“But in this instance, it’s literally under construction.”ĭAFC said the board would meet with QTS and residents before the tax break is reconsidered. “Usually (companies) would say, ‘We’re not going to be able to build this if we don’t get the abatement,’ which I’ve always questioned,” Westmoreland said. In the case of QTS, the heads of both the Beltline and Invest Atlanta urged DAFC to reject the proposal.Ītlanta Councilman Matt Westmoreland called incentives for the QTS proposal egregious. Explore Atlanta rapidly grows data center footprint amid fervent competition Many of the projects were for luxury apartments, warehouses or office buildings with little public benefit in return. DAFC and Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, are both able to offer incentives to companies to locate or expand within the city’s limits.įor years, Atlanta has tried to stop DAFC from stepping on Invest Atlanta’s turf and approving tax breaks Invest Atlanta would likely reject.Ī 2021 AJC review of DAFC tax breaks over a three-year period found the agency awarded preliminary or final approval to some $328 million in tax breaks, often in hot neighborhoods within the city of Atlanta such as Midtown, Buckhead and along the Beltline. The DAFC and city have long been at odds. But critics contend DAFC often grants incentives to projects that would be built without the taxpayer support. Their main tools are lucrative property tax abatements that reduce developers’ city, county and school tax bills. “We hope to have more information on this item soon,” DAFC Chairman Michel “Marty” Turpeau IV said.ĭevelopment authorities often avoid much scrutiny, but they have outsize influence in recruiting jobs and investment. When asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, neither QTS nor DAFC provided a date for when the tax break request would be reconsidered.

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