Purchase adds missing piece for business park expansion

A tract of land previously unavailable to purchase by the city of Cedartown for its expansion of the North Business Park is now reunited with the surrounding property.

The city, and its development authority, closed on the purchase of around 23 acres off of Davis Road on Friday that will provide straightline access for future expansion by way of North Park Boulevard, the central corridor that runs through the industrial complex from the

Cedartown Bypass.

Joining the new property with the previously-held land allows the city to be able to connect North Park Boulevard to the expansion property and keep traffic off of the narrower Davis Road.

“This establishes better access and public safety for the expansion plans of the business park,” said Cedartown City Manager Edward Guzman.

The Cedartown Development Authority approved the purchase of the property during a special called meeting Wednesday, June 7, with a price tag of $19,000 an acre, or around $427,000.

The money for the purchase came from the sale of property previously held by the authority to incoming industries. While initially not interested in selling the land, Guzman said the property owner had changed his mind.

Located just across from Davis Road at the north end of North Park Boulevard, the property complements the 240-acre tract of land initially purchased by the city in 2016 to expand the business park for future development in order to attract more industries.

The city used a $328,306 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to help provide infrastructure to the site in 2021, including the creation of two 100-foot entrance road stub-outs on Davis Road.

The expansion property stretches from Burkhalter Road to Pine Pitch Road. With the recent acquisition, the property frontage continuously runs along most of Davis Road in between both roads with one exception being a 6.6acre lot where a Georgia Power substation is located just east of the newly-purchased lot.

Chris Thomas, president of the Development Authority of Polk

County, said they have prospective industries ask directly about the possibility of having straightline access from the expansion property to the Cedartown Bypass by way of North Park Boulevard.

“When we talk with industries we try to go through their concerns one by one through a process of elimination. Any concerns a prospective industry has with the property, we try to eliminate. And this is a big one,” Thomas said.

The business park currently has one building on the market after the 255,000-square-foot Gildan Yarns plant closed in February.