Statesboro Development News

[MorganA15]

Well, it's official. There is a new Starbucks coming around the Brannen Street area. It was posted on the Hull-Storey website today (i'm guessing, it says October) that one is infact coming. It will be about 1,800 square feet.

[nova72asu]

The Council approved all of the rezonings and variances.

Rezoning from R-3 (Medium Density Multi Family Residential) to CR (Commercial Retail) for property located at 17 West Jones Avenue.

Rezoning from R-10 (Single Family Residential) to R-8 (Single Family Residential) and a variance to allow the creation of lots that do not maintain the minimum lot width for the entire depth of the lots for a 0.375 acre parcel located on the southwest corner of West Main Street and Bay Street.

Rezoning from R-20 (Single Family Residential) to PUD (Planned Unit Development) for a 63.962 acre parcel located on the southeast corner of West Jones Avenue and Cypress Lake Road.

- Bethany Home has the option to buy this property, and is proposing to build an assisted living facility at this location.

Request for a 14 foot variance of the 20 foot side yard setback for property located at 302 North Main Street.

[nova72asu]

Other notes from the meeting....

The traffic light at Beasley and Cawana is almost up and should be set to flashing this week, and next week or so be fully operational.

There will be improvments to West Gentilly Road at the intersection of Fair Road. Left turn lane I believe.

Also a sidewalk is going to be installed along Hwy 24 (East Main) from the Sandy Hill apartments to Mill Creek Park

[MorganA15]

There's a sign up for leasing for the Copper Beech townhomes/apartments. It says leasing Fall 2007, but that seems like a long time away. I would think that they would start leasing it for Winter 2007, like the Fairfield. It doesn't look like it's that far from completion, but maybe it is.

[andremurra]

I dont know what Fairfield means by "winter 07", but I know they were slated to have construction finished in Summer of 07. Thats a good 6 month chuck ahead of schedule and that jus doesnt sound correct.

[MorganA15]

Well the website says it's opening somewhere around December/January (but I see it being January), so I dont know. It looks like it's coming along fast.

Edited October 6, 2006 by MorganA15

[andremurra]

I wish they would hurry up with the bypass already. God, everytime I leave campus (I park at the stadium and take the bus to and from campus), I usually go to the Bypass from Lanier, and the line of cars are always at least to Statesboro Place Circle. Once two weeks ago, the line was to Stambuck lane - and this is not 5pm traffic either. Its crazy.

[MorganA15]

Well the Business section has been updated already, way early.

It seems that Splash will be getting an addition and will be opened by 2008. It's supposed to bring attention to teenagers, so i'm guessing a wave pool or another (larger) water slide.

The other article talks about how 3 of the new resturants are doing very well. McAlister's Deli, which has only been open 5 weeks, has been in the top 20 grossing sales of over 200 locations, except for 1 week which it was 21.

It also had a few of recently closed restaurants, and it talked about Shell House. The Shell House was very popular, though, unlike the other ones they talked about. Everytime I went to eat there, it was always packed. The lady (and her husband) that owned it actually taught about 3 years ago at the middle school I went to. Her and her family moved, and I believe that's why they closed the Statesboro location (I wonder why it even opened, it wasn't opened long). I think the only reason they kept the Savannah location open is because it's been there for so long and still is always busy (I just ate there about a month ago and at 5:00 on a Saturday it was packed).

[nova72asu]

The city Planning Commission meets tonight at 5pm.

I wonder if anything of interest will be on the agenda.

[nova72asu]

Apparently a couple of the items on the P.C. agenda was for some property off Lanier Drive around Bird Lane being annexed.

Edited October 11, 2006 by nova72asu

[MorganA15]

So, while I should be packing, I've been thinking about one of the "downsides" of Statesboro. Yes, the mall. It's the worst mall i've ever been to. I've wondered why in 2000/2001 while renovating the mall, Hull Storey didn't focus on making the mall larger instead of adding carpet inside. I mean, really.

I was just wondering what all would you change about it?

Edited October 11, 2006 by MorganA15

[MorganA15]

Bush to visit the Boro

In tommorow's (at least i'm gussing, it's posted rather late) newspaper, it states that Bush will be coming to Statesboro. No official details about where or what time, the only thing known is that he will be visiting October 30th. It's campaigning for Max Burns

He recently visited the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler six weeks ago. It's crazy that he's coming back, and coming to Statesboro. I'd figure another Chatham location - such as downtown.

Edited October 20, 2006 by MorganA15

[andremurra]

Bush to visit the Boro

In tommorow's (at least i'm gussing, it's posted rather late) newspaper, it states that Bush will be coming to Statesboro. No official details about where or what time, the only thing known is that he will be visiting October 30th. It's campaigning for Max Burns

He recently visited the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler six weeks ago. It's crazy that he's coming back, and coming to Statesboro. I'd figure another Chatham location - such as downtown.

[MorganA15]

hahahah

..I can already imagine the Soundoff for the next week, maybe even two weeks.

[andremurra]

I can already imagine the annoying political tension about to rise on campus as soon as students and faculty get wind of this. Im sure there will be a band of people getting together to protest at his appearance... maybe Fred Phelps will come too with his "God Hates F***" signs. I dont know, just feels like everyone in this community are extremely polarized and Im tired of peoples stupid racism and bigotry. *sigh*

Edited October 20, 2006 by andremurra

[MorganA15]

I went by Tillman Park today, and I must say the renderings gives it no justice. I could only see a few of them from the road, since they had Tillman Road blocked off, but they were really good. I hope more of these come up downtown.

I saw there's also a new resturant coming at the old Hardees/Church's Chicken. There was only a small sign, but I couldn't see what it said. There were still newspapers in the window, so i'm not sure whats going on.

[MorganA15]

Another Apartment Complex Planned

Well, once most of us thought things were going to slow down in the "apartment boom" for a while, it seems that another apartment complex has been planned. Temporarily named "University Walk", it will be situated across the road from the newly constructed Cambridge, where the old trailer park currently sits. It will consist 15 buildings, and have 504 beds. Construction is set to begin in March of next year and be ready to be leased for the 08-09 year.

I'm so glad that trailer park is finally going to be gone. It was horrible looking.

Now we must target the one behind the Market District and Hometown Inn.

Edited October 23, 2006 by MorganA15

[andremurra]

I agree that the trailer park was hideous and I am glad that it will be done away with. I am concerned though for the extremely low-income residents that live there. I hope they will be able to find a place to relocate. It sucks for them because the "park" was located in a prime commercial area and was at best, a small ghetto. But those people are probably going to be forced to live in one of the larger ghettos. Students, mostly recently, have nicknamed the trailer park, "Mexi-ville" because it now has a high concentration of immigrants. Students also know that one can purchase alcohol in "Mexi-ville" on Sundays for a high price. I think cases go for like 20-50 bucks on Sunday. They can be purchased from the immigrants (very smart). This new development will definitely rid the area of a good chunk of low-income individuals and will make the strip less diverse in age and income levels. Of course we will still have to deal with the older "student" apartments which have turned into "ghetto-complexes" in their own right, such as College Walk, Stadium Walk, Park Place, and the small buildings around them. I actually lived in College Walk last year and it is quite amazing how completely different it is from the complexes across the street and adjacent to it.

While crossing Lanier Drive to get to the bus station, you have to dodge speeding BMW's, Hummers, Rangerovers, Mercedes, etc. coming out of Campus Club while across the street in College Walk, I was exposed to residents very openly distributing drugs, using drugs openly in the parking lots, and I even witnessed a woman shooting (a gun) at another woman about 20 feet from where I was standing. She even tried to conversate with me while shooting at the other female. They had been fighting for about 3 hours while my roommates and I were desiring to sleep (but could not from the loud noise). So Im really hoping that we will start seeing a lot of redevelopment occur rather than new developments. I think though that the reason Copper Beech is filling up so fast is because they are new yes, but mainly because they are new AND in the commuter zone. Cambridge, Campus Club, University Pines, etc, are located in the non-commuter zones where residents are not allowed to park on campus during the business hours. Thats primarily why Statesboro Place fills so quickly, and probably Copper Beech can attribute their success from that fact.

[MorganA15]

I didn't think anybody still lived there. For the past year or so, everytime I passed by there it always seemed dead. Maybe I just pass at the wrong times.

Somebody called into the soundoff, saying how Statesboro has been trying to catch up with Athens, and it finally has because of traffic, crime, etc.

Yeah, ok. That one made me laugh. Athens has so much more to offer then Statesboro. Don't go there.

[nova72asu]

The old Hardees and Churches Chicken location is being turned into Kabob Kelly's or something like that.

I noticed yesterday that the Pine trees at the property on the corner of Stambuck Lane and HWY 67 were cut and cleared. I guess they are moving right along with building the hotels and conference center.

I wonder if construction on the new Holiday Inn will begin soon as well.

[MorganA15]

The old Hardees and Churches Chicken location is being turned into Kabob Kelly's or something like that.

I noticed yesterday that the Pine trees at the property on the corner of Stambuck Lane and HWY 67 were cut and cleared. I guess they are moving right along with building the hotels and conference center.

I wonder if construction on the new Holiday Inn will begin soon as well.

Edited October 24, 2006 by MorganA15

[andremurra]

Massive 4000-bedroom "Centennial Park" Planned for Statesboro

It is common knowledge in the campus community that Georgia Southern intends to house 40% of its students on campus as part of its Strategic Plan to become one of the nation's top-ranked comprehensive universities by the year 2010. At this time Georgia Southern only houses just less than 23% of the student population, and that is mainly because of the recent opening of the 776-room Eagle Village Residence Hall. An inside source told me today that the university was planning a 4000+ room residence hall. I was already aware of plans being made for a massive new residence hall to replace Olliff, Winburn, and Johnson but I had no idea that the project was going to be this large. Of course, this information is not published anywhere yet and is not public information at this time.

I decided to ask another, "more inside" source about what I was told today to see if he/she could shed anymore light on the topic or confirm it. My source told me that it was indeed at the Olliff-Winburn-Johnson tract, that the name of the project was going to be called Centennial Park. Also he/she told me that the building was going to be 6-stories tall, made up of two massive buildings that would make Eagle Village look like nothing, and would be a freshmen-exclusive hall. According to the "plan", after this current (2006-07) academic year, Olliff and Winburn would be demolished and the first building would be constructed in one year, then after the 2007-08 academic year, Johnson would be demolished and the second building would be constructed in one year. The goal would be to complete the project in time for the 2009-10 academic year, when both buildings should open simultaneously. My source was not sure exactly how many rooms it would accomodate, but did state that he/she thought it would be around 2500, but he/she was not told an exact number.

According to my source, another option University Housing is looking at, however, is remodeling Olliff, Winburn and Johnson. I really dont think that they would do that because they do not hold near as many students and are an eyesore to the campus. Also, I dont believe that this approach will be taken because of two reasons - one, I had already heard from very reliable source that University Housing was planning to demolish Olliff and Winburn and - two, I am also aware that the university administration wants to "require" all freshmen to live on campus in the future when they can accomodate all the freshmen (which I am personally against).

This project will be very good for Statesboro's economy, although it may hurt the private residential communities. I personally dont think it will hurt them too much, because of the private sector's enrollment projections for 2010 are 25,000. Georgia Southern's enrollment projection for 2009 is 23,000. If either of those numbers prove to be true, the current and planned residential communities are going to be ok. However, we all know that between now and 2009, whats going on currently in our residential market is probably just the tip of the iceburg to come - so if many more developers want a piece of the pie, it could have a very negative impact on our housing market.

However, the reason I say it will have a very good impact on Statesboro's economy is because the development of a 2500-4000 room residence hall will remove up to 4000+ zero's from Statesboro's economic profile. When that happens, our commercial sector will likely explode beyond our wildest imagination. College towns, especially isolated university communities like Statesboro, have a very raw deal in their commercial sectors. The reason that Statesboro's commercial profile does not include a major mall, or any upscale dining or apparel options is simply because of the reality of "deceptive" demographics. Isolated college towns are a very unique case.

The easiest way to explain it is that the census does not count students living on campus as part of the local population or economic profile. For the most part, students do not have any income, or at best, very low income. Because of this, thousands of zeros are calculated into the local economic profile in the areas of household income, per capita income, etc. Commercial businesses, especially restuarants and clothing stores look at the average household income of an area as a primary factor in deciding to locate in the area. A locality's population usually simply grabs their attention, but the economic profile of that population, specifically average/median household income play the largest part in deciding to invest in that location. In Statesboro's case, the majority (77%) of low or no-income students live off-campus and are counted as part of Statesboro's demographic and economic profile. Should a couple or few thousand of these extremely low income students (be sure not to mistake income with buying power) be removed from Statesboro's profile, then obviously the average and median incomes of Statesboro's demography will raise dramatically.

Many businesses, including Olive Garden, have specifically stated that Statesboro's population had "caught their eye", but that the household income was much lower than their target market, and decided not to invest in Statesboro for that reason. Another thing to remember though, is that the buying power of the students living off campus is very difficult to measure and are not measured by the census since their sources can come from undocumented places such as wealthy families for example which may probably be a reason that they do not work and in effect do not have an income. So my opinion, is that the more of these "no-incomers" we can get out of Statesboro's profile and onto the Georgia Southern campus where they will not be counted, the better off we are in attracting the companies that we seriously deserve and have been underserved for far too long. In effect, if better restaurants and clothing stores do invest here in the future, they will provide Statesboro with more better paying jobs that students can obtain which will help the students that do live off campus have higher incomes, thus helping our profile even more.

I dont know what the impact on the private residential sector will be, but I think Statesboro is growing everywhere at this time, not just because of the university. So hopefully new populations will seek these many residential communities or perhaps, the cost of living may go down due to a much more competitive housing market... who knows. I just hope the university decides to go thru with Centennial Park rather than remodel those ugly buildings.

Edited October 25, 2006 by andremurra

[MorganA15]

Holy crap.

I just glanced through this since i'm half asleep, but i'm reading this first thing in the morning. This is huge.

I love inside sources. I need some.

[nova72asu]

I agree, what we are seeing now is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to residential and commercial development. In the next four to five years I think things are going to explode. It should be really exciting!

[nova72asu]

Zoning signs are up at property off Lanier Drive and at Bird Lane for annexation into the city. Other signs are up around the city, nothing that looks major though.