“The future is what we are looking for here.”
Those were the words of Newnan Mayor Keith Brady to the large crowd on hand for the grand opening last week of the long-awaited Newnan Centre on Lower Fayetteville Road. The 16,000 square-foot meeting venue is situated adjacent to the The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts operated by the Coweta County School System.
Located on an 11-acre site, the Newnan Centre is a project of the Newnan Convention Center Authority. The Newnan Centre is expected to provide another venue for meetings, arts and civic activities to Newnan and the Coweta County community.
“The Newnan Centre will be an outstanding infrastructure addition for our city,” said Newnan Convention Center Authority Chairman Parks Avery, Jr. “We expect it to house a multitude of local activities including meetings, arts, shows, weddings and other social events.”
The various meeting rooms that include a large ballroom can be divided into four separate meeting spaces. In all, the multiple configurations can accommodate meetings of as few as 10 people or as many as 700.
The Newnan Centre will also feature a boardroom facility, full kitchen for catering purposes and state-of-the-art audio/visual infrastructure.
Avery said planning for the project began approximately 11 years ago with an $800,000 purchase of 43 acres on Lower Fayetteville Road as a joint venture between the Coweta County School System and the Newnan Convention Center Authority.
Newnan voters subsequently approved two SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) initiatives that were used to collect the majority of the funds needed for the development of the $5.04 million project, Avery said. Approximately $4.38 million was raised through SPLOST revenues while another $662,000 in funds came from the city’s motel/hotel tax.
Avery said the motivation for the project was to provide a large, high quality meeting space as an infrastructure upgrade for Newnan, not only for the business and social community but for prospective industry as well.
“It is rewarding to see this project come to fruition after many years of dedication and hard work by numerous people and entities,” Avery said. “The Newnan Centre will be the focal point of our community for generations to come.”
