Total System's Office Plans Stumble on Landmark Issue

History is clashing with expansion in Columbus, Ga.

Plans for a $100 million office campus for Total System Services Inc. are on hold because of a dispute with federal historic preservation officials who want to save two historic buildings slated for demolition.

The fast-growing card processing company had planned to break ground this week on the 46-acre site of its future office complex.

But the groundbreaking has been postponed indefinitely while the parties involved try to hammer out an agreement.

Total System chief executive officer Richard W. Ussery said he was hopeful an agreement could be worked out within weeks. "This is not going to drag out much longer," he said.

At issue are two abandoned textile mills on a key tract of land near the Chattahoochee River in a deteriorating section of Columbus' downtown.

City officials and executives from Total System and its majority owner, Synovus Financial Corp., had negotiated a deal in which the city would demolish the textile mills, then sell Total System the land for the office campus.

The first phase includes three buildings and 550,000 square feet.

Total System says it needs the expansion to consolidate workers now housed in several office buildings and to accommodate growth that is projected to include 2,000 new hires in the next few years.

As part of the construction job, Total System would refurbish, for about $1.5 million, a three-story mansion dating from the 1830s.

But after much study, the company determined it could not make use of the two textile mills, Mr. Ussery said.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation insists the buildings be saved, however, saying preservation is "feasible and cost-effective."

The mills are considered part of a national historic landmark district, and the National Trust has said saving them is a top priority.

Mayor Bobby Peters said that the Total System campus is a key element of city plans for a comprehensive revitalization of the downtown area, and he is not willing to jeopardize the Total System project to appease the preservation organization.

If the city loses the historic landmark designation, so be it, he said.

"The two mills are just not compatible with the Total System project," he said. "They can pull the historic designation. This project is too important."

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