Sandy Springs' full City Council spent more than five hours behind closed doors Thursday, Aug. 27, discussing real estate. It was the longest of three private sessions the council has held since May.

All seven members, including Mayor Rusty Paul, gathered at 9 a.m. in the Barfield Conference Room at City Hall for the special called meeting. Councilmember John Paulson moved to enter executive session, Councilmember Frank Roberts seconded, and the vote was unanimous. The closed session began at 9:07 a.m., according to meeting minutes.

The council broke for lunch at 11:40 a.m. and returned at 12:46 p.m. The executive session ended at 3:45 p.m.

No public vote followed. The council adjourned at 3:46 p.m. without making any announcement.

Excluding the lunch break, the council deliberated for about five and a half hours. Two earlier real estate executive sessions were far shorter: roughly two hours and 19 minutes on Aug. 6 and one hour and 40 minutes on May 20.

Under Georgia's Open Meetings Act, a governing body may close a meeting to discuss a real estate acquisition without disclosing the property involved. No public action is required afterward.

The specific property or transaction under discussion has not been disclosed. The session came one day after the Sandy Springs Development Authority approved the final piece of a $4.33 million incentive package for Woodfield Development's overhaul of North River Shopping Center on Roswell Road — a 10-year, $2.55 million tax abatement OK'd Aug. 26 — as we reported Aug. 28. The City Council had approved the package's $1.775 million in fee waivers earlier, at its Aug. 18 meeting. No source has linked the executive session to that deal.

At the Aug. 18 council meeting approving those incentives, Councilmember Melody Kelley said the North River project was "… not the only thing happening in the North End," adding that "a lot is going on," as Rough Draft Atlanta reported.

The Aug. 27 minutes were approved Tuesday, Sept. 1, and signed by Mayor Paul and City Clerk Raquel D. González. The council's next regular meeting after that falls on Sept. 15.