Scott Macllelan told the Lookout Mountain, Ga. city council on Thursday he is almost ready to begin construction on the redevelopment of the Town Center. Mr. Macllelan owns a large portion of the land area needed for the redevelopment.

The city owns another large portion of the tract and there will be some land ownership swaps between the city and Mr. Macllelan to accomplish the plan. Lawyers for both parties are working on the documents of the land swap and when signed, construction can begin, he said.

The city and Mr. Macllelan plan to use the same construction company to build the buildings, but each entity will have control over their respective building. Both buildings will have mountain stone and natural wood exteriors, Mr. Macllelan said.

Mr. Macllelan told the council members he has commitments from the anchor tenants in the commercial building to be built. The building will have three retail bays, a restaurant space, and a small grocery store space. The second floor will have several condominium units. The mixed-use building will total 8,886 square feet.

The municipal building will have 9,420 square feet and house City Hall and the Police and Fire departments.

The mixed-use building will begin where the current City Hall is and run toward Lula Lake Rd. alongside the current access drive to the police and public works departments. The municipal building will roughly be in the area of the former retail building which was recently removed. The development will have a total of 43 parking spaces.

Mr. Macllelan told the council the placement of the municipal building and the paved area behind it are designed to accommodate the turning radius of the fire trucks exiting the bays. There will be three bays for the city’s two fire trucks, he said.

Mayor Tom Gifford said there will be a meeting soon with the lawyers to finalize the property swap. He said Mayor-elect Bill Glascock has already been involved in the discussions and plans so there will be no delay due to transition of administrations which becomes effective January 1, 2010.

Mayor Gifford told the council the Municipal Planning Commission has reviewed the design and is very receptive of the plan. The final design reflects heavily of the public input received in public meetings.

Dana Wilbourn
dbwilbourn@yahoo.com