$50 MM Sports Complex May Replace DeKalb's Defunct PDK Development

On-site at the PDK property: Patrick Henderson, ASC; Jay Leslie, KW Commercial; Melvin Sprawls, ASC


A youthful Tuskegee University alumni and former Air Force “brat” born in Taiwan, is proposing to develop a 28-acre property across the street from PDK Airport that Chamblee Mayor Eric Clarkston once viewed as crucial to the city’s economic future. Patrick Henderson, CEO of one year-old, downtown-based Atlanta Sports Connection, plans a large sports complex where for nearly a decade; there were dreams of an International Village commerce center. Atlanta Sports Connection’s website describes the company’s service as a “social lounge for intramural sports players in the Atlanta area” and the parent company of what is proposed to be the Atlanta Sport Complex.

Henderson, a Californian who relocated to Atlanta in 2001, says there is an acute need for highly professional and large sports facilities “inside I-285”. So now, across Chamblee-Tucker Road from PDK Airport, a proposed hotel, outdoor performance theater, offices and retail for international trade may give way to a covered football field, playing facilities for most organized sports, athletic medical offices and meeting rooms targeted for local “charter schools”, sports leagues, corporations, professional teams and airport visitors. The change in concept and type of financing is a stark example of a shifting business landscape in the 21st century. Whereas the original mixed-use vision for the site was seeded by a loan from what would become a failed regional bank (Colonial, Alabama), entrepreneur Henderson says his project’s financing is from a $50 million “private capital raise”.

Henderson’s realtors, Jay Leslie of KW Commercial First Atlanta and Atlanta Land Group’s Robert Armstrong found the site for the developer, excited that the project fills a unique need, as compared to a glut of over-promised and hyped “mixed-use” projects in the area. The sport complex developer more bluntly characterized the one-time Village plan as “a square peg in a round hole”, citing a lack of community support as one of the Village project’s hurdles to overcome. An Atlanta Business Chronicle article reported the Village property owner, PDK Investment Group, LLC declared bankruptcy in early 2008. The site was then advertised for a sale price of $12 million, now owned by Kennedy Funding (New Jersey) and Belgian/Dutch bank, Fortis, Belgium’s largest employer.

Negotiations for the property purchase have been complicated, testing the buyer’s patience. Henderson would only say that he is not paying $12 million for the property, but points out that his company’s lower offer is not the primary factor holding up the purchase. Realtor Leslie lamented that the bankers’ confusion over the loan has been the biggest problem, saying the Atlanta group actually had to arrange for Kennedy and Fortis to discuss the loan between themselves and that they had never seen the property for which they had assumed loans. The original loan to PDK Investments to purchase the property was from Colonial Bank in Alabama, shuttered last year by the federal government. Fortis also failed in Europe in late 2008 and is now BNP Paribas-Fortis, adding to the small Atlanta sports company’s tribulation.

Emphasizing his commitment to develop in DeKalb, entrepreneur Henderson projected, “we have a 99% chance of acquiring the Chamblee site”, but parenthetically mentioned an alternative location in Doraville.


Government Involvement
Henderson expects no problems with zoning, however the regulatory action is required according to Chamblee Mayor Clarkson. The property was zoned specifically for the International Village development.

Henderson also foresees a working relationship with the county government. “We just met with the county (DeKalb Development Authority-DADC) and they are very excited about the project”, Henderson said Monday. Saying he was familiar with the original “partnership” between the finance authority and the defunct mixed-use development, the sports enthusiast mentioned that the development incentives being discussed would be similar.

DeKalb County had originally assembled this property, starting in 1997, as part of a larger tract by buying dozens of residences as part of a noise abatement plan along the airport flight path. The county then sold this 28-acre portion to the original developer, PDK Investments, for $3.7 million in 2005 and heavily promoted the project. DeKalb owns the abandoned property next door, now considered greenspace. Asked to comment on past county government involvement, DeKalb’s Communications Director Burke Brennan said, “it was a project that the Office of Economic Development worked on in 2004-2005. I don’t think anyone can answer the question of why it (was not successful)”, alluding to PDK Investment’s bankruptcy and foreclosure.

DADC has recently been thrust into the limelight in regional news coverage related to its plans to issue bonds for a government property purchase of the former General Motors (GM) factory site in Doraville. The property purchase was considered an incentive for a Florida developer that conceived a mixed-use area which would potentially anchor a new “transit oriented district” for Doraville. The land would have been owned by DeKalb’s government and leased by the developer with the lease income apparently intended to help taxpayers foot the bill for the bonds.

In 2009, The Georgia Supreme Court sided with State Representative Mike Jacobs (Chamblee/Brookhaven) in a lawsuit against DeKalb County, slamming the door on certain types of bond issues approved by DeKalb’s County Commissioners. The Georgia Supreme Court sided with Jacobs to require a local voter referendum for bonds proposed by the DADC that would be paid for by taxpayers rather than revenue from proposed facilities.

Tom Doolittle is a 17-year Northlake area resident, founding trustee of Northlake Community Alliance, Inc., founder Northlake Business Forum and writes the www.NorthlakeStation.blogspot.com