MARIETTA - The city of Marietta is moving forward with plans to demolish the skeleton of what was to become Waleed "Lee" Jaraysi's 24,000-square-foot office building on Franklin Road near Interstate 75.

On May 25, Jaraysi agreed in Cobb Superior Court to continue construction on the building by June 25 and have it finished by Nov. 29, or allow the city to raze the building and bill him for the expense.

Jaraysi missed the June 25 deadline, prompting city attorney Doug Haynie to send him a letter on June 28 demanding a plan for demolition. In response, Jaraysi's attorney, Lee Davis of Bailey Davis Brown & Sutton, sent Haynie a letter asking for an extension, and listing various excuses as to why Jaraysi has not been able to come up with the funding and how that could be rectified, such as if he were to sell some of his property.

Jaraysi's attorney also threatened in his letter to ask the court to set aside the consent order if the city moves forward with demolition.

Haynie responded in a July 9 letter, informing Jaraysi's attorney that his letter meets "neither the spirit nor letter of the consent order."

"More disturbingly, Mr. Jaraysi appears ready to file a petition to set aside a consent order that you and he signed and presented to Judge Grubbs in open court on May 25, 2010," Haynie writes, adding "it is stunning that Mr. Jaraysi would seek to void a consent order signed barely six weeks ago. Apparently his signature has no meaning whatsoever."

Haynie continues: "Based upon the fact that the owner failed to recommence construction on or before June 25, 2010, and the owner of the property having failed to set forth a plan for demolition ... the city will now proceed to demolish the building."

The city obtained a July 12 bid from Abatech Services, Inc. of Snellville to demolish the three-story, metal-framed structure - which sits as an eyesore at one of the gateways to Marietta - for a cost of $89,800.

During Wednesday's council meeting, Jaraysi's attorney asked the City Council to amend the consent order to give Jaraysi more time. But no amendment was approved, meaning the city is proceeding forward with the demolition. While the Jaraysi discussion could have been conducted in executive session, Mayor Steve Tumlin asked and the council consented to discuss it in public.

The council made a procedural move to add a budget amendment to the agenda to fund the cost of the demolition. But adding something to the agenda takes unanimous consent and when the council voted 6-1, with Councilman Philip Goldstein opposing, it failed.

Goldstein said his reason for voting against was because he wanted the council to discuss Jaraysi's latest plan on how he will complete the building.

Tumlin said he would therefore call a special meeting at 1 p.m. Friday to allocate funding for the demolition.

"The city's moving forward now," Haynie said after the meeting. "When will the bulldozers be there? Extremely soon, after the budget amendment is approved."

This conflict unfolded in April 2005, when the city granted Jaraysi a permit to build an 8,000-square-foot wedding hall on the site. The city halted the project in December 2005 when officials realized the structure being built was about 24,000 square feet. It has been tied up in court ever since.

After Jaraysi's attorney spoke Wednesday, he was followed by Laurie McKee-Harper, who manages Parkway Center, off on Franklin Road on Parkway Place right behind Jaraysi's shopping center. The 450,000 square feet Parkway Center is the only Class A office building in the city of Marietta, she said.

"I'm the other face of what's going on over there," McKee-Harper said. "Mr. Jaraysi, in my opinion, has had more than an adequate amount of time to take care of the eyesore that is in front of that building. And not only is it impacting him, but it's impacting every one of the people that are housed in my office building and their particular businesses. We were 90 percent occupied last year. We will be 50 percent occupied at the end of this year. We are the largest taxpayer in the city of Marietta. Our revenue loss is your revenue loss. We have been very patient. I think we've been anxiously awaiting to see that building get completed and they've had every opportunity, and we're at the point now where thankfully the ordinance has been passed and we can demolish the building now, and so giving him another chance and giving him more time does cost us."

Her attorney, Chuck Clay, asked the council to consider the integrity and importance of the city entering into an agreement that Jaraysi also agreed to in Cobb Superior Court.

"Do you look at those who play by the rules or do you look at those who are always trying to for whatever reason bend the rules?" Clay asked the council.

"And I will tell you this is not the time to compromise when you're looking at the largest tax payer, the single Class A space in the city of Marietta. They don't deserve better treatment. They deserve equal treatment, and what we're doing now by continuing to let this progress and move forward is put them in the unenviable position of losing clients and potentially going away -- not because they've done anything, but because of something that has gone on for an eternal amount of time," Clay said.

Jaraysi, who was in attendance, said after the meeting, "I have no comments, man, I'm done with it."

After the meeting, Councilman Anthony Coleman confronted Goldstein about delaying the demolition process.

"We've given him every ample opportunity and enough is enough," Coleman told Goldstein. "What's the justification for listening to the same old song and dance over and over again? 'Oh, just given me one more chance mayor and City Council. Just give me one more chance. I promise you, I promise you that I'm going to make every effort.' At some point you just have to say no. He's way over three strikes and you're out. And we shouldn't have continued to allow this to happen. It says a lot for us as a city when people and citizens ride going 75 to Atlanta, saying the city of Marietta continues to allow that facility to stay up there like that. It's a reflection on our leadership."

Tumlin said Jaraysi should now know what the full intent of the City Council is, regardless of where Goldstein stands.

"We're respecting the Superior Court of Cobb County's order," Tumlin said.

"(Jaraysi) had a year and a half period he's breached the first time. Now he's breached the consent order, period. And, miraculously, apparently he may or may not have some money available. It's not punitive to him. He had an opportunity to cure his breach over and over and over. This last minute heroics I just didn't find it compelling to change my order as did seven out of eight of us. If the only two people in the world affected were Mr. Jaraysi and the City Council, maybe. But as the people that came forward (demonstrated) it's affecting thousands. His not addressing the issue in a timely -- not a few days, not 30 days, not 45 days, but years -- has been detrimental to the citizens of Marietta, and I think we, as a government body, had to address that."