MARTA has chosen a Pennsylvania architecture firm to design a multi-million Clayton County bus maintenance facility that is expected to bring hundreds of new jobs to the south metro Atlanta community.
STV Incorporated of Douglassville, Pennsylvania, will complete the in-house design work MARTA has started for the around $200 million maintenance and operations building, which will support 31 regional bus routes, the transit agency said Monday. The facility will be home to 250 buses, fueling and bus wash stations, a wellness center and a MARTA police precinct with firing range.
MARTA said 350 people will be hired to construct the facility and that it will employ 700 new permanent jobs when completed in late 2026. Construction is expected to start in 2024. The facility will be located on 31 acres MARTA purchased in early 2021 on Old Dixie Road in Forest Park.
“We are excited to partner with MARTA to provide the citizens of Clayton County improvements like the O&M Facility as well as access to bus stop shelters to offer a better experience for riders,” Clayton County Commission Chairman Jeff Turner said in a news release.
MARTA said the facility received a $13 million Federal Transit Administration bus grant in 2019 and $15 million in 2022 toward the project. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock secured another $5 million.
“The strong federal support for this project underscores its importance and value to Clayton County and the entire south metro Atlanta area,” MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood said. “For MARTA, it means not only will we provide transit service in Clayton, we will live there, too.”