Five architects have been shortlisted to design a new $1B stadium for the Falcons, according to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, owner of the proposed facility. The finalists -- HKS, Populous, 360 Architecture, Ewing Cole and a group consisting of TVS Design, Heery and Gensler -- will now prepare design proposals and presentations. Interviews will be scheduled in the next 30 days. Other architects submitting qualifications were AECOM, Eisenman Architects, Rossetti, the consortium of Rosser, Crawford Architects and GMP Architects and Woods Bagot. Financing has not been approved for the project (Don Muret, SportsBusiness Journal). In Atlanta, Tim Tucker reports all five finalists have “experience on high-profile sports and entertainment projects.” The GWCCA said that the finalists “will be asked to prepare proposals that include the first conceptual designs of the stadium” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 1/29).
FLYING THE COOP? Atlanta's WAGA-Fox reports Mayor Kasim Reed is “warning city council members about business interests in Los Angeles who want to move the Falcons to the west coast.” Falcons Owner Arthur Blank “shared that information with top city and state officials in their discussions about financing a new stadium in downtown Atlanta” (MYFOXATLANTA.com, 1/29).
