An Atlanta city agency will hold what is likely the final public vote on a Falcons stadium deal at a specially called meeting Thursday morning.
The pivotal political decision was last month’s approval by the City Council, but a vote in favor Thursday by Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, would start the process of preparing bonds to sell to investors, as well as approve various agreements between the city, the team and the Georgia World Congress Center.
A vote would come days before the start of the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament at the Georgia Dome. Stadium proponents have said a new retractable roof facility would not only satisfy the Falcons’ desire for a state-of-the-art home field, but also help Atlanta retain and attract marquee events such a Super Bowl.
Invest Atlanta had been expected to vote to approve bonds last month. The stadium pact calls for city hotel-motel taxes to pay for about 20 percent of the stadium’s expected $1 billion construction costs.
But officials said Invest Atlanta’s board needed more time to be briefed on amendments to the agreement added by the City Council. Several concerned infrastructure improvements and an economic development plan for neighborhoods near the Georgia World Congress Center, on whose campus a new stadium will be built.
Read more: AJC
