Final Cost of SunTrust Park Materials Set

Sign up for the Smyrna-Vinings Patch newsletter!

---

Cobb County commissioners acknowledged an agreement on the maximum allowable price for materials used to build the Atlanta Braves’ new stadium near Smyrna city limits during their regular meeting Tuesday.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) of materials has been set at $462 million, a price tag agreed upon by the baseball team and the construction company building the stadium. Any material costs in excess of the GMP must be paid by the construction company, the AJC says.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports that commissioners were pleased to see the GMP come in under the original estimate of $482 million, adding that their unanimous approval of the GMP was simply acknowledging that a GMP had been set, a procedural step required in the contracts between the various organizations with a stake in building the stadium.

The GMP figure does not include land acquisitions, professional fees, or landscaping services. All told, the project is predicted to cost around $672 million. Cobb County’s total contribution to the project has been capped at $300 million, the MDJ says. Most of this financial contribution will come through debt service payments on bonds the county plans to issue to pay for the stadium.

Cobb County could help finance the stadium by issuing from $368 million up to $397 million in bonds through the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority, though the MDJ says that any revenue in excess of the low-end figure will help cover bond-related costs and interest payments.

The issuance of the bonds has been tied up in court due to a legal challenge from parties who claim the validation of the bond issuance by Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard was invalid because no referendum was held on the matter. The case went before the Georgia Supreme Court in February, but the high court has yet to hand down a ruling.

A Braves spokesman acknowledged the legal wrangling, but said that they have “full confidence” that the validation will be upheld by the Supreme Court.