This rendering by architectural designer Garth Brown shows the town center proposed by developers Jimmy Chapin and Greg Voges. At front, left is a commercial building with a clock tower. Clockwise from it are city hall, a police and fire station and another commercial building fronting Lula Lake Road. An amphitheater is built into the hill behind the city buildings.Developer Jimmy Chapin wants to put his plan to build a new town center in Lookout Mountain, Ga., into high gear.
Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd at Thursday evening’s City Council meeting, Chapin outlined a tight timeline to build what he called a “world class” development.
Chapin and business partner Greg Voges want to pay the city $500,000 on Oct. 15 for City Hall and its land; knock the old, cement-block “eyesore” down shortly after the Nov. 6 presidential election; and have the city’s police and firefighters moved in to new buildings by Jan. 1, 2014.
“Hopefully, that’s all going to happen,” Chapin said, snapping his fingers for emphasis, “immediately.”
Chapin will lease the new, 1,500-square-foot City Hall and the 4,500-square-foot combination police and fire station to the city for $7,000 a month – or sell it at any time to the city for $1.5 million.