A long-awaited project in the making over the past several years finally has a price tag approved and can move forward into the construction stages.

The Turner Street Center has been a staple of the community for generations, but the building itself is in dire need of replacement after decades of use. The block facility is now getting replaced as the Cedartown City Commission approved a low bid during their July regular session.

RJB & Associates Contractors Inc. will be tackling the job of replacing the Turner Street Center for $498,555 as the lowest bidder on the project. Their bid is being accepted pending a final legal review and status check of the contractor before work begins.

Initial bid packages went out earlier this year, but the city decided to change direction slightly on the project, redesigned the bid package to lower costs and put it back out for consideration in May, with bids opened in June for the project.

The current 1,200 square foot block building will be demolished to make way for a new 1,600 square foot facility that will greatly improve the accommodations at both the center and park.

Plans include a new kitchen space, bathrooms for the public to access from the park, an increased meeting area and much more once the work begins sometime in the coming year.

The center is part of the full park complex that includes a baseball diamond, playground and a covered basketball court at the intersection of Turner and Jefferson Streets, just over two blocks from the East Avenue corridor. Records based on research from the Historical Society date the building back to the 1950s.

City records are incomplete on when exactly they became responsible for what the community previously ran on their own when it was first constructed. An expansion was purchased in the 1970s.

The city added the metal canopy over the basketball court in 2019.

Plans also include a replacement for the pavilion in a separate project but in conjunction with the work at the Park once construction begins on a new facility.

Options are being explored on what to do with the current baseball diamond at the park. The playground will remain in place.