I'm
concerned about the site that's been selected," Commissioner Hank
Johnson, whose district includes Stonecrest, said of the Northlake area.
"I'm not trying to advocate for any particular area. The eastern part of
the county is a great market for this kind of facility. You have I-20
and I-285, and the Turner Hill Road extension." However,
convention authority board members said that the lack of restaurants and
hotels at Stonecrest would force conventioneers to nearby Rockdale
County and deprive DeKalb of sales tax revenue. Decatur
ranked third on the list of recommended sites, earning strong
consideration for its attractive setting, numerous restaurants and MARTA
station. But the lack of parking and its location remote from main
arteries and interstates were detractors. The
Northlake area got the highest marks because it already has the retail,
hotels and restaurants to support conventioneers and theater patrons.
A
Northlake location presents the greatest potential as an economic
engine, the study found. But it also would be the most expensive, and
its construction likely would cause the most upheaval.
The high
value of the land puts the development of the site at more than $19
million, nearly twice the estimate for Decatur and nearly four times the
projection for Stonecrest. Preliminary
drawings call for a roundabout between La Vista Road and Briarcliff that
would carry vehicles around the convention center --- the sort of
construction that would tie up one of the major intersections in north
DeKalb. Still much to decide A
centerpiece would be an 87,000-square-foot performing arts theater and a
smaller black-box theater that seats 300. One feature that Cole said
would set the center apart from others in the region is a
10,000-square-foot, full-service kitchen. The price
invariably figures to stoke disagreement throughout the county about the
potential burden to taxpayers. In the short term, that responsibility
could be the $2 million to launch the project. To ease the impact on the
county budget, the authority asked for the funding in quarterly
installments. Jones said
as much as $500,000 could be allocated from economic development funds
later this year, or that he might recommend a line item in the annual
budget for next year. Ultimately,
bond sales and some types of taxes on hotels, rental cars or liquor by
the drink are likely. State law empowers the authority to issue bonds.
Jones held
out several funding possibilities certain to raise concerns from fiscal
conservatives on the commission and in north DeKalb: an increased
millage, a voter referendum for bond sales, or the donation of county
land. Authority
board members said the convention center would need as much as $700,000
from the county in each of the first several years until the center
becomes profitable. Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE PROPERTY LISTED
ABOVE OR THE TIP PROVIDED
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