Greater South Building coming down

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville City Council heard Thursday that the city is ready to begin work that will lead to a new parking deck downtown.

Before the city can get rid of the old parking deck at the Georgia Mountains Center, it has to provide replacement parking. That means demolishing the old Greater South Building Supply building on Maple Street, which council purchased last August.

"We are ready to tear down the Greater South Building," City Construction Engineer Kevin Purcell told council members. "We have a contractor on board and we received bids this week."

Purcell added the $199,000 project includes demolition and disposal and site improvements to provide downtown parking while the new parking deck is under construction.

Demolition and construction of the new $4.5 million parking deck is slated to begin next January.

Councilman George Wangemann said there was some concern about preserving the old building as a historic site, but he added it has become more of an eyesore than a piece of history.