The Battery and the Ballpark Dream
by Kyle Israel, CEO Magnolia Hill Partners
When the gates first opened at Truist Park in 2017, the sun was bright, the beer was cold, and the fans streamed into something more than a ballpark. They stepped into a vision.
A stadium, yes. But also: cobblestone streets and live music. A gleaming Omni Hotel. A mechanical bull. A curated collection of restaurants where you could find oysters on ice, tacos in paper boats, and rooftop bourbon cocktails with a view of home plate.
The Braves weren’t just opening a new venue that day. They were redefining what it means to be a modern sports franchise.
At Magnolia Hill Partners, we see Truist Park and The Battery as something more than a marvel. We see it as a model — the most compelling signal yet that sports and real estate are no longer parallel interests. They are converging. And fast.
Eight years later, The Battery brings in 9 million annual visitors. It anchors more than 1.6 million square feet of office space. It’s a living, breathing neighborhood — a fantasy, yes, but one with cash flow.
The results? Since the announcement of the project, the Braves have climbed from the middle of MLB’s valuation rankings to the top tier. A 250% jump in value. A real estate-fueled flywheel.
This is more than good fortune. It’s good strategy.
Across the country, we see other clubs scrambling to adapt. Arlington. Queens. San Francisco. Chicago. Stadiums surrounded by retail, housing, entertainment. Villages in the shadow of scoreboards. But what Atlanta did — what few others have fully replicated — was build it all at once. They didn’t wait for demand. They created it.
And that’s the heart of what we believe at Magnolia Hill.
Sports is no longer just a category of passion. It’s a category of infrastructure. Of placemaking. Of long-term yield. The most valuable franchises of tomorrow won’t just win games — they’ll own the spaces where people gather to watch, cheer, eat, and live.
The Battery is a beacon for what’s possible.
And for those of us who invest in what’s next — in alternative assets, in vision-driven capital, in places that hum with both heart and potential — it’s time to get in the game.
Before the neighborhood goes up around it.
