The Cobb County School District wants to build a parking area next to its main administrative offices in Marietta on property that once was proposed for a $50 million special events center.
The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday will hear a request for a $1.97 million contract for “site improvements” at 440 and 460 Glover Street, according to an agenda item.
The board will hold a work session Thursday at 1:30 p.m., followed by possible voting action Thursday at 7 p.m.
All meetings take place in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, at 514 Glover St. in Marietta. An executive session will follow the work session.
You can read through the agenda details for the meetings at this link; and you can watch the public meetings on a livestream on the district’s Boxcast Channel.
The combined 3.42 acres on Glover Street are vacant lots. There was an aging building on the property that has since been torn down, in an area with small industrial-type businesses.
When East Cobb News contacted the Cobb school district Tuesday for more information, a spokeswoman said “we are now clearing its foundation to add additional parking for parents, teachers, and administrators.”
According to bidding information available online, “this project consists of building foundation and existing parking lot demolition. Construction of a new parking area with stormwater infrastructure and landscape per City of Marietta standards.”
The board agenda item said that the recommended contractor is NPSG Built of Woodstock, but didn’t indicate how the project would be funded, which is customary with construction and maintenance contracts. The work is expected to be completed by January.
The Cobb school board purchased the two parcels for $3 million in 2023, following a request from Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to build a special events center for district graduation ceremonies and other major activities.
Although the plans were approved later in 2023, the board canceled the project last year, less than a month after a citizens watchdog group revealed a site plan that the district had previously not made public.
The 190,000-square-foot building would have included 148,000 square feet of space for an 8,000-seat basketball arena, as well as two hospitality suites, but the district never specified some of those details. The facility also would have had 41,000 square feet of space for conferences and banquets and more than 1,500 parking spaces.
In calling for the cancellation of the special events center shortly before the district’s fiscal year 2025 budget was to be approved, Ragsdale cited economic reasons, saying that “this recommendation does not negate the dire need for this facility, but a facility can never take priority over our employees.”
Also on Thursday, the board will hear a proposal to build a $4.589 million school bus depot on Veterans Memorial Drive in Mableton, which has drawn strong opposition in that community.
Related:
- Cobb’s 2025 Teacher of the Year celebrated at Pope HS
- 2025 Milestones test results: East Cobb middle, high schools
- 2025 Milestones test results: East Cobb elementary schools
- Ga. to distribute $6.5M in federal funds to Cobb schools
- Cobb students go back to school: 2025-26 school year begins
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