Hunton and McKenna work on converting Hapeville Ford plant

Posted on January 5, 2009 13:15 by Andy Peters

The queue of contenders for the title The Next Atlantic Station continues to grow. And of course it takes lawyers to assemble the plans to make it happen.Ford Hapeville 2

The latest movement comes on behalf of the city of Hapeville, which formed its first tax-allocation district (TAD) with the assistance of Hunton & Williams partner Doug Selby. The TAD encompasses the former Ford plant, which Hapeville officials and Jacoby Development Inc. want to turn into a mixed-use development. McKenna Long & Aldridge partner Sharon Gay was Jacoby’s counsel.

The TAD will allow Hapeville and Jacoby to convert the 122-acre site into places to live, work and play. The Hapeville site could also include a new public transit station. MARTA has expressed an interest in placing a stop at the Hapeville Ford plant, and the state of Georgia’s long-simmering plans for a commuter rail line south to Griffin could include a stop at the Hapeville site.

In addition to the Hapeville Ford plant, some other sites that developers think could be converted to a large collection of residences, offices and stores include the former GM plant in Doraville; Fort McPherson in south Atlanta, which is being shuttered by the Department of Defense; and Executive Park on North Druid Hills Road in DeKalb County.

Atlantic Station, which was developed by Jacoby, was built on the site of an old steel plant in midtown Atlanta. Among Atlantic Station’s many amenities are IKEA, Target and Publix stores; hotel and condo towers; restaurants and a movie theatre; and office towers that house some of Atlanta’s biggest law firms, including Arnall Golden Gregory and Burr & Forman. A third office tower, 271 17th Street, is scheduled to open this year, and law firms also populate its tenant list. Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and labor and employment firm Ford & Harrison plan to move to the new building.

Just thinking out loud: While some of Atlanta’s most-prestigious law firms are keen on leasing space at Atlantic Station, would they lease space in Hapeville or Doraville? If big law firms aren’t interested in office space outside of Midtown, does that leave a big hole in potential tenants for the space?


More about: ,
E-mail | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | Permalink | Add a comment | Comments (0) | Comment RSSRSS comment feed

Crescent Moon diner has avoided paying taxes, creditor alleges

Posted on August 26, 2008 16:23 by Andy Peters

It appears that customers cutting back their eating-out habits wasn’t the only reason that Decatur diner Crescent Moon filed for bankruptcy last month.

The owners of Crescent MoonCrescent Moon, Global Restaurant Group LLC, have not registered with the Internal Revenue Service and have never paid payroll taxes, according to a motion filed by a creditor on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. An IRS agent attended a creditors’ meeting on Aug. 21 and said that Crescent Moon’s owners have never filed a return for paying payroll taxes.

The motion was filed by creditor Alternative Dining Inc., the original owner of Crescent Moon. Alternative Dining asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Grace Diehl for an emergency dismissal of the case, or to appoint a trustee to oversee Crescent Moon’s operations and assets.

Crescent Moon’s founder, Rob Atherholt, sold the business to Global Restaurant in October, according to the motion. Global Restaurant has since made some payments to Atherholt as required by the sales agreement but has not met other contractual obligations. Disagreement over those obligations has led to civil litigation in DeKalb State Court.

Additionally, Global Restaurant has not accounted for about $650,000 in cash sales since Atherholt sold the business to the group, the court filing said. Alternative Dining compiled its estimate from data taken from point-of-sale transactions at Crescent Moon’s Decatur and Northlake locations. Alternative Dining said Crescent Moon has made no cash deposits into its checking account at Decatur First Bank since Oct. 31. Alternative Dining estimates that Global Restaurant owes it about $1.04 million.

Global Restaurant had not filed a response to Alternative Dining’s motion as of Tuesday afternoon.

Jones & Walden partner Leon S. Jones in Atlanta is advising Alternative Dining. Atlanta attorney Paul Reece Marr is representing Global Restaurant.


E-mail | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | Permalink | Add a comment | Comments (6) | Comment RSSRSS comment feed

Kraft consults Sutherland on lopping taxes off Post cereals deal

Posted on June 25, 2008 11:23 by Andy Peters

Post Raisin Bran is known for being full of vitamins and also being cholesterol-free. But did you know it’s also sometimes tax-free?Post Raisin Bran

Sutherland partner Reggie Clark in Atlanta was part of a team that advised Kraft Foods Inc. on the spin-off and merger of its Post cereals unit to Ralcorp Holdings Inc. in an all-stock, tax-free deal valued at $2.6 billion. After the merger, Kraft shareholders will own about 54 percent of the new Ralcorp entity and Ralcorp’s existing shareholders will own 46 percent of the new company.

Clark, along with fellow Sutherland tax partners Cliff Muller and Randy Buchanan in Washington, advised Kraft on the tax-free transaction. Sutherland is formerly known as Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore advised Kraft on corporate matters related to the transaction. Ralcorp general counsel Charles G. Huber Jr. performed due diligence for his company on corporate matters and the firm hired Bryan Cave for legal advice on tax issues.

Kraft, of Northfield, Ill., makes Oreo cookies, Maxwell House coffee and Kraft cheese. Ralcorp, of St. Louis, is the largest U.S. maker of private-label cereal, cookies, crackers, peanut butter, ketchup and other food items.


More about: , ,
E-mail | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | Permalink | Add a comment | Comments (0) | Comment RSSRSS comment feed
ADVERTISEMENT
An Affiliate of the Law.com Network
Sign up to receive Legal Blog Watch by email
From the Law.com Newswire

[about RSS] Law.com Privacy Policy

Categories

Recent posts

Archive

About this blog

Andy PetersThe Deal Watch Blog is devoted to bringing you the latest news in business law in Atlanta, the Southeast and the U.S. The lead writer is Daily Report staff reporter Andy Peters.

Andy Peters has been a journalist since graduating from Furman University in 1992. A short list of the subjects he’s covered includes the Georgia state Legislature, the U.S. semiconductor industry, the Alabama-Florida-Georgia “water wars” litigation, the 1999 American Airlines pilots strike, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s battle to acquire the Gatorade sports-drink brand, indie rock music and high school football. Andy has written for Bloomberg News, the New York Times Web site, the Macon Telegraph, the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Andy has written the Deal Watch column for the Daily Report since March 2006. He was born in Chattanooga, Tenn. in 1971 and grew up in Ringgold, Ga. He lives in Decatur with his wife and two children.

He can be reached at andy.peters@incisivemedia.com.

Blogroll







Sign in