The Preston Chase apartment complex on Franklin Road in Marietta has an attractive sign out front. But after that, it's all downhill. The 200-unit complex has been described by city officials as the worst complex in the city, scene of many code enforcement violations and much crime.

So few complaints were heard when the Marietta City Council voted last week to buy the complex, tear it down and convert the 13.19-acre site into a park. The price was $2.7 million, which amounts to $13,500 per unit or $204,700 per acre. The funds will come from the $25 million parks bond approved by city voters in November.

"The price makes this an excellent real estate deal," said Bill Hagemann of the Marietta Housing Authority, who also serves on the city's citizens' parks committee. "I think a lot of people have had the goal of taking down apartments in the Franklin Road corridor, and also it's a great goal to have a park over there. I believe there are 3,000 units and no parks other than the facilities that are within the complexes, so I think it's a great move."

The occupancy rate at Preston Chase is only 50 percent or so. The MHA will run the property until it is demolished and will help current residents find better housing.

"That's the worst complex in Franklin Road, too, I believe," Hagemann said. "That's going to do so much good for the area. That one there had so much deferred maintenance and the construction was very obsolete, so I feel good about getting those people in better housing as well. I don't think they can get in worse housing than being in Preston Chase. That was probably the bottom rung on the ladder over there."

Added new Mayor Steve "Thunder" Tumlin, "We want to raise the quality of life for people out there."

Another factor in the apartment purchase is that Preston Chase, like most of the others on Franklin Road, is home to a highly transient population. That, combined with their appeal to those on the lower rungs of the economic scale, means that the children who live in them tend to be a severe drain on the city school system. So reducing that population at least somewhat will have a beneficial effect on the system.

City officials would like to see the many rundown apartment complexes on Franklin leveled to make way for redevelopment, possibly courtesy of Economic Development Director Beth Sessoms' proposal for a "Global GreenTech Corridor." Or another possibility that has been suggested is that Marietta's Roy Barnes, if elected governor, could consider the Franklin corridor as a site for state government offices, somewhat akin to the way the Cobb government has established auxiliary county offices around the county. In this case, it would not only bring government closer to the people, but would help relieve commuter congestion to a degree.

In the meantime, east Marietta is about to lose an eyesore of an apartment complex and gain a spacious new park, which is a win-win situation for that side of town.