But Bill Coats, a Weingarten executive in Atlanta, said he was unaware of any plan by the city to back out and that he remained optimistic a sale will take place.

“We are continuing to work on it and we have some issues to overcome, but it is surprising to me that the mayor would say that,” Coats said. “It is a very, very complicated transaction. I don’t think it has taken longer than similar deals. You could probably ask the same question for a lot of similar deals.”

He cited other complicated city-steered land transactions, including Turner Field and Underground Atlanta, which are both in the process of closing.

More on this story as it develops…