It looks like market forces

will keep the Market empty a while longer.

Fayette Christian School received

approval from Fayetteville officials several months ago to place a day

care facility on the site, at the corner of Jeff Davis and East Lanier

Avenue, but financial issues have forced the school to drop the project,

school administrator Phillip Woods said this week.

"Bottom line, the finances

just didn't work out," said Woods. "When we figured out the

costs of renovations and everything else, it just didn't work."

The City Council and Planning

and Zoning Commission were more than happy to see the school take over

the Market after the previous tenants left. The Market teen club was shut

down last winter amid an eruption of controversy after allegations of

lewd dancing and underage drinking on and near the premises led to several

arrests.

The school had received a variance

to allow up to 138 children to be cared for on the property, after the

completion of certain renovations and alterations to the building and

grounds.

The entire school, from K-3

through the 12th grade, is housed on a single campus on the north end

of Fayetteville. This move was due to space limitations caused by growing

enrollment in the younger grades, Woods told city officials in March.

Enrollment is actually down

a bit overall from last year, Woods said Tuesday, but not with the younger

students.

Fayette Baptist Church, which

operates the school, purchased property south of Fayetteville off Ga.

Highway 92 some time ago with the idea of moving the entire campus there,

Woods said, but the county would not rezone that property and it is now

for sale.

"We're still looking for

another permanent location for the entire campus, 20 to 30 acres, which

is hard to find in the Fayetteville area for a reasonable price,"

said Woods. "Right now, everything's just on hold."

The collapse of the plans for

the Market was not great news to city officials, either, as that large

storefront will stay vacant a while longer, along with such sites at the

former K-mart and Roberds on Ga. Highway 85.

City Manager Joe Morton said

that nothing concrete has been reported to the city on prospective tenants

for any of these sites.

"We haven't heard anything

lately," he said Tuesday. "There were a few rumors about the

old K-mart, but that's all."

Morton pointed out that the

city's situation has improved a great deal in the past year with regard

to vacant commercial space, as the former Winn-Dixie, Belk and Shoney's

locations have been filled by new tenants World Gym, Stein Mart and Hooters.

"We're definitely heading

in the right direction," he said.

Back

to News Home Page |