By Henry Queen – Staff Reporter, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Ten acres in the heart of Downtown Atlanta have sold to a company that envisions an eye-catching project on property that is no stranger to ambitious proposals.
Webstar Technology Group on Wednesday said it closed on the site at the corner of Ted Turner Drive SW and Whitehall Street SW in the Castleberry Hill area. The price was not disclosed, and a deed for the sale has not yet been recorded. Previous financial disclosures said the sale was valued at $33 million.
David Branch and Peyton Stinson with SSG Realty Partners represented the seller, McCall Railroad LLC. Jae Kim with CBRE represented the buyer, a subsidiary of Webstar called Forge Atlanta Asset Management. The firm has said it will sell cryptocurrency tokens to help finance the project. That would not “replace traditional financing, but rather adds a new, carefully structured opportunity,” per the company.
“Closing on the land for Forge Atlanta marks a major milestone in our vision to transform an under‑utilized industrial block into a vibrant, mixed‑use district,” Webstar Technology Group CEO Ricardo Haynes said in a statement. “By integrating traditional real estate financing with compliant blockchain technology, we are opening the door for residents, investors and communities to participate in Atlanta’s growth.”
In 2021, Urbantec Development Partners proposed a life science research hub for the site — a plan that fizzled two years later. Kim, a vice president at CBRE, led that company and still has a small stake in the new Forge Atlanta project.
Webstar, a public company, is valued at roughly a penny on OTC Markets, though it has inched up in recent days. As of Sept. 30, Webstar had $7,789 in cash and a little over $600,000 in total assets — most of which were related to this real estate project, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Phase 1 of Forge Atlanta, as this project has been dubbed, would include a 300‑key hotel, approximately 600 residential condominiums, and about 60,500 square feet of retail and entertainment space, according to a news release. About 1,600 parking spaces are also planned. The condos are expected to be priced from $750,000 to $2.4 million.
A September feasibility study from CBRE and Turner and Townsend said the overall plan is to build 950 hotel rooms, over 2,300 condo units, two 300,000-square-foot office buildings, two 100,000-square-foot data centers, two 40,000-square-foot conference centers, a 50,000-square-foot entertainment center and more.
Across all phases, there may be more than 8.5 million square feet of development, carrying a cost of $3.77 billion, according to the feasibility study. Ernst & Young and Develop Fulton projected the full project would create 3,000 jobs (construction and permanent) and generate an economic impact of over $7 billion, Webstar said.
It’s a staggering proposal that raises some questions. Bisnow reported in July that Webstar has left behind a trail of red flags, including nonexistent permits, collapsed land deals and unverifiable resumes.
Some elements of the project may be difficult to execute. In 2024, the city of Atlanta banned new data center development within a half-mile of MARTA stations, and the Forge property is within that distance from MARTA’s Garnett station. Condo development in Atlanta has been limited in the near two decades since the Great Recession. New office construction has plummeted since the pandemic.
Plus, Downtown Atlanta does not typically attract projects of this scale meant to make a profit. The ongoing $5 billion Centennial Yards development is supported by up to $1.9 billion in public financing, which was approved by Atlanta City Council in 2018.
Meanwhile, the nearby revitalization of historic buildings in South Downtown is made possible because of tech entrepreneur David Cummings’ investment, bolstered by proceeds from the growth and eventual sales of his former startups. The project does not need to hit a certain internal rate of return to pay investors or lenders.
“We’re not competing to get IRR returns to go sell the buildings,” SoDo Atlanta LLC CEO Jon Birdsong, Cummings’ business partner, recently told Cushman & Wakefield’s Tim Wright on the Sunbelt Developers podcast.
Develop Fulton did recently advance a public financing plan for the first phase of the Forge Atlanta project. The authority’s board of directors voted in October to approve a $223.7 million bond inducement resolution, resulting in approximately $9.7 million in tax savings over 10 years for Webstar.
A public commenter during the Develop Fulton meeting raised questions about the accuracy of Webstar’s presentation and criticized the company’s lack of public engagement.
In its Dec. 17 news release, Webstar committed to hosting community meetings, workforce development programs and cultural events starting in 2026.
According to the news release, other companies involved in the project include:
- Turner & Townsend will provide development management.
- Skanska has participated in preliminary discussions and pre-construction planning as a potential general contractor, subject to the negotiation.
- Skyline Engineering will provide in‑house oversight and quality control.
- Kimley-Horn will serve as the lead engineer.
- Nelson Worldwide will lead design.
A ceremonial groundbreaking is projected for mid-2026, and construction of the first phase is expected to last up to three years.