Rendering of the Centennial Yards Entertainment District. (Image courtesy of CIM Group/Centennial Yards)
Invest Atlanta has approved the sale of about $557 million in bonds to support the construction of the Centennial Yards entertainment district across from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The bonds are part of a massive $1.9 billion incentive package the city approved in 2018 for the 50-acre mixed-use development now being built by CIM Group. For decades, the land, formally known as The Gulch, was the site of a tangle of underground parking lots and CSX train tracks.
The $575 million loan is one of the largest public-private partnerships in the country, DA Davidson’s Development Finance Group said in a press release.
DA Davidson’s Development Finance Group acted as co-manager along with lead manager JPMorgan and co-manager Truist Securities. The bonds were issued through the Atlanta Development Authority and consist of $219 million in senior revenue bonds secured by incremental property taxes within Westside Gulch and $356 million in convertible capital appreciation economic development certificates secured by a 5% EZ fee (similar to a sales tax) levied within the Centennial Yards project.
When completed, Centennial Yards will feature a mix of residential, commercial, retail and entertainment space, including 2,600 housing units, approximately 3,000 hotel units and 900,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space.
Centennial Yards Co. announced in July that it had signed a long-term lease with Los Angeles-based Cosm Corp. to build a 70,000-square-foot, three-story entertainment center at the site.
The venue will feature an 87-foot diameter, 12K resolution LED dome and will “deliver live sports and immersive entertainment in shared reality,” according to a news release.