Church Lowers Asking Price in Falcons Stadium Deal

Mt. Vernon Baptist Church has lowered from $20.4 million to $15.5 million the asking price it says it needs before selling its land, Reed told reporters.  

But there’s still a huge gap between that figure and the $6.2 million the Georgia World Congress Center  said is its maximum-allowed offer. 

So where will the $8-9 million to fill the gap?

“I’m working on it,” said Reed. “I think I have a solve for that.”

He declined to say what that solve was. 

WABE's Denis O'Hayer and Jim Burress discuss the mayor's announcement that Mt. Vernon Baptist has lowered its asking price to make way for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium.

While the Mt. Vernon price drop was the news of the day, Reed spent most of the press conference responding to criticism that he’s plotting against Morris Brown College. 

The Mayor denied claims the church and city officials are attempting a land grab on Morris Brown, the historically black college still trying to dig itself out of bankruptcy.

“It’s ludicrous,” said Reed. “We’ve got to stay out of the posture of just making up stuff. Sullying the name of the good people of Friendship. Sullying the name of the good people of Mt. Vernon.“

The criticism is tied to securing the property of the two historic churches – Friendship Baptist Church and Mt. Vernon – located on the city’s preferred site for the new stadium.

Friendship announced August 6 it would sell its property for $19.5 million. Part of the tentative agreement, which Friendship’s congregation will vote on this Sunday, includes a clause requiring the city to help the church relocate to the Morris Brown campus, or help find another site.

Some Morris Brown alumni allege city officials and Friendship have already struck a backroom deal to secure two vacant dorm towers on the eastern part of the school’s campus. They say the powerful relationship between city officials, the Falcons, and Friendship has scared off at least one party – Family Dollar – vying to purchase that property.

Reed on Friday didn’t deny his opposition to the Family Dollar deal.

“I’ve been upfront…that I would not welcome a Family Dollar or Dollar General to Morris Brown’s campus. That’s not new news,” said Reed, adding it didn’t mean the city and Friendship were working towards a Morris Brown land grab.

Lloyd Hawk, the chairman of Friendship’s board of trustees, said the church’s ties to the community are too deep to conduct itself in an underhanded manner.

“There has been, by people who aren’t involved in the situation, a great deal of misinformation that’s been spread which totally mischaracterizes both our interest and the interest of Morris Brown,” said Hawk. “We have quite a few members who are alumni of Morris Brown. We have a strong history of supporting Morris Brown, Clark, Spelman, and Morehouse and that’s never changed.”

Hawk did confirm the church is close to making an offer for the dorm towers.

“We are simply one of several potential buyers that Morris Brown is considering selling that property to. As far as how the rest of their bankruptcy process and rest of the land is involved, we have no role in that whatsoever.” 

Hawk added there are a lot of advantages to the Morris Brown location.

“Proximity to the current [Friendship] location, proximity to the MARTA station, [and] to the Atlanta University Center given our historical ties to all the schools there and we think it would be an important thing for the community to be assured that that property is bought by someone that is a good neighbor to the community.”

Despite the protests from alumni and others, Morris Brown’s present leadership has not commented on the matter. WABE’s attempts Friday to reach Morris Brown President Stanley Pritchett were unsuccessful. 

In June, school officials rejected the city’s offer of $10 million for the 37 acres currently tied up in bankruptcy. Included was a provision allowing the school to rent the four buildings it still uses for classes, with an option to buy them back after three years. Mayor Reed said the deal would have cleared the school’s debts and helped revitalize the area. Officials with Morris Brown, however, said the offer failed to ensure long-term stability for the school.