Friday, May 7, 2004

Landmark purchases Braelinn Bapt. campus By MONROE ROARK mroark@TheCitizenNews.com Braelinn Baptist Church has entered into a contract with Landmark Christian School for the purchase of the church’s current campus to be used as a satellite elementary school beginning this fall. The church’s 18-acre facility at the corner of Crosstown Road and Robinson Road is being sold for $2.85 million, according to a statement from the church. The transaction is scheduled to close next May, after various zoning, inspection and financial contingencies are satisfied, church officials said. In the meantime, Braelinn will lease a large portion of its first floor to Landmark for the coming school year so that the school can begin classes in August. After the sale is completed, Braelinn will lease the property from Landmark for weekend services and limited weekday events while worship is constructed at the church’s new property, at the southern edge of Tyrone on Ga. Highway 74 at Dogwood Trail, according to the church statement. The purchase sum allows Braelinn to completely eliminate its current debt as well as provide cash for development of the Dogwood Trail campus, church officials said. Landmark is now enrolling students in K4 through fourth grade for its Peachtree City campus, according to a statement from the school. The school will continue to offer classes for K4 through 12th grade at its Fairburn campus, and a shuttle between the two campuses is planned as a service to parents who would like to enroll students at both campuses. The school is also considering future sites for satellite campuses in East Coweta, Jonesboro, and Douglasville, headmaster Matt Skinner said, although details of those plans are not yet available. A private nondenominational school, Landmark was founded in 1989 in Fayetteville with 178 students and moved to its 50-acres campus in downtown Fairburn in 1991, purchasing the old Campbell High facility after that school was closed by the Fulton County school system. School officials have estimated that about 80 percent of Landmark’s students are Fayette County residents.