Alpharetta OKs Spending $2.83 Million on City Center Site Work

Alpharetta City Administrator Bob Regus said mark your calendars again for April 22, as the city will break ground for its City Center project in downtown Alpharetta at 10 a.m.

Alpharetta has been planning a City Center for many years, with two false starts in pubic-private ventures before the city went on its own to renovate a big chunk of downtown property. In two weeks, ground will be broken for the project, which includes a new City Hall, a parking structure and a small park. Room has been set aside for a new Alpharetta library branch that the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System plans to build at the same time.

Alpharetta City Council approved during a meeting Monday night to spend $2.83 million for Choate Construction to proceed with demolition, site work and utility work on the project site while the documentation for the remainder of the project is completed and competitively bid. Hall said up to three months of site work can be done before the final documentation is completed. That amount includes $200,000 in funds set aside for contingencies that may occur during the work.

In just a few days a land disturbance permit could be issued for City Center, said Mike Hall of Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, who is the project manager.

The underground gasoline storage tanks at the former gas station site next to City Hall have been removed, said Engineering and Public Works Director Pete Sewczwicz. He said the city got a "no further action" letter from the state because no significant leakage has occurred since the tanks were sealed in 1989.