75,000-square-foot project is slated to break ground February 2012.
The College Football Hall of Fame’s relocation to Atlanta from the city of South Bend, Ind. was announced in September 2009 but construction still hasn’t began. So what’s the hold up?
AJC’s Tim Tucker interviewed Gary Stokan, president and CEO of Atlanta Hall Management (which will build and eventually operate the hall of fame) to get an update on the hall’s progress.
The hall is scheduled to break ground in February 2012 and is should be open to the public fall 2013, Stokan told the AJC.
The project’s delay has primarily resulted from the “shift in preferred sites and a swelling of the project from a 50,000-square-foot, $50-million facility to a 75,000-square-foot, $82-million facility.”
Only $33 million in commitments have been secured out of the needed $82 million. The financial plan calls for seeking investors to raise $15 million with the addition of a hefty $34 million bank loan to reach the $82 million mark.
That AND leases with the Georgia World Congress Center have not been completed or approved, the bank financing package is not in place and either or the design plans.
Click here to read the rest of the AJC’s thorough interview. We’ve also got the latest project renderings here.
8 Responses
Let’s hope we avoid the fiasco that Charlotte is currently experiencing with the Nascar Hall of Fame. Does anyone know the number of annual visitors being projected? I cannot imagine this will be much of a tourist draw, other than during the SEC Championship and Chic-Fil-A Bowl (Peach Bowl?).
I’m not sure that Atlanta would encounter the same problem as Charlotte because Atlanta already has the downtown traffic driven by the convention market.
I’m still having a hard time picturing where this will be built. You last post had it on Marietta St. and this one says Andrew Young.
hi chris — it’s replacing the “green lot” parking lot at gwcc.
–cjs
I agree with an earlier post…not sure that this will be much of a tourist draw except during the fall…money could have been better spent on the Calatrava Symphony Concert Hall…a signature building for Atlanta…
Jackson- Sure, money could have been better spent on the Calatrava Symphony. Or even the Calatrava 17th St Bridge. But the culturally significant and the cerebral have never been Atlanta’s strong points because a populous market for those civic amenities does not exist. It would take an incredible donor for the arts/culture (ahem, Ann Cox) to really get the ball rolling and tip the scales from the usual risk-averse corporate donors.
In the meantime, the cluster of corporate-based cultural attractions downtown will continue to feed off of one another, and this addition is no exception. I know I’m being pessimistic, but it’s just what I’m observing.
Is it just me, or does this thing look like a re-hash of the aquarium design?
Sharkitecture is all the rage right now:) But keep in mind this rendering is not likely to reflect what the final building design will be. This is the pretty picture to reel in the investors.