Amana Academy buys permanent home in Alpharetta
By Jonathan Copsey
After three years of trying to secure a permanent home for itself, Fulton charter school Amana Academy has closed on the purchase of the 100,000-square-foot Alpharetta Square shopping plaza on Main Street where it has been operating since 2007.
The school was able to secure more than $8.6 million in bonds without the use of any county or school district capital program dollars to acquire the property. With this purchase, Amana Academy has joined a handful of chartered public schools capable of building or purchasing their own facilities.
In addition to purchasing the 10.66-acre site, the school intends to use the proceeds from the bonds to renovate 18,000 square feet of the plaza for new middle school classrooms and labs in time for the new school year. Evergreen Construction, which Fulton County Schools used to build Cambridge High School, was chosen by Amana to complete the middle school renovation project.