From the HERE City State Desk
The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to sell an Oakwood warehouse it bought to turn into an immigrant detention site, and its first notice of the sale went to the wrong city.
The property on the 3600 block of Atlanta Highway has a Flowery Branch mailing address but sits inside Oakwood city limits. A letter dated Sept. 29 saying the agency is proposing to sell its excess property was sent to Flowery Branch. Oakwood City Manager B.R. White said he received a revised letter Tuesday morning, and that it was the first contact his city had from DHS or ICE.
DHS paid about $68.2 million for the 540,408-square-foot warehouse. Oakwood officials first learned in February that it might become a detention facility. Planning documents described a processing site where detainees would stay three to seven days, with an average daily population of 1,000 to 1,500.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin paused the broader $38 billion warehouse detention plan in April, and the government has since said some of the buildings would be sold.
Because of federal historic preservation rules, the agency has invited the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office, local officials and several federally recognized tribes, including the Cherokee Nation and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, to comment within 30 days. ICE has determined that no historic properties are affected.
The warehouse addresses include 3605, 3611, 3613, and 3619 Atlanta Highway. White said the misdirected letter did not surprise him, saying it does not surprise him that DHS does not know where its facilities are located. The property was sold by Houston-based Alliance Industrial Company on Feb. 18, 2026, for about $68.16 million after that company had bought it for $1.99-million 14 months earlier. As of sept 29 ice had officials noted not received any comments from any invited party.
