With a backhoe and some shovels officials broke ground Tuesday on Marietta's Franklin Gateway Sports Complex.
To Marietta’s soccer fans, it could mean a home. The city doesn’t have a soccer facility.
It cost about $3.9 million to buy and raze the Preston Chase apartments that once stood on the land, and about $7 million to build the complex.
Credit: City of Marietta
Credit: City of Marietta
The money to buy the apartments came from a 2009 bond. There will be three turf fields.
This complex will be down the road from the Atlanta United training facility that broke ground earlier this year.
Team owner Arthur Blank has said he hopes Atlanta will become a top destination for soccer in America.
Credit: Lindsey Wiles
Credit: Lindsey Wiles
The city was given a $45,000 grant from the U.S. Soccer Foundation for lighting at the new complex in April.
The groundbreaking capped a busy couple of days for soccer, as Atlanta United earned the top pick of the Major League Soccer expansion draft with the flip of a coin.
Check out more pictures from the groundbreaking event and watch a short video, both from the city of Marietta:
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