Reed strikes $19.5 million deal with Friendship Baptist Church
The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to finance the costs so that no public money would be used
- Joeff Davis
- “I have taken as many scars and hits and bruises as anybody in this stadium process,” Mayor Reed said as he defended his actions in the stadium process.
After eight contentious weeks of negotiations, the new Falcons stadium is one key step closer to determining a location for the $1 billion sports facility.
Mayor Kasim Reed today announced that the city has reached a $19.5 million agreement to purchase Friendship Baptist Church. It’s one of two churches that would need to be relocated to build the new stadium on the preferred south site along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The Atlanta Falcons, who authorized Reed to negotiate with the church based upon predefined terms, have agreed to finance the costs so that no public money would be used. The mayor, noting that the August 1 deadline for the stadium has already passed, insisted that more time is now needed to let the process properly play out.
“We believe that is a fair agreement on both sides of the transaction,” Reed says. “Friendship Baptist Church still has to ratify that agreement. I believe it is reasonable to take the time to allow the congregation to digest what is a very complex transaction.”
Lloyd Hawk, Friendship Baptist Church’s chairman of the board of trustees, said he felt the decision was “right for the church,” but that the agreement still needs to be discussed and approved by the congregation. While he acknowledged Friendship’s members still have varying opinions “all over the entire spectrum,” he felt the the current deal in place was now worth bringing back to church’s approximately 400 parishioners.
“We understand the benefit of the stadium at the south location for the community,” Hawk says. “What we looked at was what can we do for the benefit of the church and for the benefit of the community.”
Reed also made a personal plea to Georgia World Congress Center Authority officials to renew their negotiating efforts with Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. If the state agency was willing, Reed said former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young was open to serving as an intermediary between both sides. He even promised that he’d sit down with the church’s pastor in the coming weeks.