Invest Atlanta Gives $1M Grant For Sweet Auburn Ballroom

Atlanta’s economic development arm just doled out a $1 million grant to bring music to Sweet Auburn.

David Goldman / Associated Press

Atlanta’s economic development arm just doled out a $1 million grant to bring music to Sweet Auburn. The 1920’s Butler Street YMCA building is going to be renovated into Sweet Auburn Ballroom, a 1,200 person music venue.

Live Nation, the company in charge of Music Midtown and The Tabernacle, signed a 20-year lease to develop and manage the property. Overall the project is a joint effort by the national company and the Butler Street Community Development Corporation.

This is the first development to benefit Invest Atlanta’s new grant program called the Resurgens Fund Grant aimed at revitalizing the Eastside Tax Allocation District. The program provides gap funding, which delivers the extra cash needed before a project can be realized.

“The idea there is we want to allocate funds so that we can help promote and stimulate real estate development and property development projects,” says Eloisa Klementich, CEO and president of Invest Atlanta.

Klementich also says the organization reached out to the community to before voting unanimously to approve funding for the Sweet Auburn Ballroom.

Renovations are slated to begin next March or April with the venue scheduled to open in January 2018.