It was a unanimous vote Jan. 19 by the Fayetteville City Council to approve the purchase of two pieces property in and around Hudson Plaza that is designed to lead to the construction of a new road system on Ga. Highway 85 North that will link Ga. Highway 92 and Hood Avenue on the west to Kathi Avenue and North Jeff Davis Drive to the east.
The new council voted to purchase two pieces of property involved in the realignment project that would connect Hood Avenue on the west to North Jeff Davis on the east by way of an extension of Kathi Avenue. One of those includes the southernmost portion of the Hudson Plaza shopping center situated directly across North Glynn from Hood Avenue. The other parcel is situated directly behind the south side of Hudson Plaza.
The overall project has been a topic of discussion for nearly two years. More recently, said city Facilities Manager Don Easterbrook, the process pertaining to the Hudson Plaza property, owned by Hudson II, LLC, began in January 2011 when an appraisal was commissioned and initial engineering was performed. A verbal agreement with the owner was received in the fall and the final draft is now complete, Easterbrook added.
Easterbrook said it was decided that it would be most beneficial to all parties to proceed with a friendly condemnation.
The Thursday night vote also approved the purchase of a rectangular-shaped 1.05-acre property at the rear of Hudson Plaza. The property is owned by BBWJ, LLC. The property is situated between Kathi Avenue and the south portion of Hudson Plaza that would be removed to make way for Kathi Avenue to be extended to North Glynn and intersect with Hood Avenue. The east side of the property would be the location of the new road that will extend to the northeast to a roundabout at the existing Kathi Avenue.
Similar to the situation with Hudson II, LLC, the city has reached an agreement with BBWJ to purchase the property through the method of friendly condemnation.
The Jan. 19 agenda calls for a presentation by Integrated Science and Engineering, a land acquisition discussion by council members in executive session and a potential vote when the council returns to open session.
Funding for the Hood Avenue/Kathi Avenue/Jeff Davis project would come from $7.8 million in previously collected county SPLOST revenues along with city funds if the project exceeds the SPLOST amount. The project’s current costs estimate is $9.1 million.
An intergovernmental agreement for the project was signed in late 2010. The Georgia Dept. of Transportation issued a concept approval letter in November.
Easterbrook said the talks are occurring with other affected property owners. The project could potentially go out for bid in January 2013 and be completed by mid-2014.
