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JANUARY 2020 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Community | 9
Authority rejects developer’s $2.2M tax break request amid citywide debate
BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch(a)reporternewspapers.net
A major local developer’s request for a nearly $2.2 million tax break for a Buck-
head Village tower got a rare rejection from a county authority Dec. 3 amid citywide
debate about such incentives in hot real estate markets.
The request for the 359 East Paces Ferry Road project came from the Loudermilk
Companies, the historic firm credited with starting Buckhead’s highrise boom in the
1960s and whose family patriarch, Charlie Loudermilk, is honored with a statue in
a customized namesake park nearby. The Development Authority of Fulton County
board’s rejection of the request came on the same day it approved a half-dozen oth
ers across the county.
“This is the first time ever that anyone can recall DAFC’s board turning down a tax
abatement, so it’s a big deal,” said Julian Bene, a prominent critic of tax breaks and
other incentives.
Bene noted the rejection came amid debate over $1.5 billion in public financing
and incentives for redevelopment of the Gulch downtown, and shortly after develop
er’s withdrawal of a request to another authority, Invest Atlanta, for a controversial
$22.5 million tax break for a project along the Atlanta BeltLine.
“The public is more aware now that developer welfare comes at a high cost to resi
dents,” said Bene. “We now have elected officials and members of key boards who will
not rubber-stamp breaks for luxury projects in hot markets that will happen regard
less. Progress at last!”
“I don’t want to comment on that,” said Charlie Loudermilk III, the Loudermilk
Companies’ director of development and investments. “There’s a lot of scrutiny going
on right now with the program, so I don’t think that would be wise to comment on.”
However, another employee said briefly that the company would reapply for the
incentive.
Tax incentives and abatements have long been criticized by some local leaders,
such as Buckhead resident and Fulton County Commissioner Lee Morris. But the
deal for the Gulch, which CIM Group intends to remake into a massive mixed-use site
called Centennial Yards, thrust the issue into the spotlight last year. A group of activ
ists called Redlight the Gulch, of which Bene is a member, sued to challenge the legal
ity of the deal in a case that has an appeal pending. And Atlanta Public Schools Su
perintendent Meria Carstarphen became a prominent critic of existing deals, saying
that reform is needed to stop cutting the school district out of revenue and shifting
tax burdens to homeowners.
Carstarphen - who once briefly served as a Fulton Development Authority board
member - has repeatedly brought her concerns to the meetings of local community
groups, including the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods, the Northwest Communi
ty Alliance and North Atlanta Parents for Public Schools. Carstarphen’s advocacy led
the BCN to form a resident “tax force” to study and recommend tax incentive and as
sessment reforms.
Tom Tidwell, a former BCN chair who once hosted Carstarphen as a speaker on
the tax incentive issue, is now a Fulton Development Authority board member. Ear
lier this year, he was in the minority voting against another controversial tax break
for a luxury apartment project at 99 West Paces Ferry Road. In a letter to fellow board
members at that time, Tidwell wrote that “Buckhead, Midtown and areas near the
Beltline are the hottest real estate markets in the county, probably in the state. I am
pretty sure we do not need to ‘stimulate’ economic development in those areas.”
Tidwell declined to comment about the 359 East Paces Ferry vote.
That site is currently a temporary parking lot where Loudermilk Companies tore
down an office building. In its place, the company proposes a 12-story office-and-re-
tail tower. According to Development Authority documents, it has an “economic im
pact” estimate at roughly $1.5 billion and would “create” 850 permanent office jobs
and 50 permanent retail jobs, along with 100 temporary construction jobs.
In a standard deal, the company asked the Development Authority to issue $45 mil
lion in bonds for the project - meaning the authority would technically hold title to
the property for 10 years in exchange for funding it. The benefit to the company is an
estimated $2,180,473 in property tax savings over that period. The company would
take ownership again afterward and go back to paying full taxes.
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