CarrolltonÂ’s Mayor and city council have approved the purchase of a highly visible piece of real estate within the city limits. At the moment, they are unsure what they will do with the property. The intention of the purchase so far seems to be to ensure how the property will not be used.
“It’s 2.37 acres on the corner of Alabama Street and Highway 27. It’s the corner where the old Vogelsburg Donut Shop used to be… and 4-AM Roasters is there now,” City Manager Tim Grizzard explained to WLBB Radio. “The city approved the purchase on it at $1.8 million. The seller did have a contract for $2-million—but that was going to take a while to close. He had someone who had planned to put a gas station on the corner there.”
Grizzard says the mayor and council wanted control over what goes in that spot.
“It’s a fairly large tract of land going along Highway 27. It includes the Church’s Fried Chicken, which is boarded up. It goes up to North Cliff Street so it includes where the Classy Cricket is. It’s right next to the Arts Center and Marriott Hotel” he said. “It’s kind of a gateway into the downtown and mayor and council would like to have some control over what’s going to go there and how things look that close to downtown.  We got what we believe was a good buy on the property.”
Grizzard says there are no firm plans for the future of the property—other than officials will likely level the existing and abandoned structures on the land. He says the city would likely be open to a private invester to build something “in-line with the rest of the downtown.” If that doesn’t happen he says, the property could certainly be available for a city project in the future.
