Hall Area Transit could have a new home of its own come September.

The county’s public transportation agency plans to move out of the Community Service Center shortly after renovations on its future home are complete at the end of August, Community Service Center Director Phillippa Lewis-Moss told council members last week.

The Gainesville City Council approved at its meeting Tuesday the funding for the last phase of construction on the agency’s future location at 687 Main St.

The fall relocation date is later than the March moving date Lewis-Moss originally had expected, but she said the age of the building had something to do with the delay.

"It’s an old building acquired from the department of transportation," Lewis-Moss said. "With all things old, there are always surprises."

Contractors on the renovation project, Diversified Construction of Georgia Inc., found that some parts of the older building took longer to renovate than they had originally projected, but Lewis-Moss said she is optimistic about the upcoming moving date.

"It’s all in divine order, and it will all work out," Lewis-Moss said.

After 30 years in the Community Service Center, employees at Hall Area Transit’s current office have been instructed to begin packing their things, said Janice Crow, general manager of Hall Area Transit.

Transit employees are going through files, purging old ones and preparing to move to their new building without a lot of luggage, Lewis-Moss said.

"Everybody’s been told to clean, sort, archive and get ready," Crow said.

The $1.04 million renovation project had to be completed in two phases, with the second phase, which included work on the building’s facade, surveillance systems, paving and interior furnishing, waiting on the receipt of a promised grant from the Federal Transit Administration and the state’s Department of Transportation.

In September, the City Council approved the funding for the first phase of the construction, and agreed to pay 10 percent of the construction costs.

The agency’s move to Main Street will free up about 30 parking spaces at the Community Service Center and create more room for the center to add new programs, Lewis-Moss told the council last week.

"We’ll be excited to see them go," Lewis-Moss said.