The Council for Quality Growth proudly announces the recipients of its 16^th Annual Community Improvement District (CID) Awards. The 2025 reception and award presentation will honor John Heagy, Chair of the DeKalb Perimeter CID, and Kevin Green, President & CEO of the Midtown Alliance. The 16^th Annual CID Recognition Event, presented by Georgia Power, the Perimeter CIDs, and POND, will be held in early November and will be announced soon.

 

Heagy and Green follow an esteemed list of CID Award recipients that have demonstrated leadership and commitment to forward progress among our state’s growing number of Community Improvement Districts. The Council’s one-of-a-kind CID Recognition Event annually highlights the work that our CIDs are doing all year to advance our region’s greatest economic centers and strengthen the unique character area of the business communities they serve. In addition, the Council presents two awards to carefully nominated and selected CID leaders that have greatly impacted the region. The John Williams CID Leadership Award recognizes a CID volunteer, and the CID Professional Excellence Award recognizes a CID industry professional.

The 2025 recipient of the John Williams CID Leadership Award is John A. Heagy III, Retired Partner at Hines and Chair of the DeKalb Perimeter CID. Heagy has served on the board of the CID since 2005 and has served as Secretary, Vice Chair, and as Chair since 2010.  Heagy’s tenure of leadership at the CID and his 45-year career in Atlanta’s commercial real estate industry has left indelible marks across the metro region and the entire Southeast. “John has been a steady, visionary leader in the Perimeter market for 30 years,” said Ann Hanlon, Executive Director of the PCIDs and a Board Member of the Council for Quality Growth. “He has been a titan of real estate since then all over Atlanta, but he’s remained passionately involved in Perimeter. John’s leadership has Chair since 2010 has helped Perimeter evolve into the dynamic, mixed-use environment it is today. The Perimeter CIDs would not be where we are today without John’s leadership.”

 

The DeKalb Perimeter CID is part of the larger Perimeter CIDs (PCIDs), which have been a major player in the growth and development of our region’s top end since its inception in 1998. Under Heagy’s leadership, the PCIDs invested $49 million in infrastructure, brought in $61 million in state and federal investment, grown to represent over 2,000 companies and 123,000 employees, and has become one of the most influential business districts in the state.

 

Heagy joined Hines as Senior Managing Director in 1996 and recently retired after 29 years this past July. He was responsible for the leasing and marketing of more than 4 million square feet of office across the firm’s Atlanta portfolio, including T3 West Midtown and Atlantic Yards, and another 2.7 million square feet of properties across the Hines Southeast Region. Prior to Hines, Heagy started his career in commercial real estate in Atlanta in 1980 with leadership positions at Portman and Faison. He also served as the President of the Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS in 2019 and the Boy Scouts Atlanta Area Council in 2008 and 2009. His 45-years of industry experience has been instrumental in positioning the Perimeter CIDs as a leading business hub in the Southeast and securing corporate investment in the district.

 

Heagy was a very vocal supporter of Georgia DOT’s Transform 285/400 project, understanding the vital role this transportation improvement played to the entire metro Atlanta region and state. He oversaw the PCIDs’ collaboration with GDOT, ARC, and GRTA to reorganize the gateway, build a flyover bridge, sidewalks, bike lanes, and the new diverging diamond interchange at Ashford Dunwoody. Heagy pushed to do both the 285/400 highway interchange and collector-distributor lanes on GA-400 as one project and committed the first $10 million in financial backing from PCIDs to make it happen. During his tenure as Chair, PCIDs also greatly expanded the trail system and interconnectivity and executed the Perimeter Market rebrand starting in 2023. Heagy is set to retire as Chair of the DeKalb Perimeter CID at the end of September.

 

The 2025 recipient of the CID Professional Excellence Award is Kevin Green, President & CEO of the Midtown Alliance and the Midtown Improvement District (MID). He joined Midtown Alliance in 2011 and for 14 years, he’s led capital projects and programs aimed at improving Midtown’s quality of life and catalyzing economic growth. Kevin leads both the MID and Midtown Alliance, a 65-member board of the district’s private sector, non-profit, and civic leaders who provide the staff and day-to-day management and operations for MID funded programs and projects.

 

Much of Green’s time at the Midtown Alliance has been characterized by public enhancement projects, including tree maintenance, streetscaping, public art, sidewalk improvements, pedestrian lighting, bikeways, a network of public spaces, and activation projects with MARTA. Since the inception of the Midtown Improvement District in 2000, Midtown’s commercial property tax digest as more than quadrupled in value.

 

Since 2011, Kevin has led Midtown Alliance and has brought in over $100 million to the district by leveraging public and private grant opportunities. Kevin has also overseen the implementation of Blueprint 3.0, the district’s master plan, updated in 2016-2017. Under his leadership, Midtown Alliance has introduced the Midtown Blue and Midtown Green programs. Midtown Blue is a supplemental public safety service that coordinates with the Atlanta Police Department to patrol and provide immediate emergency response across Midtown. Midtown Green is the district’s public works team, who work to keep their sidewalks, parks, and plazas clean, green, and safe. Most recently, Kevin spearheaded the purchase of 98 14^th Street, a 4-acre property in the heart of Midtown. The purchase will allow Midtown Alliance to develop a design for a permanent green space in a district that currently has only 1.4 acres of permanent public open space. “This is by far the biggest and boldest and most amazing thing that the Midtown Improvement District has ever done,” said Green on the endeavor.

 

Prior to joining the CID, Green has a long career in community advancement roles, including serving as Executive Director of The Clean Air Campaign and VP of Environmental Affairs for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He is passionate about advancing the livability and economic opportunity across the Atlanta region and has worked specifically on initiatives to improve water resource stewardship, air quality, and transportation development. In his earlier career, Green was a civil and business litigator in state and federal courts across the Southeast.

 

The Council commends the work of both John Heagy and Kevin Green to progress the impact of Community Improvement Districts around the region. With the efforts of leaders like these, CIDs continue to produce billions of dollars for infrastructure investments, new parks and greenspace, public safety, traffic mitigation projects, landscape improvements, and much more.

 

Heagy and Green will be recognized and presented with their respective awards at the Council for Quality Growth’s Annual CID Recognition Event early in November. Each year, the Council uniquely convenes the 30 Community Improvement Districts in our region to recognize the work they do year-round to enhance the quality of life here across metro Atlanta and to support the newly established CIDs as they become activated across the state of Georgia. This is the 16^th year the Council has held this event and presented the CID Awards.

 

For details about Community Improvement Districts, please visit www.CouncilforQualityGrowth.org/CIDs. Details for the Council’s 16^th Annual CID Recognition Event will be announced and registration will open soon. Sponsorships are available now. To sponsor, please contact Kathryn Jones at [email protected].