BRADENTON, Fla. – The Atlanta BeltLine Inc. has selected Paul Morris as its president and chief executive officer.
Morris most recently was the deputy secretary for transit at the North Carolina Department of Transportation, where he was responsible for multi-modal divisions as well as land use and transportation initiatives.
Prior to joining the NCDOT, Morris worked with a number of consulting and investment firms including Parsons Brinckerhoff, Cherokee Investment Partners, and his own firm, McKeever/Morris Inc.
He received a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Oregon.
Morris replaces Brian Leary as the head of Atlanta’s award-winning BeltLine project, which is funded in part with bond financing and increment revenues from a 6,500-acre tax allocation district. He was selected to lead the agency after a national search.
“We had an outstanding group of finalists for this position, and we believe that the depth and variety of experience Paul Morris has will make this great project and organization even stronger,” said John Somerhalder, chairman of the board of directors.
The BeltLine is a 25-year urban redevelopment project that will provide a network of public parks, multi-use trails, and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown Atlanta. It is also designed to connect neighborhoods and create economic development growth.
As of June 30, 2012, the Beltline tax allocation district had $77.2 million of revenue bonds outstanding. The unrated bonds were issued by the city of Atlanta.
