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The Ted – GSU, Carter to redevelop Turner Field

Metro ATL

The Ted – GSU, Carter to redevelop Turner Field

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Turner Field. Photo obtained from Wikimedia Commons

Turner Field. Photo obtained from Wikimedia Commons

Georgia State University has announced plans to redevelop Turner Field after the Braves move to Cobb County.

GSU signed an agreement with Carter, a real estate development company, on Wednesday, May 7.

“The $300 million redevelopment of the 77-acre site would be funded by public and private sources. Carter’s preliminary proposal would include a 30,000-seat football stadium on the Turner Field site and a Georgia State baseball complex,” a press release from GSU says. “The baseball stadium would be designed in the former location of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and would incorporate the Hank Aaron wall. In addition, residential and student housing, retail businesses, green space and plazas would be added to the property, making it a walkable community.”

The Braves will be moving out of downtown Atlanta to Cobb County in 2017.

“We are excited about being partners in the proposed plan,” Georgia State President Mark Becker said in a press release.  “I believe it holds great promise for the neighborhoods near our campus, and it’s important to Georgia State that we are contributors to the growing vitality of downtown Atlanta.”

The press release also quotes Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

“The acquisition of the Turner Field property would represent a major step towards strengthening Georgia State University’s position as one of the leading universities in the nation,” Reed says in the release. “The acquisition would not only expand the university’s current footprint in the city, but would significantly increase its appeal to students looking for a more traditional, campus-centered experience in the heart of a great American city. The benefits to our city and to the university would be substantial.”

It has been a busy week for GSU. On May 6, the university announced a “historic partnership” with Georgia Public Broadcasting that would change programming on WRAS 88.5, the student radio station.

Students who work at the college radio station have called for a boycott, saying they had no knowledge of the deal until it was announced by GSU.