Hunton & Williams LLP Advises on Community Improvement District’s First Tax-Exempt bond to Redevelop Former GM Plant Site

Hunton & Williams LLP advised the Assembly Community Improvement District as District General Counsel and Bond Counsel for the issuance of $53 Million in Community Improvement District Assessment Bonds.  The bonds, first of their kind in Georgia, were issued on a tax-exempt basis to support the revitalization of the former Doraville General Motors assembly plant, a 165-acre vacant industrial site located 15 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.  The transit-oriented development is immediately adjacent to a MARTA rail line and will consist of 10 million square-feet of office towers, apartments, stores and restaurants. 

The Hunton team was led by Atlanta partner Douglass P. Selby who serves as group head for Hunton’s national public finance group.  The team also included partners Caryl Greenberg Smith, William H. McBride and associate Yeshake “Isaac” Yilma.   Hunton also serves as general counsel to the CID, a quasi-governmental body, elected by commercial property owners with appointments from the governing bodies of DeKalb County, Georgia and Doraville, Georgia.

The CID financing was a general obligation of the CID, combined with a pledge by Doraville, Georgia of taxes and special assessments from a tax allocation district and special assessment district created to provide further credit support for the financing.  A partial ad valorem abatement incentive was structured  alongside the CID bond documentation to moderate the impact of increased millage and assessments and to attract tenants. 

In May 2017 Serta Simmons Bedding announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters and research facilities to the Assembly CID joining Third Rail Studios, a $20MM film and television studio that located there in 2016.

Hunton & Williams has attained a national leadership role in the tax-exempt bar and has developed broad experience in federal tax and securities laws and regulations. The firm’s public finance practice reflects experience in addressing virtually every significant legal issue that affects both governmental financing and tax-exempt financing for private entities.