The expansion

of the Peachtree City Tennis Center will include room for a pro shop,

a restaurant, and ... a college?

That's the

proposal from the Peachtree City Development Authority and the Fayette

County Development Authority. Both have secured a deal for Clayton College

and State University to use classrooms at the tennis center to offer continuing

education classes to local residents.

The first classes

will be offered in the fall, Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Fayette

County Development Authority, said at the Peachtree City Council retreat

Saturday morning.

Officials hope

the class offerings will take off in popularity so the Board of Regents

will fund a stand-alone university center in the future that would be

operated by CCSU.

Other colleges

and universities in the Georgia system could teach courses here in Fayette,

Clark said

"This

is something that has been worked on for 20 years," said Tate Godfrey,

chairman of the Peachtree City Development Authority. "Even though

it's a very small start, it gets our foot in the door."

The Fayette

County Development Authority has committed $50,000 to build out and furnish

the 3,000 plus square feet of office space at the new building for three

classrooms and three small offices. One of the offices wil house the Small

Business Development Center, allowing a permanent location for SBDC representatives

to meet for client meetings and counseling.

More funds

will be needed to furnish and equip the classrooms and offices, with estimates

running from $40,000 to $60,000 Godfrey said. The authority will present

that need to council at its regular meeting Thursday night.

Mayor Steve

Brown said he had concerns about the classes creating a parking problem

at the tennis center. But Godfrey said there would never be more than

30 or 40 cars present at one time for the courses.

"Believe

me, that was our first concern," Godfrey said, referring to the potential

impact the classes would have on the tennis center's normal operations.

"We have

expanded our parking greatly," said Virgil Christian, executive director

of the Peachtree City Development Authority.