Business leaders to lawmakers: Oppose ‘Buckhead City’ or leave us out of it
By J.D. Capelouto and Greg Bluestein - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dozens of the most powerful businesses in Buckhead put state lawmakers on notice Tuesday: Oppose the Buckhead secession push or remove the neighborhood’s commercial center from the new city’s proposed boundaries.
The letter from more than 30 businesses, including many of the marquee names in commercial and residential real estate, came as state legislators prepare to consider a Republican-backed measure to carve out a separate city of Buckhead from the existing Atlanta boundaries.
It represents the most significant corporate backlash to Buckhead cityhood since the effort to split Atlanta first emerged. The coalition owns a collective $4.7 billion in real estate value in Buckhead, and accounts for roughly $57 million in annual property taxes to the City of Atlanta.
“We respectfully request that the General Assembly table the proposed legislation to create Buckhead City. If the General Assembly is unwilling to do this, we request that the General Assembly exclude the commercial district of Buckhead from the proposed Buckhead City,” the letter says.
“Simply put, the risk to our companies, employees, residents, and customers is too great to bet our tax dollars on a start-up city with no experience.”
The companies that signed the letter spanned a cross-section of industries, including AMLI Residential, Banyan Street Capital, Cortland, Cousins Properties, Edens, Jamestown LP, Regency Centers, Selig Enterprises and The Loudermilk Companies.
Nationally-known hoteliers Grand Hyatt Buckhead and JW Marriott also signed the letter, as did the Atlanta Tech Village startup incubator and the Regency Centers retail developer.
Executives at some of the companies had already publicly opposed Buckhead cityhood, but the letter represented a united show of force from the corporations racing to keep Atlanta whole.