City council members, elected state officials, and DeKalb County leaders gathered on Wednesday for the Brookhaven City Hall groundbreaking ceremony.
Located adjacent to the Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA station, buses and trains were the backdrop for the city’s biggest project yet – a $78 million city center to house city council chambers, some city departments, event space, a coffee shop, and offices for the mayor and council members. The building is expected to be finished in 2025.
The city hall will be built on a current MARTA parking lot at the corner of bustling Peachtree Road and North Druid Hills Road. Brookhaven paid $2.9 million for a 50-year ground lease of the one-acre lot.
Mayor John Ernst, who is reaching his final weeks in office due to term limits, spoke about the future of city hall.
“Symbolically, this project will represent a pivotal point for the city of Brookhaven,” Ernst said, noting that the building is more than just a city hall. “It’s a monument to our community. There’ll be a place for the public to gather, celebrate, enjoy coffee, movies, and engage with government.”
There will not, however, be room for all city staff. The former public safety building at 2665 Buford Highway is being converted to a space for public works, economic development, community development, planning and zoning, permitting, inspections, and code enforcement.
A few protesters gathered at the event, holding signs that read, “No overspending on new city hall” and “citizens have spoken.”
Brookhaven resident Eric Hovdesven said when people opposed a parking facility inside the greenspace, a petition was ignored by the city.
“They shut us down. They didn’t listen to us. The petition got over 1,000 people. So when this [city hall] happened, we realized the election is coming,” Hovdesven said.
The opposition shifted its strategy to supporting candidates who want to slow or stall the city hall project.
The only mayoral candidate to attend the groundbreaking was Mark Frost, who said the city isn’t “reading the room.”
“A lot of people are having a real tough time with day to day expenses and this is just a slap in the face of what ordinary people are experiencing around the kitchen table,” Frost said.
The project is being funded by Urban Redevelopment Bonds repaid by the Special Services District, a property tax overlay for commercial properties in Brookhaven. The city released promotional material about that explicity says “homesteaded residential property owners are not being taxed for the Brookhaven City Hall.”
“I believe this building is a 150-year-old building, it just happened to be built right now. It will stand the test of time. It will mark the city of Brookhaven where we are, the city that we are,” Ernst said. “Countless generations of mayors and council members are going to go through that building.”
