103 replies to this topic

[ATLman1]

Since Auburn/Opelika is right across the river from Columbus, I will post some of the new development going on in the area.

Opelika-Auburn News broke ground Wednesday on a new 40,000-square-foot production and office facility that will give the newspaper a state-of-the-art new home. The new facility will consist of two buildings joined by an open mall area. Each building will be about 20,000 square feet. The new $14 million dollar building will be open by October 2006.

Edited by ATLman1, 06 December 2005 - 05:34 PM.

[ATLman1]

Another retail center is planned for Auburn. The retail center will be between 300,000 and 400,000 sq. ft. A Sam's Club will be one of the anchor stores.

[ATLman1]

East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika is building a major addition to the hospital. The Opelika hospital is adding four floors and new surgical suites. The building will now have 9 floors. The project is a $42 million expansion. The expansion is adding 108 beds for a total of 150,000 square feet. Also, outside of the main building will be a two-story ICU center.

[ATLman1]

A $2 million expansion and 18 new jobs, that's what Janson Seals and Sleeves is promising as the France based company announces the expansion of it's Opelika plant. Janson manufactures tamper proof packaging.

[ATLman1]

AU plan may add 1,600 beds

The first new on-campus housing built at Auburn in a generation could be ready for students to start moving in as early as August 2008.

Meeting in Montgomery last week, AU Trustees approved the hiring of Hoar Construction Co. to oversee the planning and development of new residence halls that could eventually add 1,600 beds and raise AU’s housing capacity beyond 4,000. With an estimated cost somewhere between $80 and $100 million, the project could also rank as one of the biggest in AU’s history.

Other campus projects:

An extension of Lem Morrison Drive from Wire Road to Samford Avenue is part of an ongoing effort to divert traffic around campus. When complete, a new traffic light will be installed at Wire Road.

• Design work has been completed on the new student center, planned next to the Haley Center at the heart of campus. Mouton said construction bids will be taken in May, and work will begin in early summer. The replacement for Foy Union carries a $37 million pricetag, Mouton said.

• Design work is progressing on an extension of Duncan Drive from College Street to Lem Morrison, providing another link to Jordan-Hare Stadium. The intersection with College will be realigned slightly to install a traffic light, Mouton said. A 700-space parking deck under construction next to the stadium will be complete before football season, but the Duncan Drive work may be delayed a few weeks, Mouton said.

[ATLman1]

Opelika hits it big!

Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) is about to add a third element to its Opelika crown jewel that already includes the Grand National golf complex and Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.

Tuesday night, the Opelika City Council endorsed an RSA plan to take 600 winding acres adjacent to the golf club and turn it into a “Southern resort community” with as many as 1,000 upscale homes and condominiums.

Construction on National Village could begin as early as this year, with the first single-family detached homes available by year’s end, council members were told Tuesday.

Bobby Vaughan, who spoke on behalf of RSA, said the National Village concept would consist of “upscale cottage-like living” divided into seven villages.

According to a development plan review, each village will consist of a combination of single-family detached homes, single-family attached homes, townhouses or condominiums.

The homes will be grouped together in pods and clusters to allow much of the land to remain undisturbed and give ample opportunity to build an extensive park and trail system.

The smallest village would consist of 87 units, while the largest would have 224. When built-out over the next six to eight years, the value of this project could total $300 to $400 million.”

[ATLman1]

Cumberland Plastic Systems has announced plans to locate in Auburn. Cumberland Plastics is a solution provider in engineering, program management, injection molding, and assembly of plastic components for Mercedes, Hyundai, Honda, Nissan, Kia, and Toyota.

Construction on Cumberland’s 18,000 square foot facility is expected to begin immediately, with completion scheduled for August of this year. Once complete, Cumberland’s new location will result in more than $5 million in capital investment and 35 new jobs to Auburn.

[ATLman1]

Two twin to the five-story condominium buildings have been approved by the Auburn City Council. The bottom floor will be commercial/retail and the four floors above will be condominiums.

[ATLman1]

Housing construction is boomimg in Auburn/Opelika. Here is the article from WRBL.com Housing Boom

[ATLman1]

Cool information on Lee County's commuting patterns from WRBL.com.

As big as it is, AU represents just a part of Lee County’s employment stew - a workforce more than 52,000 strong, made more diverse in recent years with the addition of thousands of new manufacturing, distribution, retail and service jobs.

Even so, while Auburn and Opelika remain regional employment draws, recent U.S. Census data suggests that Lee County is in fact fast becoming more of a suburban-style bedroom community for areas on our fringe, like Columbus, Ga., and Fort Benning but also Phenix City, Valley and Lanett.

In fact, though more than 52,700 Lee County residents were employed in January, that’s actually 8,000 more than the number of jobs in the county, Census figures show.

But it’s not simple enough to say those 8,000 people simply go outside the county for work, because tens of thousands of outsiders come into Lee County every day to work as well.

In fact, of Lee County’s roughly 43,666 jobs, just 35,549 are held by Lee residents - meaning that 16,570 county residents commute elsewhere to work everyday, passing in the opposite directions folks from other places driving here to work.

Because Lee County has more workers than jobs, the daytime population countywide actually declines by about 8,000 people on an average workday, the Census estimates - a startling fact when the daily surge of people into Auburn and Opelika is factored in.

Between the two cities on an average weekday, the daytime population swells by a combined 10,492 people, primarily residents of surrounding communities drawn here by jobs.

However, the daytime population countywide declines from a 2000 Census estimate of 115,092 to 106,639 as 8,453 people commute elsewhere to work, primarily from Smiths Station which has a huge residential base but almost no employment.

According to the Census, 21,512 people were living in far eastern Lee County in 2000 but there were only 1,105 jobs.

That forces more than 10,500 residents to commute somewhere else for work - the vast majority of them to Columbus, and almost none of them in the opposite direction to Auburn or Opelika.

Statistically, the thousands of Smiths Station residents who leave the county for work every day cancel out any influx of workers to Auburn and Opelika from surrounding communities by 2-1.

And the phenomenon is only expected to continue at a rapid pace in the coming years as hundreds workers drawn to the region by BRAC at Fort Benning, Kia in West Point, Ga., or corporate expansion of Synovus and Aflac in Columbus decide to live in Lee County.

[ATLman1]

Hotel confirmed near TigerTown
More projects expected across I-85

Dust clouds rolled Wednesday as earth-moving equipment continued to grade a parcel of land across from TigerTown on the east side of I-85, where a new Holiday Inn Express Hotel will soon take shape.

Another unnamed hotel and as many as six restaurants could also eventually occupy the site, as development spreads to the opposite side of the interstate along Gateway Drive.

It will be the second Holiday Inn Express in the area, with another one already in Auburn.

Completion of the new Holiday Inn Express Hotel is tentatively slated for 2007.

[ATLman1]

A Swedish manufacturer of innovative home healthcare products will soon join the growing ranks of new industrial employers moving to Lee County, promising to bring still more skilled jobs and good pay to a region that already leads the state in economic and wage growth.

Gambro Renal Products held official ground-breaking ceremonies Wednesday in Opelika’s Fox Run Business Park for a 100,000-square foot facility, where they will employ 160 people turning out 10 million Polyflux dialyzers annually to serve patients with kidney failure who must undergo dialysis.

[ATLman1]

AUBURN - A Korean auto parts supplier has picked Auburn as the site for its first U.S. factory, which will create 200 jobs.

Global Management Business Automotive USA will build a $28.6 million plant to produce powertrain components for the Hyundai factory in Montgomery and supply a Kia factory planned for West Point, Ga.

The factory, expected to be completed by spring 2007, will be located at the Auburn Industrial Park near Shug Jordan Parkway.

[ATLman1]

Few new announcements:

A third phase of TigerTown is now under construction, with new buildings going up adjacent to Target that will house a Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store, Cost Plus World Market and eventually a new Kroger.

In Auburn, construction is expected to begin sometime this fall on a new retail center at the intersection of I-85 and Bent Creek Road that will house a 135,000-square-foot Sam’s Club and additional smaller retailers. Several hundred new jobs will likely be created once the project is complete by 2008.

[ATLman1]

Opelika continues to grow:

New openings in the Auburn/Opelika:

1) At Tigertown: phase three of the 124-acre mixed-use development is under way and offers 433,610 square feet of retail space. Jersey Mike’s Subs, Moe’s and Kinnucan’s will be housed in the gateway buildings that line the entrance to Target’s parking lot.

2) Rack Room Shoes, Cost Plus World Market, Hobby Lobby and Kroger will open next to Target.

3) McDonald’s and Olive Garden will build freestanding restaurants in front of Office Depot and Home Depot.

4) Seven subdivisions arebeing built currently.

[ATLman1]

The City of Auburn finalized a development agreement with Cylpro Automotive Products, which announced on Wednesday plans to locate its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Auburn - Cylpro Auburn Inc. Cylpro Automotive Products, with headquarters in Hengelo, Netherlands, supplies automotive solutions for carmakers such as Audi, Lamborghini and Mercedes Benz. Cylpro Auburn Inc. will occupy a 20,000-square-foot facility in the Auburn Industrial Park. Cylpro Auburn Inc. will initially create a capital investment of $3.7 million and 10 jobs.

[SkyDave]

Looks like another Opelika-Auburn coup!!! It is amazing how they are able to attract so many businesses to relocate there. I am impressed!!!!

[ATLman1]

Aluminum Technology Schmid to begin operations in Auburn:


Aluminum Technology Schmid Inc. announced plans to locate its first North American manufacturing operation in Auburn’s Industrial Park located off Shug Jordan Parkway.

Aluminum Technology Schmid is a German precision machining company specializing in high-end aluminum parts for hydraulic applications in the automotive industry.

Production is scheduled to begin in October and once in full operation in 2008, the company will have invested $5 million in capital investment and employ approximately 40 people.

[ATLman1]

The city of Auburn is getting a large federal grant to help expand the growing south side of the city.

A street that now dead-ends into an open field will soon be the gateway to new development in Auburn.  The Federal Government has approved a $1.5 million dollar grant to help the city extend Veterans Boulevard and make way for a new technology park.  

The city plans to build the new Technology Park West adjacent to the already-existing Technology Park North. It's a plan that will create 400-plus acres for new development.  That should pave the way for more than 3,000 new jobs and $400 million dollars in private investments. City officials say new industries are already showing interest in setting up at the new park.

[ATLman1]

The new $50 million student center is currently under construction by Brasfield and Gorrie. Construction should be completed in two years, by fall 2008. The building will be three stories and 184,000 square feet.

A new 735 space parking deck opened near Jordan-Hare Stadium.


Other projects on Auburn's campus:

AU is in the process of designing a new information technology building to be built on the corner of Duncan and Lem Morrison. The corner also will house an office building. Bids will be accepted next spring, with construction starting next summer. It will be online in the summer of 2008.

AU wants to add onto the 4,000-square-foot Scott-Yarbrough House while maintaining its historic character. The university is looking for a historic preservation architect to advise on the expansion and restoration project.

Mouton’s department of building science will have a new home by early fall when the 37,000-square-foot building on Samford Avenue is complete. Once it moves out of Dudley Hall, the School of Architecture can occupy the whole building.

The Shelby Center for Engineering Technology, the brand new building on Magnolia Avenue near the College of Business, could be open next fall. Mouton said it will be more than 100,000 square feet.

A new pedestrian walkway and bus stop on Roosevelt Drive between Mell Street and the new student center will be finished by the fall semester.