About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2024)
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. OATL ONE LETTER ENDLESS EXPRESSIONS UNBOUND. UNSTOPPABLE. UNIVERSAL. UNITED. 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