Wesley Branch
Mayor Girtz provides updates on The Classic Center Arena project in Friday press conference.
Mayor Girtz provides updates on The Classic Center Arena project in Friday press conference.
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz discussed the economic benefits of The Classic Center Arena development project, which includes hundreds of new job opportunities and better wages for service sector employees, on Friday.
Upon its completion, the arena is supposed to create 600 new jobs and have an economic impact of $33 million, with many of these new jobs being in the service industry. The starting salary will be $17.72 an hour, which is considered a living wage in Georgia.
“One of the agreements that we made with The Classic Center Authority when we kicked this off, is that we wanted to see the arena be a foundation for higher wages for people in the service sector in Athens,” said Mayor Girtz.
Girtz cited the long history of a low-wage employment class in Athens as a motivator to provide higher wages in this area. He elaborated by stating that The Classic Center and the private developing partners around The Classic Center have agreed to conform to the living wage calculator published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) each year.
The 600 new jobs comes from the expected amount of employees that will be required for overall programming at the new arena, consisting of food and beverage service employees and more.
These openings will provide employment opportunities not just for Athens locals, but for University of Georgia students as well.
Owen Mazanetz, a third year finance and real estate student from Suwanee, Georgia, currently works in the service industry as a bartender at City Bar in downtown Athens. Mazanetz expressed his interest in employment opportunities at The Classic Center Arena based on the living wage agreement for service employees at the venue.
“$17.72’s a very solid number, I’d say compared to a lot of other service industry jobs around here,” said Mazanetz. “So, I mean, I would be kind of interested in looking into it and seeing the employment opportunities that it would, you know, offer the new project.”
The Classic Center Arena project officially broke ground earlier this year and is expected to be completed in August of 2024. Some of the upgrades include expanded capacity – 5,500 to 9,000 people depending on the event type – and upgraded amenities, including basketball and volleyball courts.
Why I Wrote the Story:
I wrote this story to update the Athens community on the new Classic Center Arena and some of the economic benefits of the new project, as construction of the new arena recently began. This story provides an in depth description of how Athens and service industry employees will benefit from the project, including increased wages.