Mayor Reed: Turner Field Land is a 'Tremendous Asset'

News that the Atlanta Braves will bolt Turner Field for Cobb County in 2017 may have caught fans off guard on Monday morning, but not City of Atlanta officials.

The Braves said at a news conference on Monday that they had met and informed Mayor Kasim Reed last week that they would be leaving Turner Field after the 2016 season when the team's 20-year lease with the stadium expires. 

The Braves will depart for a 60-acre plot of land near the Cobb Galleria/Cumberland Mall area.

The team launched a new website Monday, HomeoftheBraves.com, announcing their intensions to move to the new site that will include a mixed-use development and parking areas. The new stadium will come with entertainment options and be "a place to go 365 days a year" according to team officials.

The cost of the project is an estimated $672 million, and it has been reported that Cobb will put up $450 million, with $200 million coming from the Braves.

The Braves say Turner Field needs $150 million in infrastructure work, but that even with such, it wouldn’t significantly enhance the experience for their fans. The new site will provide enhanced connectivity and better access to major roads according to team President John Schuerholtz.

"The new stadium site will be one of the most magnificent in all of baseball," Schuerholtz said in a released video.

The Braves indicated at Monday’s news conference that Reed was "not pleased" that the team would be leaving the southeast Atlanta area where it has played since relocating from Milwaukee in 1966.

Early Monday afternoon, Reed issued the following statement:

The Atlanta Braves are one of the best baseball teams in America, and I wish them well. We have been working very hard with the Braves for a long time, and at the end of the day, there was simply no way the team was going to stay in downtown Atlanta without city taxpayers spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make that happen. It is my understanding that our neighbor, Cobb County, made a strong offer of $450M in public support to the Braves and we are simply unwilling to match that with taxpayer dollars. Given the needs facing our city and the impact of Turner Field stadium on surrounding neighborhoods, that was something I, and many others were unwilling to do. We have been planning for the possibility of this announcement and have already spoken to multiple organizations who are interested in redeveloping the entire Turner Field corridor. Over the next three years, we will be working with our prospective partners to bring residential and business development that is worthy of our city and strengthens our downtown. Those conversations will continue and I am excited about how we use the land that is now Turner Field, to be a tremendous asset for our residents, our city, and our region for years to come.

What would you like to see transpire with the Turner Field property after the Braves vacate the premises following the 2016 season?