Wednesday, September 31, 2001

EMC to build new headquarters

Coweta-Fayette Electric Membership Corporation President and CEO Michael Whiteside announced the cooperative's purchase of a 73-acre tract of land in north Coweta County.

The utility company will construct its multi-story corporate headquarters and operations facility just off exit 56 at the corner of Weldon and Collinsworth roads.

"Over the past 12 months, our board of directors has reviewed not only the traffic congestion surrounding our current offices, but also future growth needs," said Whiteside.

"The board hired a consulting firm to evaluate our current and future site requirements to meet the needs of our ever-growing cooperative. This study indicated that the cooperative needed to double its office space to meet our service area needs by the year 2010."

The EMC's corporate offices are now on 20 acres at the intersection of U.S. Highway 29 and the Ga. Highway 34 bypass in Newnan. This site and present facilities were begun in 1952.

As Atlanta's metro south population has grown, the utility company has expanded to meet the increasing need for electricity.

Whiteside went on to say that the EMC had investigated over a dozen sites within the company's service area, but that none had suited all requirements as well as the Weldon Road property.

While plans for a new facility required at least 50 acres, this one offered excellent north-south and east-west access to the service area. Whiteside pointed out that, "Being only 150 yards from the interstate will increase our ability to respond quickly when outages occur."

Because the utility serves Coweta, Fayette, Heard, Meriwether and portions of Clayton, South Fulton and Spalding counties, a central location is critical as the population increases, according to a construction architect's preliminary report in 2000.

"Expanding at our present site would require a $5- to 6-million investment; that investment would not be recoverable," he said. Unlike a privately owned utility, the EMC is owned by its member/customers, so accountability for expenditures is met by its board of directors, all of whom are members themselves.

Groundbreaking for the new facility is expected within the next year; selection of an architectural team and construction company will take several months, as will the final plans.

Parks & Mottola Realtors agent Lisle Bowers negotiated the land purchase for Coweta-Fayette EMC. The real estate firm is in Newnan.

The utility company currently employs more than 155 people. In order to serve 92,000 expected members in 2010, employment could increase by about 115 people. Whiteside projects that the project will have a significant economic impact within the region on completion.

Opening for business in 1947, Coweta-Fayette EMC will celebrate its 55th anniversary in 2002. The utility's founding director, Floy Farr, who is still active on the board, remembers delivering electricity during the first year to 700 homes; today, the company serves more than 59,000 residential, commercial and industrial meters.

"We look forward to continuing to meet our members' needs, maintaining the lowest possible costs and to responding quickly," concluded Whiteside, adding that the new facility would ensure the company's ability to do so.

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