andremurra

This is somewhat interesting and makes me very annoyed with the outlying areas of Statesboro. http://www.statesboroherald.com/showstory....6;recordID=7384 Its so aggravating for the Statesboro community how all the little subdivisions and towns and communities around us demand that no progress take place when its Statesboro that offers them the opportunity to make a decent living. So annoying. The winery brings a lot of tourism to Statesboro, and tourism is something we need. Statesboro was once called "The Tourist City", but I-95 was built and robbed us of that culture. I would like to see Statesboro's life come back someday. In good news concerning life in Statesboro, business owners in downtown Statesboro, on West Main, are converting/restoring retail space adjacent to their own business (in the same building) into a coffee house/martini bar. The space will feature 1000 sq ft on the first floor for the "Statesboro Brewery" and 2000 sq ft on the 2nd floor into a martini bar. They will also convert two of the upstairs lofts next door into their kitchen and a piano bar. On South Main Street in the Midtown development, the 2-story Midtown Coffee House is slated for opening soon. Next door, the Wine Cellar is about to open, and next door to that, the Wrapsody Grill has been in business for about a month. I recently visited the grill and it was VERY GOOD!! A building adjacent to the original Midtown development is underway, and the first tenant will be an upscale 2-story gourmet restaurant.

Here is a map of the city limits. The red area in the center is what is generally considered downtown - although there are branches of downtown such as the Savannah Avenue Historic District or the Zetterower Avenue Historic District, and so on. The light blue dot in the center of the map is the location of Holiday Inn Express. The red dot on the east side of the map, is the location of the new Holiday Inn. It looks like it is barely in the city limits, so I wonder how they got around the height limit. It is in the Mall area, which is the anchor for the fast-growing corridor between Statesboro and Brooklet. The suburb (or bedroom community) will be completely merged with Statesboro in less than 5 years. According to the road signs, Brooklet is 8 miles from Statesboro, but due to excessive sprawl, its becoming hard to notice a difference. Brooklet is even beginning to develop its own bedroom communities. Well, we just got a new city planner so hopefully, they may have thrown away the height limit. Eagle Village opened August of 2005 as a massive two-building 4-story complex of 776 rooms. Here are the "twin towers" as I call them. One opened in 2002 and the other in 2004. Here is part of the new Statesboro Police Department & Jail. Tillman Park Condos in downtown. The roof to me looks like it goes above 35ft. The Exchange by Fairfield Condos Copper Beech Apartments (all units are 3-floors - bedrooms upstairs and downstairs and main living on middle floor) Market District - One of the retail buildings I got more pics... but thats all for now. =)

Holiday Inn - Coming Soon! Here is a comparison to the Holiday Inn Express on South Main Street to the new full-service Holiday Inn to be built at Commerce Park adjacent to the new Toyota-Scion Showroom. Recently-opened Franklin Toyota-Scion Showroom at Commerce Park Holiday Inn Express on South Main Street New Holiday Inn at Commerce Park - will feature a restaurant

So I went around Statesboro with my cam and took a bunch of pics of the new developments because it suddenly got really cool outside, (yesterday's heat index made the local news at 133) and the light was perfect, then when I was finished I realized I had taken them all in 160x120 resolution and you can barely see them. POO! I suppose Ill try again tomorrow.

Everyone is welcome to post here. I consider those three cities our big siblings because they are our neighbors. Columbus is not a neighbor, though perhaps a friend of Macon. lol. "Hey Columbus, remember me?" Statesboro asked, "Macon introduced us!"

Im glad you say that. Sometimes I cannot tell if our developments are good or bad. I personally cannot stand those developments where they build a brick facade on the front but then vinyl the sides and back. I think that is way tacky, but hopefully, they will stop doing that eventually. I spoke to a hotel developer today who I work with. He knows the group who is developing the new Holiday Inn, and he said that it will be full service and will feature a restaurant and everything inside, so thats exciting and new for Statesboro, and he said that it would be very big. He develops hotels on I-95, and he sounded jealous of this property so I think thats a good sign. I do wonder though how they got around the height restrictions for Statesboro. I believe the hotel is 6-stories, which most areas only allow 35-ft. The city officials want the Courthouse to be the focal center of Statesboro. Many developers who proposed midrise developments either had to redistribute the units into more land or decide not to develop in Statesboro. I believe that tract tho is just barely outside of the city limits, I think two sides of the property are the city limit lines, so Im thinking that since they arent building in Statesboro's city limits, they avoided the height restriction. It looks kind of tacky though how Statesboro's landscape is pretty much 3-story buildings everywhere. You dont see that very often, since usually when cities or suburbs get that dense, they build up. Hopefully since there will be a building sticking out and perhaps looking like its out of place, they will ease up on the height restrictions and allow more midrises in to even out the landscape. I did notice today too that Summit Apartments (also 6-stories) near downtown are doing extensive renovations on the exterior. I often say that Summit is Statesboro's own Drayton Tower (located in Savannah).

As far as the population shift due to water issues, Im not going to hold my breath for it. But it is very evident that many Savannah residents are making the move to Statesboro. We even have a quite successful real estate agency which exclusively focuses on marketing Statesboro to Savannah residents as an option for relocation or purchasing of a second home. It seems that there is a lot of development occuring in southeast Bulloch County too which is just minutes from Savannah. Savannah has been reaching west for some time, and Statesboro has been reaching east too. Today it is becoming more evident than ever though that the two are reaching for each other as the middlegrounds are filling up with development. While the 301 corridor to I-16 has historically been the "developed" exit to Statesboro due to being the main artery from Boston to southern Florida before I-95 was built. Today however, GA-67 is becoming the exit of choice and is becoming much more developed than the 301 exit. Even the Ash Branch Church Road exit is developing, which is unique since it doesnt directly access Statesboro or Savannah, but is a middleground exit. And while I do believe more than enough preparing is taking place by area leaders, I still feel that when the boom hits, its going to be out of control and will get out of hand. We already have a handful of 10-year old apartment complexes that were nice and upscale when built that are turning into slum properties. That is probably going to be the biggest obstacle in Statesboro's growth. How will we control the established residential communities when everyone wants be live in the newest place.

SimCity, I replied to your post in the Statesboro, GA thread.

Of course, Georgia Southern University has a significant part of the growth since it is growing: 2002 - 15,075 2003 - 15,704 2004 - 16,100 2005 - 16,897 Also, real estate is booming. Commerce is booming. Downtown redevelopment is popular right now. Arts are popular right now - and the arts community have built the Averitt Center for the Arts http://www.averittcenterforthearts.org/ in downtown Statesboro. A lot of people are moving from Savannah and its MSA. A high-tech corridor is being developed which was visioned under the authority of former Gov. Roy Barnes to create a technology corridor from Statesboro to Savannah, designating Statesboro as the anchor with GSU's College of Information Technology (which he put $20-million down for). Over 50 new physicians moved to Statesboro in the first year after East Georgia Regional Medical Center opened, which is a Private hospital and has been recognized as one of the top-100 in the country, offering an array of services that you cannot get outside of Atlanta. Physicians are still moving here in droves. Medical office buildings are popping up on many street corners. Briggs & Stratton and Viracon just announced major expansions. Statesboro celebrated its bicentennial in 2003 and Georgia Southern University celebrates its centennial this year. I believe the growing arts community are probably whats developing interest in urban living, such as with Tillman Park http://www.tillmanpark.com . The majority of the investors developing the community are locals who see the potential. Outside investors are taking notice that a very large number of locals see enough potential to put millions of their own money into Statesboro - which says a lot. We now have developers based out of major US cities investing in Statesboro real estate. Fairfields website states, "Even before building begins, Fairfield consults with a team of industry specialists to determine the most desirable cities nationwide. Months are spent scouting for superlative locations within these cities. Sites with dramatic views, abundant recreation, and close proximity to conveniences are chosen to ensure years of gracious living." Some economists are saying that Statesboro has guarunteed continual growth because of salt-water intrustion into the Floridan Aquifer in Effingham and Chatham Counties. Statesboro has a vast over supply of water, especially since it is poised in a marshland area. Effingham is almost out of water, even some subdivisions have halted contruction due to lack of water. Savannah is in trouble as well, and some economists predict a 100,000 person population shift to Statesboro, which is hard to believe. However, a population shift is occuring for many reasons, many of which are quality of life opportunities in Statesboro. I would say the big generators of Statesboro current growth are local investments, real estate boom, education (including GSU, GTREP, OTC, EGC, CBC and three new high school facilities), medical services, recreation, transportation enhancement, and industry.

Yes, Walmart first opened it distribution center with 1.5 million square feet and it was the largest distribution center in the world at that time. Since then it built a 500,000 sq. ft. addition, and then another 500,000 sf. ft. addition bringing it to 2.5 million square feet. I am not sure what its current size is, but I remember reading that it either just had another expansion or was planning to have another one.

Additional Hotel Rooms Comfort Inn & Suites held its ground-breaking last week. The hotel's expansion will include 20 additional suites, 2 meeting rooms, and a board room with a full kitchen and business center. The hotel is still fairly new, only a few years old and is already expanding. Thats good news. A sign was erected today facing Veteren's Memorial Parkway (Statesboro bypass) at Commerce Park (adjacent to the new Toyota-Scion Showroom) depicting an upscale 6-story Holiday Inn artist's rendering with the words, "Coming Soon!" above. There has been no press releases that I know of since the sign was erected. This will be InterContinental Hotel Group's second property located in Statesboro - there is a 4-story Holiday Inn Express located on South Main Street in Downtown. Others News: ~3 new physicians have opened practices in Statesboro this summer, all of which have priveliges with East Georgia Regional Medical Center. ~Keep Bulloch Beautiful has moved to its new HQ on East Parrish Street. ~Krystal has announced it will build a new full-service proto-type brand of its restuarant in Statesboro.

I wanted to rename the Statesboro current projects list, but I couldnt figure out how to do that, so Im going to just create this forum for the discussion of anything related to Statesboro which may include the obvious (developments, news, etc.), perhaps Georgia Southern University, the Coastal Empire, Water Issues, Politics and such. Since the new Savannah and Macon forums were established (which were needed), there have been less activity in the Georgia general forums. Macon and Savannah are two of Statesboro's three big sisters, and without interested parties patronizing the general forums, less activity will be involved with Statesboro topics. So Im creating this Unofficial forum for all Statesboro stuff instead of making a zillion Statesboro posts. This community is one of the best kept secrets in Georgia and people are starting to finally hear the gossip! - I know Ill probably be the main activity in here, but I hope others will post in here too, especially Statesboro's big siblings - Savannah, Augusta, Macon - as well as other coastal parties.

Tillman Park (update) 10-building complex

The Cambridge will be located nearest to campus on Lanier Drive near the stadium. The Exchange and Copper Beech are going up farther from campus on the southern section of the bypass. The Exchange are condos. Campus edge is going up behind the hospital as part of the Marktet District development. Tillman Park, the Charleston-style condos are going up on the southern edge of downtown. They are marketed for professionals who desire more of an urban lifestyle rather than suburban living. Were trying to get more people in downtown. A lot of businesses have moved to the area and now residents are wanting to live in downtown now, which I think is a very good sign. The Business Monday section of the Statesboro Herald is today obviously so Ill probably update later when I find out what the latest development in town is going to be.

Yeah, it can be a timely drive around the bypass - mainly because they havent widened it yet. The DOT keeps postponing plans to do so even though there have been dozens of new apartment complexes built on it in the last few years. It mainly depends on what time of the day and where youre going. In the early morning, I take the bypass to work because there are less traffic lights and I can get away with doing 65-mph, rather than driving thru downtown where the speed limit is 35 and the traffic can be slower and much more congested. The morning is probably the only time that the bypass is helpful as it is now (two-laned in some parts). Any other time, especially 5-7pm, you can just forget about getting anywhere unless you know the short-cuts. Then again, there is the fact that Statesboro has multiple rush-hours: 7-9am - morning rush 8-10am - morning GSU class rush (campus area) 11am-1pm - lunch rush 1:45-3:30pm - GSU bulk of classes getting out rush (campus & mall/walmart areas) 2:45-4:15pm - Bulloch County schools rush (SHS area and a zillion school busses) 5-7pm - "rush hour" 7-9pm - rush hour for those who stopped to buy groceries before commuting home (mall/walmart area) 10-12midnight - rushing to buy alcohol before midnight (lanier drive) 1-3am - leaving bars rush while dodging cops (a very complicated rush period with lots of side street traffic to confuse cops)

I apologise if some of the links take you to the wrong place. It seems the Statesboro Herald has a confusing website.

Statesboro

I would agree that Savannah should have its own forum. Ill post in there too. Ive done some projects for SEDA (Savannah Economic Development Authority) and SDRA (Sav Development Renewal Authority) and also did a city/MSA analysis for the Georgia Dept of Economic Development. Just letting people know Im interested in a Savannah forum too. Or perhaps a Costal Empire forum for Savannah Statesboro Hinesville Brunswick.