The Development

Authority of Peachtree City will begin making principal payments on a

$200,000 loan taken out to buy restaurant equipment for the Ashland Grille.

The loan, secured

last year through Regions Bank, has been paid on an interest-only basis,

treasurer Brian Palmitessa said at the authority's regular meeting Monday

night. The payments will escalate from almost $700 a month to nearly $3,700

a month, Palmitessa told the authority before it voted 6-0 to support

the move; Chairman Tate Godfrey abstained because he is on an advisory

board for the bank.

The authority

will use rental payments from the restaurant to repay the loan, Palmitessa

said. The new operators of Ashland Grille also just made their first rent

payment, he added.

"It's

almost a wash now," said authority vice-chairman Scott Bradshaw.

The authority

sought the interest-only financing for the first year of the loan because

the original operators of Ashland Grille were given a lease that allowed

them to have the first few months of rent free of charge, Palmitessa added.

The interest

rate for the loan is set at 90 percent of the prime rate, and Palmitessa

said he didn't think the authority could get a much better deal elsewhere,

although the authority could consult with other banks if it wished.

Authority member

Robert Brooks said the subcommittee consisting of authority and City Council

members will work towards finding a way to pay off the $200,000 loan.

He also indicated that a full itemized list of how that loan was used

will soon be presented to Mayor Steve Brown and city council members.

Brown requested

that data and other information about the authority's other loans, some

of which has already been presented to him, Brooks said.

"We have

much more in hard assets that the city has than some have projected,"

Brooks said.

Brown has been

critical of the authority's business practices, particularly in its operation

of the tennis center.

In other business,

Godfrey reported that the authority received its most recent audit and

that it was "clean." He apologized for forgetting to bring it

with him but said he would forward copies to authority members.

Authority executive

director Virgil Christian said the amphitheater's summer concert series

is sold out except for single tickets on Saturday night shows and is 92

percent sold for Friday nights. This is despite the 30 percent increase

in ticket sales this year which the authority enacted to help balance

its budget and shrink its reliance on hotel-motel tax funds, which was

requested by Brown and the City Council.

Christian also

said the amphitheater's new jazz series has sold about 20 percent of its

available tickets to date, but the main marketing campaign is on hold

until the Atlanta Jazz Festival is over. That's because the authority

is teaming with an Atlanta jazz radio station to promote the jazz series,

which will begin in September, Christian said.

"A lot

of these folks will be coming from outside Peachtree City," Christian

said.

Christian also

said the recent NAIA national college tournament went smoothly, but the

tournament won't be back next year due to funding and logistics. The tournament

will cost the authority between $5,000 and $7,000, and the Wyndham Peachtree

Executive Conference Center kicked in another $12,000 to have the event

here, Christian added.

Authority member

Scott Bradshaw said he noticed a number of NAIA teams dining at the Macaroni

Grill restaurant when he went there during the tournament with his wife.

Christian said the event accounted for 450 hotel rooms in the city.