Faced with the prospect of extended litigation and a jury trial on its condemnation effort, the city of Sandy Springs has agreed to pay $7 million for a parcel of property destined to be part of its nearly $200 million City Center project, nearly twice what the city had offered the property owners several months ago.

The property, at one time the site of a Kroger on Johnson Ferry Road near the intersection with Roswell Road, was most recently occupied by a Goodwill store and donation center, said the attorney for the owners, Charles “Buck” Ruffin of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz.

The parties had been negotiating for several years, said Ruffin, with the county first appraising the property at $3.2 million, then raising it to $3.5 million.