Georgia State Univ. and its development partners "have agreed to a deal to purchase" Turner Field, where real estate partners Carter and Oakwood Development plan to "convert the Ted into a new football stadium," according to a front-page piece by Davis, Suggs & Trubey of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. They also plan to "transform surrounding parking lots into a mixed-use community and southern extension" of GSU's campus. The deal is worth $30M and should "close by the end of the year." The Braves' move out of Turner Field "threatened to create a vacuum near the Downtown Connector, one of the South's busiest arteries, leaving local leaders scrambling to find a new buyer ahead of the team's exit." The development plan, which also would "include student housing, apartments, single-family homes, classroom space, a grocery store and a ... baseball field, would rank among the largest redevelopment projects in the city" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 8/19). The AP's Jeff Martin noted with the redevelopment project, Turner Field will "now get its 'third life' as a college football venue." GSU, with "more than 53,000 students, is one of the nation's largest universities." Its main campus is "just north of Turner Field" (AP, 8/18).
