The new Fulton County Animal Services Facility won’t open for about six months, but it already has Brandy’s stamp of approval.
Brandy is a 4-year-old pit bull mix available for adoption through LifeLine Animal Services, which manages the county animal shelter. On Friday, LifeLine Operations Director Belinda Bell brought Brandy to the new shelter site at 1251 Fulton Industrial Blvd., for a “topping off” ceremony.
County, LifeLine and construction officials signed a white-painted steel beam with black Sharpies, marking the building’s structural completion.
Brandy added her inked paw print. Then a piece of heavy equipment lugged the beam to a waiting crane, which lifted the beam into place at the rear of the building.
The new shelter is rising about four miles west of the county’s current main shelter at 860 Marietta Blvd., which was built in 1978. The old shelter was designed to hold 150 animals but routinely houses many more. When it opened animals were often euthanized after a week.
When LifeLine Animal Project won the county contract to manage animal services, the shelter’s survival rate was 39%, according to Matt Kallmyer, director of the Atlanta-Fulton Emergency Management Agency, which oversees animal services. Even at the existing shelter that is now more than 90%, with only those too dangerous or ill to adopt being put down.
Fulton commissioners approved a $32.5 million new shelter in November 2019. Since then the price has increased to $40 million, driven by rising costs over a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
“It’s actually the largest project in one of our urban redevelopment agency bonds,” said Bill Mason, county facilities program manager. Denver firm Animal Arts designed the new shelter, and Winter Johnson Group of Chamblee is building it.
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
The new site boasts a 50,000 square foot building — three times the size of the old shelter — plus 13,200 square feet of covered outdoor space. It will have 54,000 square foot paddock and barn for livestock, plus a chicken coop and other specialized facilities.
“We get lizards, we get chickens, we get parrots,” Mason said. “So there’s accommodations for those as well.”
More routinely, it will have room for 367 dogs, 55 cats and eight kittens. The current site is 14 acres but the county owns an additional 30 acres adjacent, Mason said.
The shelter will have a clinic with three operating tables, separate ventilation systems for sick animals and a maternity ward.
Some of the roofless interior rooms will remain open courtyards where animals can play. There will be five kennel runs for dogs, and screened “catio” space for cats.
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
The vast majority of the shelter’s intakes are dogs, and the new shelter will have a special area to feature the dogs most in need of adoption behind large windows.
For now the building is a maze of metal studs and cinder-block walls marking future rooms. The future front entrance is a framework of steel beams. It’s about 70% complete, on time and under budget, Mason said.
It will be “substantially complete” and ready for occupancy by the end of September, he said. Equipment and furniture will be moved in first, then animals; and they’re aiming for a public opening before Thanksgiving, Mason said.
Annual operating costs are still being calculated, but the new shelter’s size and amenities mean those costs will be well above the current shelter’s budget.
The old shelter should close entirely by the end of this year, Mason said. Bell said the overflow shelter in Midtown Atlanta will close as well.
The new shelter is one piece in the county’s “Renew the District” initiative, for which Fulton bought properties all along the Fulton Industrial corridor a year ago in anticipation of redevelopment, Fulton commission chairman Robb Pitts said. Another piece of that effort is modernization of the nearby Fulton County Executive Airport.
County Manager Dick Anderson said the project’s biggest backer among county staff has been Alton Adams, chief operating officer for Justice, Public Safety & Technology. Adams said his first look at the old shelter was “grim,” and he has seen the new shelter as part of his mission.
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
“This facility is designed to last 40 to 50 years,” Adams said. In that time it may see half a million animals come through for adoption, affecting families countywide, he said.
LifeLine’s current contract expires at the end of 2023. The county will seek a new round of proposals to operate animal control field operations, shelter operations, adoptions, surrenders, spay/neutering and rabies control. LifeLine has expressed strong interest in continuing its service.
The county paid LifeLine $3.6 million a year from 2019 through 2022, but that went up to $4.9 million in 2023 due to “significant increases in operating and labor costs,” the contract says.
But operating expenses have been even higher. LifeLine, a nonprofit, has subsidized Fulton animal services by as much as $1.8 million per year.
Shelters in Fulton currently hold 365 dogs and a dozen cats, Bell said.
“We are absolutely maxed out,” she said.
LifeLine wants to adopt and foster out as many pets as possible shortly before the move, to reduce the number that have to be relocated. In the run-up to the new shelter opening, LifeLine will hold several “clear the shelter” events.
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Currently dogs over 25 pounds can be adopted for $25 instead of the usual $85. That price includes spaying/neutering, vaccination and microchipping.
A donor is also offering $50 electronic gift cards to www.Chewy.com for people who can foster dogs for two weeks, in an effort to clear 100 cages each in Fulton and DeKalb County shelters.
“When you adopt a pet you save a life, and your life is changed forever when you have a pet as part of the family,” county Public Affairs Manager Regina Waller said.
To adopt or foster an animal go to www.fultonanimalservices.com or www.lifelineanimal.org, or any of the following locations:
• Fulton County Animal Services, 860 Marietta Blvd. NW, Atlanta
• LifeLine Animal Project Midtown, 981 Howell Mill Road NW, Atlanta
• Community Animal Center, 3180 Presidential Drive, Atlanta
• DeKalb County Animal Services, 3280 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Chamblee
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