BMW project stalls out on way to ATL - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The BMW project would involve a national trainingv center for mechanics and other personnel on about 25 acresdnear . However, the deal has gone sideways, accordiny to a source familiar with the proposed The training center would give a shot in the arm to real estates developmenton Atlanta’s south side, where , the nation’d largest food company, is also looking for a nearlty 90-acre site. The prospects of landing BMW, however also come as metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate stands at 9.6 percen — higher than the nationao rate for the 19thconsecutivde month.
Atlanta would be a prim e location for the automaker to locate a training consideringthe city’s international air routes and hub for , the world’es largest carrier. BMW also manufacturesx X5 and X6 SUVs and the Z4 roadsterf at its plant 180 miles awayin S.C. BMW has research facilities in California, and its Northy American headquarters is inWood Lake, N.J. The new BMW traininy center isn’t expected to create a lot of jobs, but the projecrt could serve as an economic engine for thesouthg side, where several developers have larged sites, including , Charlie Brown’ and Jim Jacoby’s Metro Atlanta standx to gain from partners of the automake r bringing support facilities here, say Atlanta commercial real estatee developers and brokers speaking on conditio n of anonymity for this While the BMW deal isn’t necessarily dead, it is probably delayed indefinitely, as the auto industr continues to suffer amid weak consumer confidence and a lack of lendintg for buyers.
BMW’s year-over-year sales for June spiraled into a 20 percentr tailspin and sales are down nearly 30 percent according tothe . Sales of Ltd. and vehicles have fared even worse Americanvehicle sales, trading at the rate of 16 million unitds annually two years ago, have also nose-diveed since the recession deepened and and went into U.S. auto sales reached an annuao 10 million trading rate inJune — the firstt time this year the rate hit that BMW started scouting for a site in the Southeast at leas t 18 months ago, and Orlando, was an early contender.
Georgia’s economic development which often name projects they are trying to dubbed the BMWdeal “Project Star,” according to As the process continued, metrok Atlanta emerged as the front-runner. BMW, the maker of sportzs cars, luxury sedans and SUVs, has looker at several sites, including the Duke Realty’s Camp Creek developmentt and Jacoby Development’s Aerotropolis at the former planftin Hapeville. , a mixed-usew office and hotel development that is connectedc by automated rail to the airporrt andthe , is also thought to have been in consideration.
BMW offered few details on its