Suzanimal
12-28-2014, 01:01 PM
Too long to cut-n-paste the whole thing.
Parts of Atlanta are transforming because of a federal program designed to pump millions of dollars into neighborhoods with high poverty and unemployment, but many of these places are a far cry from the city’s toughest areas.
Instead, downtown — home of Centennial Olympic Park, major hotels and a smattering of million-dollar condos — is benefiting from the makeover, raising questions over whether commercial interests are taking priority over more dire needs.
Federal law lets financial middlemen hand out special tax credits to subsidize projects in areas suffering from some of the nation’s worst economic distress. Under guidelines for these New Markets Tax Credit, large parts of Atlanta qualify, including downtown.
And that is where Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, chose to issue a majority of its $80 million in tax credits. It did so at the behest of Central Atlanta Progress, the group that represents downtown businesses and their self-taxing improvement district.
Some $12 million in credits backed 200 Peachtree, a special events venue that now occupies the long-vacant Macy’s building. The center, which is across the street from downtown’s Ritz-Carlton Atlanta, features 14-foot-high teardrop chandeliers, 30-foot ceilings, and two restaurants, with more to come.
An additional $13 million helped finance the National Center on Civil and Human Rights.
And $25 million went to a Georgia Aquarium expansion that brought the AT&T Dolphin Tales show downtown. The Broadway-style extravaganza, created with the help of Disney and Super Bowl halftime show veterans, features ballads from the show’s cape-wearing hero the StarSpinner, fist fights, water cannons, and a gigantic video screen. Dolphins leap and spin in a 1.8 million-gallon tank. Tickets range from $26 to $39.
Critics have pounced on the New Markets program, saying that it is subsidizing projects that do little to address poverty or blight.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma mocked the aquarium award as the “Flipper Tax Credit” and highlighted it as an example of a federal program that went off the rails.
“This tax credit intended to benefit the poor is instead lining the pockets of the well off,” according to a report released by Coburn’s office in August that criticized the aquarium and other New Markets Tax Credit projects.
But Invest Atlanta said in a prepared statement that the credits created jobs and brought business to parts of downtown that needed revamping. These projects tend to involve multimillion-dollar transactions and have established backers because they are the types of deals that attract New Markets Tax Credit investors, the agency said.
Its remaining $30 million in credits went to the “Aerotropolis” development next to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport that is the new North America home to luxury car maker Porsche. The former Ford auto plant site needed environmental cleanup.
“Once opportunities like Aerotropolis in 2009 began to surface outside of the downtown area, it became apparent that there was a need to broaden the focus to include other areas of the city,” Dale Royal, president of Atlanta Emerging Markets, the Invest Atlanta subsidiary that issues the credits, said in the written statement.
Aquarium officials defend the credits, saying the cultural institution is an important driver of economic activity. They helped the streets around downtown’s Centennial Olympic Park become the showcase they are today.
“The construction was critical to the long-term operational success of Georgia Aquarium in order to continue to offer visitors new reasons to visit the aquarium,” said Mark Schafer, the aquarium’s chief financial officer, in a prepared statement.
The special events venue is especially helpful to low-income workers, said 200 Peachtree lead investor Robert Galanti. It’s steps away from MARTA’s Peachtree Center station, and easy to reach for workers who cannot afford a car.
“We believe we have played a major role in the transition of downtown Atlanta, and the ripple effects extend broadly,” Galanti said.
....
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/atlanta-steers-subsidies-to-downtown-projects/njbnH/#9356e656.2470693.735595
Parts of Atlanta are transforming because of a federal program designed to pump millions of dollars into neighborhoods with high poverty and unemployment, but many of these places are a far cry from the city’s toughest areas.
Instead, downtown — home of Centennial Olympic Park, major hotels and a smattering of million-dollar condos — is benefiting from the makeover, raising questions over whether commercial interests are taking priority over more dire needs.
Federal law lets financial middlemen hand out special tax credits to subsidize projects in areas suffering from some of the nation’s worst economic distress. Under guidelines for these New Markets Tax Credit, large parts of Atlanta qualify, including downtown.
And that is where Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, chose to issue a majority of its $80 million in tax credits. It did so at the behest of Central Atlanta Progress, the group that represents downtown businesses and their self-taxing improvement district.
Some $12 million in credits backed 200 Peachtree, a special events venue that now occupies the long-vacant Macy’s building. The center, which is across the street from downtown’s Ritz-Carlton Atlanta, features 14-foot-high teardrop chandeliers, 30-foot ceilings, and two restaurants, with more to come.
An additional $13 million helped finance the National Center on Civil and Human Rights.
And $25 million went to a Georgia Aquarium expansion that brought the AT&T Dolphin Tales show downtown. The Broadway-style extravaganza, created with the help of Disney and Super Bowl halftime show veterans, features ballads from the show’s cape-wearing hero the StarSpinner, fist fights, water cannons, and a gigantic video screen. Dolphins leap and spin in a 1.8 million-gallon tank. Tickets range from $26 to $39.
Critics have pounced on the New Markets program, saying that it is subsidizing projects that do little to address poverty or blight.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma mocked the aquarium award as the “Flipper Tax Credit” and highlighted it as an example of a federal program that went off the rails.
“This tax credit intended to benefit the poor is instead lining the pockets of the well off,” according to a report released by Coburn’s office in August that criticized the aquarium and other New Markets Tax Credit projects.
But Invest Atlanta said in a prepared statement that the credits created jobs and brought business to parts of downtown that needed revamping. These projects tend to involve multimillion-dollar transactions and have established backers because they are the types of deals that attract New Markets Tax Credit investors, the agency said.
Its remaining $30 million in credits went to the “Aerotropolis” development next to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport that is the new North America home to luxury car maker Porsche. The former Ford auto plant site needed environmental cleanup.
“Once opportunities like Aerotropolis in 2009 began to surface outside of the downtown area, it became apparent that there was a need to broaden the focus to include other areas of the city,” Dale Royal, president of Atlanta Emerging Markets, the Invest Atlanta subsidiary that issues the credits, said in the written statement.
Aquarium officials defend the credits, saying the cultural institution is an important driver of economic activity. They helped the streets around downtown’s Centennial Olympic Park become the showcase they are today.
“The construction was critical to the long-term operational success of Georgia Aquarium in order to continue to offer visitors new reasons to visit the aquarium,” said Mark Schafer, the aquarium’s chief financial officer, in a prepared statement.
The special events venue is especially helpful to low-income workers, said 200 Peachtree lead investor Robert Galanti. It’s steps away from MARTA’s Peachtree Center station, and easy to reach for workers who cannot afford a car.
“We believe we have played a major role in the transition of downtown Atlanta, and the ripple effects extend broadly,” Galanti said.
....
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/atlanta-steers-subsidies-to-downtown-projects/njbnH/#9356e656.2470693.735595