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Published Sunday, September 21, 2008 in Education

Photo by Winston Skinner

Colleen Ramos, left, vice president of enrollment management and professional studies at Atlanta Christian College, and Bob Lamb, seated right, a college trustee and member of the relocation committee, listen to Mark Whitlock of Central Educational Center during their visit to Newnan Monday.

Atlanta Christian looking at options following Monday visit

By Winston Skinner

The Times-Herald

Atlanta Christian College officials are now ruminating on the facts, figures and feelings gathered on a trip to Newnan and Peachtree City on Monday.

Newnan and Peachtree City are vying to become the next home of the private, liberal arts college. ACC is planning to move its main campus from its original location in East Point.

Members of the college's relocation task force, trustees and administrators came to Newnan on Monday morning. Newnan Mayor Keith Brady told the visitors they "will not be disappointed" if Newnan is chosen for the college's new home.

Brady acknowledged the choice of a new location is "the toughest decision you will have made in the history of your college."

The ACC group started their visit with a presentation in the Wadsworth Auditorium. They then visited locations that could be used for various functions during the transition while a new campus is built at the old Hannah Homes site on Jefferson Street just north of downtown.

The Newnan visit ended with lunch at the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society's History Center in the old Atlanta and West Point Railroad Depot.

The afternoon started with a presentation at Peachtree City's City Hall. There was a bus tour of areas that might be used by the college or students and a closing reception at Peachtree City Christian Church.

"There's a lot about Peachtree City that makes it unique." said Matt Forshee of the Peachtree City Development Authority. Forshee pointed out the number of international firms in Peachtree City. They're choosing to locate here," he said, adding that the presence of those businesses would offer a broader worldview to ACC students.

He said 94 percent of Fayette County students go for additional schooling after high school, and 71 percent to college.

Forshee also pointed to a study by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that showed low crime levels in Peachtree City. "It's a very safe community," he said.

Although Fayette County's income levels are among the highest in the state, Peachtree offers a variety of housing types. "There's something here for a lot of different types of folks," Forshee said.

The goal of the group seeking to bring ACC to Peachtree City wants "to make it as easy as possible" for college officials, Forshee said. "We know there are going to be headaches and hurdles."

Part of the Peachtree City presentation was brought by Aaron Dailey of Historic Concepts, a Peachtree City firm that has done work for projects around the country. Forshee said Peachtree City is trying to offer "a vision for what Atlanta Christian College can be, not only for the next 70 years but for the next 270 years."

The college has been at its original location in East Point for 71 years.

A proposed layout of the campus -- as envisioned by Historic Concepts -- was on a display boards at city hall. The display board compared the ACC proposal with the campuses at similar sized schools -- Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.; Elmhurst College, Illinois; Simpson College, Indianola, Ind.; Carleton College, Northfield, Minn; and Emory at Oxford near Covington.

Dailey showed slides of various buildings at Southern colleges that were used as inspiration for the proposals for Atlanta Christian. He noted the student center is not proposed as a typical college building, but rather with a facade "like a downtown main street." Commercial buildings in similar styles nearby could be leased by the college to private firms as a bookstore, coffee shop and other uses that would appeal to college students.

Peachtree City's plan calls for development of the campus in three stages. The first stage would include the chapel, academic buildings, admissions building, residence hall, residential suites and parking.

The second phase would include the library, another academic building, a student center, more residential suites, athletic fields and more parking. The final phase calls for an athletic center, ballfields, another residence hall, a performing arts hall, a president's home, more parking and the commercial areas to be leased.

Estimated costs for the phases are -- phase one, $30 million; phase two, $25 million; and phase three, $15 million. Buildings could actually be built over time as the college enrollment grows -- "adding a building here, a building there, growing the project slowly," Forshee said.

Dailey noted that ACC students surveyed by his company stressed the importance of academics over athletic facilities.

"Plan to learn with us. Plan to grow with us. Plan to stay with us. We want you all as part of our community," PTC Mayor Harold Logsdon said.