Jamestown LP, the developer behind the Atlanta mixed-use center Ponce City Market, and New York Life Insurance want to make Atlanta a hockey market again, with the hope that the third time’s a charm.
The two companies plan to construct a sports arena in Alpharetta, Georgia, along with adjacent residential, retail, offices, a hotel and public transit connections, according to a statement. The project is slated for the site of North Point Mall, which New York Life acquired from Brookfield in 2021.
Atlanta previously had two NHL franchises, but both teams bolted for Canada after lackluster attendance figures in the U.S. Southeast’s largest city. The Atlanta Flames left for Calgary in 1980, and the Atlanta Thrashers skipped town for Winnipeg in 2011. Both teams played in downtown Atlanta arenas: the Flames in the demolished Omni Coliseum and the Thrashers in State Farm Arena, which remains in use.
New efforts to lure a pro hockey team are focusing on the northern suburbs, including the Jamestown and New York Life proposal. That part of Atlanta has a large population of affluent residents who moved to the area from the Northeast and Midwest, both of which have many more hotbeds of hockey fans than the Southeast.
“Hopefully, our efforts will attract an owner who wants to acquire an expansion team and bring hockey back to Atlanta,” Tim Perry, chief investment officer at Jamestown, said in the release.
Jamestown and New York Life hired Machete Group, a Houston-based consulting firm, to help guide the redevelopment project. Machete has worked on other sports-related commercial property developments.
The new venture isn’t the only project underway in the Atlanta area to recruit a new hockey team. A group that includes Krause Sports & Entertainment, JLL and Forsyth County, Georgia, wants to develop a $2 billion arena-anchored district and lure an NHL team. The group has secured some financing and developed a preliminary design and development plan for its proposed Gathering at South Forsyth.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman publicly disclosed that the league has studied adding expansion franchises and named Atlanta as a possible choice. Bettman last year said that the expansion fee for a new franchise will likely be about $2 billion.
Other cities that could be awarded an NHL expansion team include Houston, Indianapolis, Quebec City and Kansas City, Missouri, which already has a facility ready to host a pro team, T-Mobile Center. The NHL last expanded in 2024, adding the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City.
North Point Mall is an active retail property with a roster of tenants that includes H&M, Victoria’s Secret and an AMC movie theater. Jamestown and New York Life said they plan to develop the arena “on the North Point Mall site itself,” but did not elaborate in a statement whether that includes demolishing the mall. A Jamestown spokesperson said the company is still evaluating its options on whether to demolish the mall.
The city of Alpharetta approved a special tax district last year to help finance infrastructure improvements at the 100-acre mall site, in advance of a potential redevelopment project.
“Thanks to the leadership and vision of the city of Alpharetta, the opportunity to transform a large and underutilized property into a state-of-the-art, NHL arena-anchored community is one that will benefit residents and businesses alike,” Alan Rubenstein, senior director at New York Life Investment Management, said in the statement.