If one were to take a poll asking Mariettans what the city's biggest eyesore is, there's little doubt that the half-finished building on South Marietta Parkway near Interstate 75 would be at or near the top of the list.

The city gave the builder, Waleed Jaraysi, a permit in April 2005 to erect an 8,000-square-foot restaurant/events facility. But after numerous complaints from neighbors that Jaraysi seemed to be constructing a much larger building, and after City Hall belatedly realized Jaraysi was in fact putting up a building three times the specified size, it ordered work stopped. The building has stood there ever since, often drawing comparisons to the aftermath of a bomb blast in Baghdad or Beirut.

Several rounds of legal battles about the building's future boiled down to a mediation hearing ordered by Cobb Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs in February 2009 at which Jaraysi agreed to finish the building by this month (and as an office building, not the restaurant/events facility first planned). But other than the minor cosmetic improvement brought by stripping some rotting plywood from the fa ade, nothing has happened with the building since that time. And the May 25 deadline is nearly here.

The city filed a petition last week asking the judge to take action against Jaraysi. If she should order him to tear it down, and he cannot afford to do so, the city would bulldoze it and then place a lien against the property for the cost of the demolition, according to city Attorney Doug Haynie.

"We're asking (Judge Grubbs) to do something before (the 25th)," Haynie said. "There's no way he can finish the building now. In fact, he doesn't even have permits to recommence construction."

Even with the current economy, there's no excuse for needing five years to complete construction of a building.

As noted in this space before, the best course would be to see the building finished and added to the tax base. But that doesn't look likely at present. And a vacant lot at the site would be far preferable to the blighted sight that has greeted motorists on South Cobb Parkway in the past few years.