Business & Tech

Mayor Says Deal Made to Redevelop Closed GM Plant

A deal for General Motors to sell the closed Doraville assembly plant has reportedly been reached. A developer says it will turn the site into "a livable, mixed-use, transit-oriented development."

A deal for General Motors to sell the closed Doraville assembly plant to an Atlanta developer should reportedly close this summer.

A development team led by Egbert Perry has put the site of the 167-acre former auto plant under contract, Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman confirmed Monday evening. In a short speech at city hall, Pittman said the plant — which shut down in 2008 – will become a historic redevelopment, reports the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

General Motors has been asking $60 million for the shuttered plant.

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Pittman said that development firm Macauley+Schmit and partner The Integral Group will turn the assembly plant into "a livable, mixed-use, transit-oriented development," reports WXIA.

Macauley+Schmit said it will take "a holistic view of the social environment" and will make sure "to create a sense of balance and harmony" while working on the project.

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The city lost 10 percent of its revenue base and 36 percent of its overall employment base from the closure, the station says.

Perry earlier this year was named chairman of Fannie Mae, and, he is chairman and chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based real estate company The Integral Group LLC.

In an interview with Atlanta Business Chronicle Monday, Perry said ongoing studies of the possible environmental issues should be completed in about 10 days. “We are not expecting any real surprises,” Perry said. “There was a need to just be prudent.”

Integral is supposed to finalize the acquisition Aug. 3, depending on the final outcome of the environmental investigation.

The level of environmental cleanup needed at the site, which operated for 60 years as an automobile plant, is one major hurdle, the Saporta Report said in a September 2012 article. “Until you get in there, you don’t know what you’re going to find,” then DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis said.

The website says General Motors has worked to reduce levels of the cancer-causing benzene -- a gasoline additive in the soil within a portion of the assembly plant. 


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