Canton City Hall To Move Into Former High School

CANTON, GA — Most city of Canton operations will soon move into their new digs just a block away in the historic downtown district. Canton City Hall will be closed Monday, Sept. 3 for the Labor Day holiday and on Tuesday, Sept. 4 to move to its new offices at the former Canton High School. City officials say they will reopen at the building at 110 Academy Street on Wednesday, Sept. 5.

Building and safety, city clerk, communications and outreach, community development, engineering, finance, human resources and utility services will all move to the new City Hall. Starting Oct. 1, all Canton public meetings will move to the building at the corner of Academy and Archer streets.

However, Canton Municipal Court will continue to operate at its current space at 151 Elizabeth Street. Residents should note the city's phone numbers and staff extensions, as well as email addresses, will not change. The building's address is 110 Academy Street.

City leaders in March signed an agreement in March to buy the former high school owned by the Cherokee County School District for $2.5 million. The Cherokee County School Board approved the sale of the CCSD Downtown Center, the last building it owned in downtown, at its March 15 meeting. The Downtown Center, which also housed School Board Auditorium, had been owned by CCSD since 2003, and the system spent $5 million over the years to renovate and maintain the space for its uses.

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Canton's purchase includes the building, the parking surrounding the site and another corner lot at Archer Street and West Marietta/Church Street. The purchase allows the city to add 62 public parking spaces to Canton's lineup.

“Once again the city of Canton has preserved and will repurpose a historic building in our downtown," Mayor Gene Hobgood said in a statement. "This purchase not only helps preserve the historic character of our city, but also provides essential space for our city government as the demands of our growing population continue to increase."

The current City Hall at 151 Elizabeth Street was purchased more than 10 years ago from First Baptist Church of Canton. It will be remodeled to serve as a new Canton Public Safety and Municipal Court building. Police operations will move from 10,000 square feet of space on East Marietta Street to a 30,000-square-foot building.

These projects, which are estimated to cost $7 million, will be paid for using SPLOST revenue. The old Police Department building will be renovated in the next few months, but no specifics have been released by the city. Parking around this facility, which is about 40 spaces, will be opened to the public for additional parking that is more accessible to downtown restaurants and shops.

Image via city of Canton