Tyler Perry Spending Big Bucks To Save Building In Black Neighborhood

Tyler Perry is so concerned about an FDA Lab moving into a black neighborhood that he is willing to buy the building.

The writer is considering buying the Forces Command building, a former U.S. military training complex just across the street from Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. The building is set to become an FDA laboratory, but Tyler just isn’t feeling it.

In particular, he is concerned about the fumes that many cast and crews that work on his lot will potentially ingest and the surrounding community will also potentially be affected if the lab comes into town and starts messing things up.

In August 2019, the building, known as the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority (MILRA) approved selling the FORSCOM building for a shocking $17 million to Easterly Government Properties.

Initially, Perry missed the opportunity to buy the building after it was sold to Easterly Government Properties the plan was to have it up and running by 2021 but no progress has been made.

According to Saporta Report, this is because of a combination of pandemic-related restraints and the FDA's decision to scale back future plans for the building. Mark Bauer, executive vice president of Easterly Government Properties, of the FDA, claimed, “they didn’t have adequate funding.”

He went on to say, “We put the project on pause while the government decided how much additional funding would be needed.” This leaves room for Perry to swoop in and take the building, he could do so much with it.

In a phone call interview with Perry, the producer said, “The FDA will have smokestacks emitting white smoke. It’s very problematic to me.”

Now that the building is up for grabs Perry is gunning to put down more than the $17 million that was paid for it initially. “I would gladly buy the buildings at a premium to not have smokestacks on the property,” says Perry.

“The best outcome, if they do not sell the building to me, would be to not have the smokestacks with the environmental impact in an all-Black neighborhood. To allow someone to put a laboratory in the heart of this development with smokestacks is not okay with me. They would not do it in Buckhead, so why would they do it here? It feels like environmental racism.”

The bold statement drew the attention of Bauer who claims that is not what is happening at all.

“A smokestack is not a fair or accurate description of it at all,” Bauer said. “They are Strobic fans. It’s typical for all labs, hospitals, and medical facilities. It’s a type of exhaust system that takes unwanted vapors and fumes created in the lab application and cleans it before putting it out in the atmosphere, so it’s clean. The mechanics are on the roof. The vapors that come out are not visible. It’s not like toxic fumes.”

I don’t know Bauer, it sounds pretty toxic to us. Specifically, the part where you said, “type of exhaust system that takes unwanted vapors and fumes created in the lab application”

However, Bauer goes on to insist that it’s not how Perry is making it seem at all. Either way, the super successful moviemaker is sitting by waiting with the funds to buy the building out from under you if the opportunity arises.