The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • A6

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2022 A6 METRO ATLANTA campus in Atlantic Station sold By Zachary Hansen zachary.hansen@ajc.com Atlantic Yards the two- towercampus inAtlantic Sta- tionwhereMicrosoft created its Atlanta technology was recently acquired by a new owner. Global Atlantic Finan- cial Group, a subsidiary of global investment firm giant KKR, purchased the office buildings for an undisclosed price, according to a news release. FultonCountyprop- erty recordsdidnotyet show a recorded sale as of early Friday. Themidrise containmore than 500,000 square feet of office space, are fully leased byMicrosoft through 2035. Construction of the build- ingsstartedbeforetheCOVID- 19pandemic, plans to expand at Atlantic Yards were announced as muchof the country entered lockdowninMarch2020.The buildingswere soldbyglobal real landedMicrosoft as theproj- tenant, and real estate management firm Invesco.

investment thesis forAtlanticYardswasproven whenMicrosoftcommittedto theentireAtlanticYardsproj- ect on a long-term lease in of the Tori Kerr, managing director at Hines, said in the release. Microsoft expects tohouse up in the buildings and focus on arti- ficial intelligence and cloud services, the release said. First reported by online realestatepublicationCoStar, the sale could be a record highpriceper square foot for metroAtlanta office transac- tions.Eastdil brokered said the buildings could sell for $497million, or $950per square foot. TheDevelopmentAuthor- ity of FultonCounty issued a taxabatement for theproject before the pandemic based on a $205 million project investment. The authority at the time did not release an estimated value of the tax Jour- nal-Constitution analysis val- The abatementwas oneof morethan80projectsgranted taxbreaksbyDAFCfrom2018 tomid-2021thattheAJCfound wereoverwhelminglyconcen- trated in fast-growing areas wheremarketconditionswere extremely favorable or came with few public benefits.

Critics said tax breaks inpopularareasraised questions about theneed for taxpayer subsidies. been active in metro Atlanta over the past fewyears, still plans to build a new campus on The com- pany bought the 90-acre Quarry Yards property near theBankheadMARTAstation for roughly $150million, and it is expected to create thou- sands of jobs. Global investment subsidiary buys buildings. Atlantic Yards, which is solely leased by Microsoft was recently sold to Global Atlantic Financial Group, a subsidiary of global investment giant KKR, for an undisclosed price. COURTESY OF KKR ByAlanJudd alan.judd@ajc.com Twentymenwho say they weresexuallyabuseddecades ago as students at a north- west Georgia private school are seeking $345 million in damages from the insurers.

The former students recently settled a lawsuit against Roger Stifflemire, a longtime teacher and dorm supervisor at the Darlington SchoolinRome.AlthoughStif- flemire was not required to compensate the former stu- dents, thesettlementcleared the way for the former stu- dents topursuean insurance settlement for themselves. Late last year, the former students reached a separate settlement with Darlington. Financial terms of the agree- ment were not disclosed. The insurance companies coveredDarlingtonduringthe yearsthatStifflemireallegedly abused students on school property or on school-sanc- tioned trips. asa insured under those said DarrenPenn, the former stu- lawyer.

Stifflemire, now81 and liv- ing in Alabama, never has acknowledged abusing stu- dents. His lawyer, Robert Smalley, said he could not afford to defend himself in court and would cooperate with the former efforts to collect from the insurers. that has been askedof himat this Smalley said. Theabuseallegationscame to light ina2017article inThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported that school officials had been told about sexual abusedecadesearlier. By then, the statuteof limita- inal charges were ever filed.

Darlington commissioned an investigation into the alle- have beenmade public. The school removed Stif- name fromanhon- orary plaque, and this year unveiled a new monument dedicated to the victims of sexual abuse at the school. Former private school students seek $345M over alleged abuse EDUCATION Roger Stifflemire is a former teacher at the Darlington School. By KellyYamanouchi kelly.yamanouchi@ajc.com Delta Air Lines is testing free Wi-Fi on some flights, part of a yearslong effort to eventually launch free wire- less internet service across many of its flights. Atlanta-based Delta will offer complimentary Wi-Fi on select numberofflights this according to GlennLatta, agingdirectorof in-flight con- nectivity.

The fees forWi-Fi normally start at $5 per flight. Lattaaddedthat totest thetechnologyandgain insights to eventually offer Wi-Fi that is fast and reli- able as Slow and spotty in-flight Wi-Fi has vexed passengers on Delta for years, and the company has been working to increase bandwidth and reliability by expanding sat- ellite-basedWi-Fi with a new provider. EkremDimbiloglu, managing director of brand experience, said thecompany hasmade invest- the last twoyears to eventually make onboard Wi-Fi free, fast and reliable. But he added that testing is important. ThriftyTraveler.comrepor- ted that Delta in an internal memo said it plans to launch complimentary Wi-Fi on all domestic flights and expand free Wi-Fi to inter- national routes by the end of 2024.

unclear what mightmean.Delta’seffortson CEOEdBastian in2018 telling TheAtlanta Journal-Constitu- tion that he wanted to even- tually make the service free. But Bastian alsowarned at the timethat itwould take two to three years tomake it hap- pen. In May 2019, Delta ran a two-week test of free Wi-Fi on some flights. been more than three years since initial comments, and in themean- time theCOVID-19 pandemic promptedDeltatosignificantly curtail spendingwhen travel plummetedandtodelaysome plans for new technology. But Delta announced last year anew in-flightWi-Fi pro- vider, Viasat, for high-speed satellite-based connections withtheaimofofferingpassen- gersfasterandmoreconsistent connections and streaming.

yet to be seen whether Deltawill eventuallymake all Wi-Fi access free for all pas- sengersorchargeextra for the highest-speed connections. Delta tests free Wi-Fi on some flights before any wider rollout AIRLINES NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE The Fulton County Board of Commissioners has tentatively adopted a 2022 millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 5.19 percent. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Government Center Assembly Hall, 141 Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA 30303 on August 3, 2022 at 10:00 a.m and on August 3, 2022 at 6 p.m, and via video conferencing accessible via the Fulton County website at www.fultoncountyga.gov, or can be accessed via Zoom at the following web addresses on August 3, 2022: 10 a.m. meeting https://zoom.us.webinar/register/ 6 p.m. meeting https://zoom.us.webinar/register/ Time and place of an additional public hearing on this tax increase is at the Government Center Assembly Hall, 141 Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA 30303 on August 17, 2022 at 10:00 a.m and via video conferencing accessible via the Fulton County website at www.fultoncountyga.gov, or can be accessed via Zoom at the https://zoom.us/webinar/ This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 9.33 mills, an increase of .46 mills.Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 8.87 mills.

The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $437,500 is approximately $66.70 and the proposed tax increase for a nonhomestead property with a fair market value of $312,500 is approximately $57.50. NOTICE The Fulton County Board of Commissioners does hereby announce that the 2022 General Fund millage rate will be set at a meeting to be held at the Fulton County Assembly Hall, located at 141 Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA 30303 on August 17, 2022 at 10 a.m. and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A. 48-5-32 does hereby publish the following presentation of the current tax digest and levy, along with the history of the tax digest and levy for the past five years. CURRENT 2022 PROPERTYTAX DIGEST AND 5YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY I A A COUNTYWIDE- GENERAL FUND 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 A Real Personal 60,633,390,700 71,341,738,485 77,777,514,783 80,971,165,197 86,988,945,872 95,428,193,572 Motor Vehicles 711,747,620 498,746,270 377,652,450 289,613,290 215,852,600 182,153,980 Mobile Homes 792,917 1,089,234 1,096,274 1,292,453 1,319,747 1,202,552 Timber 136,310 18,650 9,600 84,743 155,397 Heavy Duty Equipment 1,622,996 685,395 913,415 5,121,690 2,336,114 Gross Digest 61,347,690,543 71,842,278,034 78,157,186,522 81,267,277,373 87,206,118,219 95,614,041,615 Less Exemptions 8,962,910,638 11,923,232,133 13,334,327,620 13,481,570,304 14,976,001,606 17,536,659,033 NET DIGEST VALUE 52,384,779,905 59,919,045,901 64,822,858,902 67,785,707,069 72,230,116,613 78,077,382,582 Forest Land Assistance Grant Value 9,253,545 9,660,215 ADJUSTED NET DIGEST VALUE 52,394,033,450 59,928,706,116 64,822,858,902 67,785,707,069 72,230,116,613 78,077,382,582 A Gross Maintenance Operation Millage 11.068 10.573 10.107 9.990 9.508 9.522 Less Rollback (Local Option Sales Tax) 0.688 0.373 0.208 0.214 0.178 0.192 Net Millage Rate 10.380 10.200 9.899 9.776 9.330 9.330 A Total Taxes Levied 543,850,067 611,272,802 641,681,480 662,673,072 673,914,625 728,428,803 Net Tax (Decrease) 67,422,735 30,408,678 20,991,592 11,241,553 54,514,178 Net Tax (Decrease) 12.40% 4.97% 3.27% 1.70% 8.09% Notice of Current Tax Digest and Five-Year History of Levy PUBLIC HEARING The Board of Commissioners of Fulton County, Georgia hereby announce that three public hearings will be held to discuss the 2022 millage rates for the General Fund, Bond Fund, and Fulton Industrial Tax District at the regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners on August 3, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.; again on August 3, 2022 at 6 p.m, and on August 17, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.

in the Assembly Hall, located at 141 Pryor Street SW, Atlanta, Ga 30303 and via video conferencing accessible via the Fulton County website at www.fultoncountyga.gov, or can be accessed via Zoom at the following web addresses: August 3, 2022 10 a.m. meeting https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n4Gv2K64SFq-LkL8uj1a3g August 3, 2022 6 p.m. meeting https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GGU92WO0SgO6ET758WW5Gg August 17, 2022 10 a.m. meeting https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_46rIBK8mSmSRHVZGWGy-cA The 2022 millage rates will be set at the August 17, 2022 recess meeting of the Board of Commissioners in Assembly Hall at 10 am..