After a years-long process to clean up the site of the former Georgia State Farmers Market, the Columbus Council voted to transfer ownership of the land back to the state, allowing it to be subleased to a private soccer club.
The Columbus Consolidated Government acquired the property from the state in 2018 with deed restrictions requiring public use. If the property ceased to be used in that way, ownership would revert to the State of Georgia.
Using funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s brownfield cleanup grant and a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, about $1.6 million was spent on cleanup and demolition of the 14.67-acre site.
This funding included a $500,000 grant from the EPA that the city sought in 2019…