The construction for Atlanta’s $90 million public safety training center will begin in earnest this summer, and a soft opening of the facility is scheduled for the end of 2024, according to the project management company hired by the nonprofit involved in the project.
DaVinci Development’s Bree Caldwell told Atlanta’s Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee on Tuesday that contractors are currently clearing the site of unwanted underground vegetation, such as roots, buried logs, and other debris.
According to the meeting’s presentation document, construction for the eastern side of the site is tentatively set for Aug. 29. Construction for the west side could begin Oct. 16.
“We have been doing a lot of erosion control measures,” Caldwell said. “But we are working, you know, on the east side of the property and starting to move to the west side.”
The soft opening is slated for Dec. 20, 2024, committee documents show. But the documents do not say what would be included in a soft opening, and do not mention a date for the grand opening.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
The city and the Atlanta Police Foundation have been working together to build a training center for the police and fire departments ever since former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms introduced the plan in April 2021. At that time, police foundation president Dave Wilkinson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the facility would be ready for officers within two years.
Months later, the Atlanta City Council ― a previous class that included Mayor Andre Dickens and seven current members ― authorized the plan in a 10-4 vote, after 17 hours of mostly negative public comments in September 2021.
The city has continued receiving criticism from the opponents of the plan. Some protests have turned violent, and an activist was fatally shot by state troopers after allegedly firing first at police, according to the GBI.
In March, Dozens of protesters dressed in all black threw large rocks, bricks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at officers on the site.
The training center site is a former city prison farm that is currently forested land off Key Road in southwestern DeKalb County. According to the agreement OK’d by city council, Atlanta is getting $10 a year from the APF for a 50-year lease on 85 acres of land for the project. The APF must also preserve 265 acres of the land for greenspace.
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