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our PTO School Governance Council,
school club leadership, Girl Scouts,
extracurriculars, the list goes on and on.
And that culture was not built overnight.”
Kate Wright said she and her husband
have three children attending High Point
Elementary School, where she and her
brothers attended school growing up. She’s
been the PTO president and served in other
volunteer positions.
“We’ve lived a lot of life, served a great
many hours in its halls and on its grounds,
and established deep roots at High Point,”
Wright said.
Wright said she remembered the effects
of redistricting from her experiences in the
third grade. She returned for a new school
year to realize many of her classmates had
been reassigned to Heards Ferry Elementary.
“I still remember how this divided
our community, removing both the large
portion of the volunteer force as well as
financial contributions,” she said.
High Point has been fighting to regain
that stability ever since, she said.
Spruill Lane to connect roads
near public library
By Bob Pepalis
Spruill Lane will be the name of a new
road connecting Mount Vernon Highway
to Johnson Ferry Road east of the Sandy
Springs Public Library.
The connector road is part of the
city’s Johnson Ferry Road/Mount Vernon
Highway Improvement Project funded
with transportation sales tax revenue,
Transportation Local Option Sales Tax
Manager Allen Johnson said.
On Nov. 19, the Sandy Springs City
Council approved dedicating just under
one acre of land as city right-of-way to
create Spruill Lane.
Sandy Springs bought the property
at 441 Mount Vernon Highway that had
formerly been owned by Doris and George
Marshall Spruill. Johnson said George was
the son of Wilson Spruill, who moved with
his family to Georgia from South Carolina
in 1820, settling between Long Island
Creek and Mount Vernon Road. Wilson
Spruill donated approximately five acres
to found Sandy Springs United Methodist
Church.
His son, George Marshall Spruill,
retired after 37 years with the Georgia
Department of Transportation, Johnson
said. He started as an elevator boy and
at his retirement he was secretary and
treasurer of GDOT. He served as a fighter
pilot for the U.S. Army Air Force in World
War II.
Johnson said the Spruill family has had
a long influence on the community and
the area, from the land on which Perimeter
Mall was built to the Spruill Center for the
Arts.
Asbury Automotive moving HQ
to Sandy Springs
By Bob Pepalis
Asbury Automotive Group will relocate
its headquarters from Duluth to Sandy
Springs, bringing 350 jobs to Fulton
County.
Sandy Springs City Council approved
an economic incentive in November to
waive Asbury’s building permit fees and
business occupational taxes for three
years. The city’s Economic Development
Director Chris Burnett said the incentive’s
estimated value is $254,500.
Asbury plans to purchase the former
Newell Brands headquarters at 6655
Peachtree Dunwoody Road. Burnett said
the company will make an estimated $ 15
million renovation of the 98,000-square-
foot building. The relocation is anticipated
in late summer 2025.
A news release said Asbury has signed
the purchase agreement and is scheduled
to close within 30 days on the building.
Burnett said Asbury does almost $ 15
billion a year nationally in annual revenue,
with more than $1.6 billion in Georgia
alone. The company has approximately
15,000 employees.
“We believe that, and they believe as
well, that this 350 number of employees
is just the beginning, and that additional
jobs will be added in Sandy Springs in
their headquarters building, beginning in
2025 and beyond,” Burnett said.
He called the relocation of Asbury
to Sandy Springs a real win for the city,
considering Newell Rubbermaid kept
its headquarters in Sandy Springs, and
its former headquarters is being sold to
another Fortune 500 company.
Newell Rubbermaid’s relocation
of its headquarters from the Peachtree
Dunwoody Road office building to the
Queen building was announced in June.
“We look forward to our move to the
Perimeter area of Sandy Springs. This is
an exciting change for the team and will
afford our current and future employees
many benefits, both in the building itself
and conveniences in the surrounding
community,” said David Hult, Asbury
president & CEO, according to a news
release from the city.
Asbury Automotive Group is a
Fortune 500 company and is one of the
largest automotive retailers in the United
States. Asbury operated 153 new vehicle
dealerships as of Sept. 30, with 202
franchises representing 31 domestic and
foreign vehicle brands.
Asbury also operates Total Care Auto,
Powered by Landcar, a provider of service
contracts and other vehicle protection
products, and 37 collision repair centers.
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DECEMBER 2024 | 7
