Transit: New Broad Street Moves to Buy GM Site
By Carl Cronan for GlobeSt
ATLANTA-A 165-acre suburban industrial site that has been dormant for at least a year could become a mixed-use development in years to come. Orlando-based New Broad Street Cos. says it has a contract with Detroit-based General Motors to buy its former automotive plant in suburban Doraville.
New Broad Street, which specializes in mixed-use and new-urbanism redevelopment projects, says it expects to complete its purchase of the property near Interstate 285 early this summer. GM has been working with CB Richard Ellis to market the site since the plant closed in September 2008.
“This is the best urban infill site in the country for a large transit-oriented development,” says David Pace, president and founder of New Broad Street. “It will be clean and green, incorporating environmental remediation of the former industrial site with best practices for sustainable development.”
Neither New Broad Street nor GM is releasing additional details on the cost of redevelopment, or the sale price of the Doraville plant, citing confidentiality agreements. Previous reports put GM’s asking price at $70 million. The site was previously considered as a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, but now state officials are working to keep the football team in Downtown Atlanta.
New Broad Street has prior experience with large-scale redevelopment. It turned the former Orlando Naval Training Center, totaling 1,100 acres, into a traditional neighborhood development named Baldwin Park.
