Claiming they’re bursting at the seams of Georgia’s historic 1889 Capitol and an adjacent office building, state lawmakers this week approved pricey plans for a Gold Dome overhaul and expansion that would see a rare new office building erected from the ground up downtown.

The cost of the Capitol redo and new legislative building would be $392 million, as paid for with the $38 billion in state revenue lawmakers plan to spend—a bump of $5.5 billion over last year’s spending—pending approval by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, according to the Associated Press.

The budget would cover safety and security upgrades at the Capitol Hill complex, in addition to $83 million channeled toward preserving the historical integrity of the 1880s Gold Dome.

Just north of the Capitol, across Martin Luther King Jr. Drive toward the high-rise heart of downtown, an eight-story legislative office building would also replace two partially vacant, state-owned buildings should the expansion plans come to fruition, the AP reports.

That 260,000-square-foot office project would also include a new parking garage with 500 spaces, all linked via a skybridge to the Gold Dome.

The downtown block Georgia lawmakers have targeted for a new office building. Google Maps

The new structure would replace a dated, 1980s office building just south of the Capitol that houses most legislative offices and committee rooms today but is in need of upgrades such as new mechanical and heating systems and lacks sufficient meeting rooms, per project supporters. An earlier, $208 million proposal to renovate the Coverdell Legislative Office Building would have created less space—leaving fewer dollars for Gold Dome upgrades—and required that lawmakers work from portable trailers for two years, per the AP.

Construction could reportedly start in October and be wrapped by the end of 2026, with work to refurbish House and Senate chambers—and to apply a fresh, thin layer of gold on the Capitol dome—potentially beginning in 2024.

An eight-story office building would rise at right along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive should lawmakers' plans come to fruition. Google Maps

One feature sure to make preservationist hearts flutter would be the restoration of a grand Capitol library that’s been obscured and sectioned into offices. According to the AP, other offices built into original mezzanines would be purged, opening those formerly grand spaces back up, too. 

Sound like enough bang for those big bucks, fellow Georgians?

The 1880s building's frontage on Capitol Avenue. Shutterstock

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