Alpharetta Breaks Ground on City Center

Alpharetta's City Center finally is beginning to seem like it will become a reality with the groundbreaking held on the old section of Haynes Bridge Road that will be the site of the new City Hall.

Demolition of structures around the existing City Hall will begin later this week. Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light crews could be seen on site today, readying the property for the demolition.

Alpharetta expects to cut the ribbon on the new City Hall and other public components of the $31 million City Center project in August 2014:

• 50,000 square foot City Hall
• 1-acre Town Plaza/Green
• 5-acre Park
• 450-space Structure Praking Facility
• Sidewalks and Connecting Avenues within the City Center site

Later this year a new 25,000 square foot Alpharetta Public Library will open on 3 acres of land the city donated to Fulton County for that project.

Former City Clerk Sue Rainwater explained that Alpharetta had a library branch in City Hall years ago, making it fitting that the library is coming back downtown.

Mayor David Belle Isle said City Council will decide later this year on details about the four parcels available for private development on the site.

He said the City Center project has been a long time coming, and the work spanned several councils.

Rep. Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, and a former Alpharetta mayor, said it's been more than 20 years since city officials first started talking about revitalizing donwtown. It took that long to come to a conclusion about what to do, and Martin said that was to make it a hometown.

Belle Isle said in the early 1980s, the town had 3,000 people. Most of its residents are from elsewhere, but now it's a hometown for them.

Ben Easterling, chairman of the city's Recreation Commission, told the mayor, "On behalf of the Recreation Commission, we're excited to host the new City Hall right there in our park."

The passive park will utilize native trees and shrubs, a mile of a natural walking trail with a tree canopy and benches for seating. A stream will flow through the park with a series of waterfalls, he said, "so you can sit and enjoy the downtown.

The Recreation Commission already has plans for the new park, with plans to host future Christmas Tree lightings starting in 2014.

But we're really excited about the green area, the lawn area, that's going to become our new amphitheater," Easterling said. Outdoor concerts and movies under the stars will be planned, bringing residents downtown.

Voters approve a $29 million bond referendum to fund City Center. Other city funds were used to shift Haynes Bridge Road east around the site.

Jones, Lang, LaSalle is the project manager and the general contractor for the project is Sandy Springs-based Choate Construction. The Atlanta-based firm of Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart and Stewart is serving as the master architects for the project, with primary architectural design services being led by David M. Schwarz Architects of Washington, DC. Each of these companies had representatives at the groundbreaking.