LaFAYETTE, Ga. — City officials and employees agree that buying an abandoned carpet mill and converting it into a one-stop-utilities-shop was a good move.

“It’s been a very good investment,” City Manager Johnnie Arnold said. “The building was a steal at the price.”

National Spinning Co. closed its Caron yarn plant here in February 2003 and vacated the 150,000-square-foot building. The city purchased the plant and its 41-acre site for $350,00 in 2008.

The timing was fortunate because arsonists burned the city’s water and sewer department building on New Year’s Day 2008. Purchase of the Caron facility was already under way before the fire, Mayor Neal Florence said.

An additional $150,000 transformed the spinning plant into a modern home for the city’s public works, utilities and maintenance departments.

See Sunday’s North Georgia page for complete story.