AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2008 > November > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USNew Sandy Springs City Hall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Sandy Springs city council recently voted to buy the property that used to house Target at Johnson Ferry and Sandy Springs Circle as the future home of City Hall. The price tag was $8 million and if nothing else it’s nice to see a real estate transaction of any sort in this economy.
At the moment there is no schedule for when the city staff will move from their present digs out past Morgan Falls. It’s not certain whether the city will retrofit the present facility or tear it down and build a new one.
The purchase, by the way, does not include Goodwill, so it’s entirely possible in the future that you will be able to fight city hall and get a deal on a used [note to readers — please fill in your own punchline here].
I’m not a big fan of spending money when there is a perfectly good solution in place, but over the long term I think it will be wise to have city hall in what passes for the center of town. It’s close to Heritage Green and opens the door in the long term to begin some serious re-working of our little bit of heaven.
If you want to see what Sandy Springs could be take a drive over and walk around the Smyrna city hall complex. I was there for an art show recently and the difference between what exists now and the dingy former downtown area is like night and day. By the way, who would have thought Smyrna would ever be a role model?
There have been few defining moments for the present elected administration of Sandy Springs. Much of their time and energy has been consumed by getting the city up and running, which is time-consuming work that doesn’t really get the blood a’pumping.
Think of this purchase like an $8 million blank canvas. The decisions made in the coming months will go a long way toward creating the image of the city we want to be.
And speaking of “we” now is the time to put your two cents in on this topic. Should the city renovate the existing building? Build a new one? If new, how big? Marble or glass? Two stories or three?
This could be more fun than a box of Legos.
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