The Sandy Springs City Council on March 1 will consider spending almost $840,000 to buy two more Hammond Drive properties as placeholders for a long-planned street widening.

Earlier this month, the city authorized spending $375,000 to buy a residential lot at 590 Hammond. City Manager John McDonough called it a “protective buy” to secure right of way as infill housing makes property costs skyrocket. McDonough said at the time that the city might make more such purchases.

Now the city is eyeing residential properties at 372 Hammond and 521 Hammond, according to the City Council’s meeting agenda.

The roughly half-acre lot at 372 Hammond, at the intersection with Harleston Road, is the midst of a tear-down redevelopment for what the city says is a $979,000 house. The city’s report says it can buy the property for a half-million dollars.

The 521 Hammond house is on the market, listed at $350,000, the city reports, adding that it can be acquired for $338,000.