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On Tuesday, the Troup County Board of Commissioners discussed bids for landscaping work to complete the ongoing pickleball complex project off of Ragland Street in LaGrange.

Construction is nearing completion of the long-planned pickleball complex. The Callaway Foundation got the project started a couple of years ago, donating 2.5 acres of land for the new complex on Ragland Street near the Active Life Senior Center, along with $750,000. The county also received $2.2 million in grant money from the Governor’s Office in ARPA funds toward the project. The City of LaGrange also agreed to provide $350,000 toward the complex.   

In December 2024, the board approved the construction contract with River City Contracting for $4,599,259.81. At the time, the project was expected to take approximately seven months, depending on the weather.

Assistant County Manager Jay Anderspn said they are now working to complete the project with a ribbon-cutting and grand opening expected in the next 60 days or so. Due to some value savings and change orders to the project, the construction has actually come in at around $22,000 under budget, he said.

That did not include landscaping for the complex, so the final package for the project includes that work. Four bids were received for the landscaping, with the lowest coming in from Southern Oaks Landscape Co. at $52,365, Anderson said.

Several commissioners questioned why the landscaping was not included in the contract with River City. Anderson said that since he has been working with the county for over 12 years, that’s just the way they have always done it, as contractors typically add their own markup otherwise.

The landscaping was always part of the scope of the project and overall budget, Anderson said. It was also included in grant requests, but it was not included in the construction contract costs, he said.

“The county has always broken that out separately at the end, because it is something that’s at the very end. It’s not like it’s in the middle of the project, and the contractors have always been okay with it. It’s always been, on my part, a very good decision for the county, because anything that you put in the general contractor’s scope, they mark it up with their profit.”

We are very lucky. We got $2.95 million in these grants and it’s about a $5 million project, so we are getting a very nice, pickleball complex for 40 cents on the dollar, Anderson said.

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