City breaks ground on parking lot upgrade

Published 6:30 pm Thursday, January 12, 2023

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The City of Moultrie broke ground Thursday on improvements to a parking lot in the downtown area.

The parking lot is located off Second Avenue and First Street Southwest behind the former Colquitt Theatre and several South Main Street businesses.

“It’s probably going to be one of the most impactful projects we’ve done since we started with the pocket park,” said Amy Johnson, Moultrie’s Main Street director.

The parking lot is currently private, but after the city does the renovation the spaces will be available to the public, according to Harrison Isaacs, who proposed the project to the Moultrie City Council.

Isaacs couldn’t say how many parking spaces are currently in the lot, but the number will increase to 77 when it reopens.

But the improvements don’t stop there, City Manager Pete Dillard said in an email.

“The big alley running north and south will be cleaned up and will be given the street scape look with pavers like the remainder of downtown,” Dillard said. “A small alley near the center of the block will be opened up for access from [the] Main Street sidewalk to the alley behind the Main Street buildings. Underground utilities will be upgraded and above-ground utilities will be taken underground.”

Addressing participants in the groundbreaking ceremony, Moultrie Mayor Bill McIntosh said the new parking lot will have enhanced lighting and plantings.

“The area’s going to look completely different,” he said.

Dillard said the project is funded with collections from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

Officials estimated the project will take six to nine months.

Isaacs, founder of Intrie Capital, which owns the Commercial Building on First Avenue at Main Street South, got his fellow property owners on board before he presented the idea to the council. He said there were five entities that each owned one or more of 18 parcels in the immediate area when the plans started.

“It’s exciting to see the vision from an idea board turn into shovels in the ground,” he said.