GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Mayor Names Big Hitters to Beltline Coalition

Central to the undertaking is the 22-mile corridor of largely unused, historic railroad tracks in the center of the city that move through and around nearly 50 neighborhoods. The redevelopment of this real estate could provide a near-future customer base for planned commercial, residential and retail projects, area brokers attending the mayor's press conference tell GlobeSt.com.

"The project will stimulate economic growth while creating 37,500 permanent new jobs and 48,000 year-long construction jobs for our city," Franklin said. Ray Weeks, CEO of Weeks Properties Group, chairs the BeltLine Partnership , as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

"The composition of the BeltLine Partnership represents the diverse audiences with interests in the BeltLine and its progress," Weeks says. "The group includes leaders from the corporate, neighborhood and faith communities citywide. Our common goal is to advance the BeltLine and make the mayor's vision for this project a reality."

BeltLine Partnership members are Clara Hayley Axam, project director, the Enterprise Foundation and member, board of directors, Marta; Dr. Gerald Durley, pastor, Providence Missionary Baptist Church of Atlanta; Helen Davis Hatch, vice president, Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates Inc. and trustee of the Urban Land Institute; Richard L. Holmes, senior vice president, Georgia Power; Philip I. Kent, chairman and CEO, Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc. and chairman, Central Atlanta Progress; Christopher Glenn Sawyer, partner, Alston & Bird (law firm), and former national chairman, board of directors, Trust for Public Land; Timothy C. Tuff, chairman, president and CEO, John H. Harland Co.; and Mtamanika Youngblood, president and CEO, Center for Working Families Inc. and vice chair and past president, Historic District Development Corp., a nonprofit builder of affordable homes in Atlanta.