by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
An attorney for developer DB Holdings said the City is holding up construction on a 430-foot stretch of the Northbank Riverwalk fronting Berkman Plaza, putting the project in jeopardy of missing its Super Bowl deadline.
City officials said they are still waiting for construction plans from the Atlanta developer before the project can be permitted, and said there was plenty of time to finish construction before the Feb. 6 game. But an attorney for the president of DB Holdings’ parent company, The Harbor Cos., said in an e-mail to City attorneys that plans had already been submitted. He said work needed to begin “immediately to have a hope of finishing work before the Super Bowl.” Atlanta attorney Phil Beck of Smith, Currie and Hancock sent the e-mail Sept. 21.
The relationship between the City and DB Holdings has been testy since last July when Harbor Cos. sold Berkman Plaza to another Atlanta developer. DB Holdings received more than $9 million in City incentives to build the riverfront building and made an estimated $10 million on the sale.
That deal has been held up as an example of City incentives gone wrong as the City has recently reviewed how it encourages economic development downtown. Since Berkman sold for $46 million, the City has sought to withhold $400,000 in incentives from DB Holdings and the two have squabbled over maintenance costs along a completed section of the Riverwalk.
DB Holdings still owns the property adjacent to Berkman and has an option to build a second tower. Additionally, the developer owns the riverfront land in front of both parcels and has contracted with the City to build a Riverwalk along the property. The current dispute focuses on the 430-foot stretch in front of the vacant property. Both sides have agreed to try to finish the project in time for the Super Bowl.
That shouldn’t be a problem said Director of Public Works Ed Hall through a spokesperson. He said the City had already made repairs to the site that represented the most time-consuming part of the project. Hall estimated about 30 days of work remained and said the City could quickly approve work to start once it received construction plans.
Beck sounded more urgent in his e-mail. The City already possessed sketches similar to the ones used to approve the first section of Riverwalk, he said. He said Harbor Cos. president Alan Travis had assured him that the plans were prepared by the same architect, contain the same detail and were “virtually identical” to their predecessors.
“We, frankly, are baffled by the statement that the plans which were submitted do not meet the City’s minimum Riverwalk standards,” said Beck. “The original plans were not reviewed by the Department of Public Works but were approved . . . and no one has taken issue with the final product.”
DB Holdings simply wanted to build an extension of the existing Riverwalk, using the same workers, architect and plans, said Beck.