If built, the estimated $100-million high-rise development would be the first to break ground along the city's blighted 22-mile Beltline corridor of railroad tracks that link a dozen neighborhoods. Mason bought 4.5 miles of track last December from Virginia-based Norfolk Southern Corp. for $25 million or $373,134 per acre, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The developer has already completed a review of the project with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Mason would also have to ask the city to rezone his tract to allow a high-rise development. Some areas of Piedmont Park have a three-story maximum height development level. The city is anxious to redevelop the Beltline corridor and already has selected long-time Atlanta industrial developer A. Ray Weeks Jr. to chair a committee that would plan a total nine million sf of industrial, office and retail space along the 22-mile loop, as GlobeSt.com reported last month.
Mason's land runs from DeKalb Avenue to Piedmont Park to Interstate 85. Brokers familiar with the Beltline enterprise tell GlobeSt.com Mason favors the city's transit system plan but also wants to develop 200 feet of adjacent track land. If the city sets up the track property as a special zone or a tax allocation district, developers such as Mason would receive tax breaks, brokers familiar with the city's incentive program tell GlobeSt.com.
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