The Georgia

Tennis Association has indicated it will consider moving its offices to

Peachtree City.

GTA officials

met with the Peachtree City Development Authority Monday night. Manuel

Guillen, a member of GTA's executive committee, said the GTA was interested

in exploring a partnership that would locate its offices at the Peachtree

City Tennis Center.

GTA is a non-profit

organization comprised of more than 50,000 members. The staff consists

of 14 employees who all currently work on the north side of Atlanta, Guillen

said.

That would

be the one sticking point that would make a move to Peachtree City difficult,

he added.

The GTA's current

office space has become expensive and money would play a major factor

in the organization's relocation, Guillen said.

Peachtree City

is being considered because of the excellent reputation the tennis center

has achieved, Guillen noted.

"Everybody

knows about the Peachtree City Tennis Center," Guillen said.

Development

Authority member Tate Godfrey said the authority could prepare a proposal,

which might include putting the GTA in an office building that is planned

for the near future at the tennis center.

The GTA would

need about 4,000 square feet of office space, possibly less, Guillen said.

The GTA would need to decide where it will move at the end of this year

so it can leave its current space when the lease is up to avoid the rent

increase.

"If we

invest less in office space, we can put more into programming," Guillen

said, noting that a relocation to Peachtree City would bring GTA events

here.

Virgil Christian,

who oversees the operation of the tennis center, said having GTA in Peachtree

City would be nice.

"It would

be a very incredible thing for us," Christian said. "It would

be a lot of positive activity."

The development

authority plans to expand the tennis center in the future with seven new

courts and the administrative/office building. The authority also wants

to cover some of the courts so they can be used when it rains. The covered

courts also could be used by large groups wanting to gather outdoors,

said development authority member Jim Fulton.