Cobb County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday, Aug. 26, to spend $2.56 million on a 1.83-acre parcel near police headquarters for a future special operations annex.

The property at 550 Commerce Park Drive in Marietta sits close to the Cobb Police Department's main building at 545 S. Fairground Street, the Marietta Daily Journal first reported. The department plans to use the site as a special operations facility, though the county has not publicly detailed which units would relocate there or when construction might begin.

Cost and context

The $2.56 million purchase price is a significant capital outlay for the department. The county's FY2027 budget includes $8.1 million in Board of Commissioners impact items, according to county budget documents. That same budget set aside $2 million for a police compensation adjustment. The county's total General Fund stands at $672 million.

The county has not disclosed the funding source for the purchase, whether from the general fund, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) revenue, or capital reserves.

Department background

Chief James D. Ferrell leads the department, which has approximately 700 officers and staff. The Commerce Park Drive acquisition marks the department's first major facility investment since the county opened a $13 million police training academy in Austell in November 2020.

The department moved into its current five-story headquarters on Fairground Street in 2021.

No construction timeline, design plans, or details about which special operations units would occupy the annex have been made public.