MorganA15

Well I was going to post earlier but got caught up with other stuff. I read an article Tuesday in the Statesboro Magazine talking about how Statesboro was becoming a regional shopping mecca and such. The author was a chairman or something with the Chamber of Commerce maybe? They said we should be expecting very good things this year, and from seeing that list, they must be right. I'm excited. I was waiting to hear SOMETHING, either if it was a rumor or not. 2007 has been pretty quiet so far. Both announcements and construction-wise. BTW, on the site up there, they have the rendering for that unnamed shopping center that has yet to begin construction at Brampton and the Bypass. Tower Place Shopping Center - that's a very nice building and I'm ready for construction to begin on that.

Somehow, I managed to stumble onto this small article/review about Statesboro Brews. http://boro-treasures.blogspot.com/2007/01/blog-post.html From the pictures, it looks very nice on the inside. I'm impressed. I've been wanting to go and try it out, but I've never got around to doing so.

I don't see how the Quality Inn will be finished by March. I don't really even know if it can be finished by April.

Anybody notice the small piece of parking lot behind Applebees taped off? I'm wondering if they're adding on?

El Sombrero should be starting on their new building in Buckhead Plaza next month. This will be their third Statesboro location, as they plan to keep the one just down the road in University Commons open. I hope this will be an El Sombrero-only building. Not another strip center in there.

I'm going to add this here since this is a major anchor for development. BYPASS WIDENING DELAYED! We all know that the bid was awarded to Douglas Asphalt out of Douglas, Ga in June of this year. Construction was supposed to have begun in September, but as can see, nothing has been done. The article explains how the DOT must follow a process when a contractor doesn't fulfill their duties. They're in the works of trying to get this figure out, but there's no set time of when construction will begin. A few development projects have been but on hold until until the additional lanes and traffic lights are added. It's a hazard, due to the high amount of traffic along this stretch of the road. Hopefully it won't be too long from now. article: http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/2035/

Work on old BMH put on Hold Work on remodeling the newest portion of the old Bulloch Memorial Hospital that was kept during demolition won't be happening for a while, as Bulloch County Commissioners rejected all bids submitted. With a budget of 2.9 - 3.2 million dollars, the lowest bid exceeded that number, with it being 4.755 million. It was said that it would be cheaper just to demolish the building, and build a new facility. Commissioners voted to table the issue until the February 1 meeting. article: http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/1956/ I had completely forgotten about this project. I disappointed that they tore down the entire hospital. I knew that the original building was in bad shape and needed to be tore down, but I wished that they would have kept the newer building. They could have renovated it and turned it into office space and what they didn't use, lease to others. It was a nice looking hospital.

Woodlands Square Update The article gave a brief update on Woodlands Square. As of now, it's 70 percent leased, and expected to be 100 percent leased by summer. The best part of this whole article?

I emailed a few restaurants today to see if there are any intentions of putting any here anytime soon. It'd be nice if I'd get a few yes's.

Does anybody know what ever happened to that "mixed-use" (that's kind of what it was) development that was going up between Jones Mill Road and East Main Street? When it was being talked about, the owner was talking with a developer from somewhere like Atlanta to get some plans together. That's been a few years ago. I remember going by there a few months ago and seeing that land was up for sale. That was a project I was really looking forward to.

Every now and then I check the Dabbs-Williams website since they do alot of the projects around town. I checked tonight on the current projects, and they had a few updates on Tillman Park, the Comfort Inn addition, and the Brampton Animal Hospital (even though the pictures are a little old on all of them). There was one project I saw that was new, Chops Restaurant. Come to find out it's a steakhouse that's going downtown on West Main Street. Pretty exciting that a steakhouse is going downtown.

I noticed a few days ago that they're moving pretty fast on Bruster's. I'm hoping that they're not going to finish this one first then move to Starbucks. I've been waiting too long for Statesboro to get one, then have to wait for them to build an ice cream shop first (and anyway, it's winter for crying out loud).

I'm hoping for a high-end Marriott brand, a Hilton Garden Inn, or maybe a Hyatt Place (even though it's a lower Hyatt brand, it still looks like it may be too upscale for Statesboro). I'm wondering how big that out-parcel will be, considering it takes less than 1.5 acres to build a hotel. I just keep hoping restaurants will forget about the whole alcohol ordinance and build here. I mean, Applebees and Ruby Tuesday's is successful. Now that corner parcel across the road to get developed. It doesn't look too big, maybe big enough for a fast food restaurant. Maybe we can get a Backyard Burgers. And I agree, I'd hate to see another traffic light go up. I'm already going to hate to see the one go up at Akins Blvd.

Well, the hotel at the corner of Hwy 67 and the bypass has been confirmed. There is one change though, there will only be one hotel and I'm guessing no conference center. No name has been announced, but an agreement should be signed soon with the hotel chain. As of now it will be a 3 story, 100 room hotel. I'm assuming it's going to be a pretty long hotel, seeing that the new Holiday Inn just down the road is going to be 4 stories and have 93 rooms. Why can't they go up? From what they say, it's going to be a nice hotel. Let's hope so. Construction should only take but about a year. There's one parcel they're trying to sell, right at the corner of the intersection. There's been a couple of businesses that's shown interest, but they're trying to find something that compliments the hotel (I have an idea, how about a RESTAURANT!? ). Oh, and there was a nice price tag on that. 2.5 million dollars for that 6.3 or so acre site. article: http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/1692/

Well, it's the largest secured by the SCVB. I guess I should have mentioned that. It's really only about 1,000 attendees, the extras will be family members. Exactly how big is the Union going to be? Uhh, $60 million is a lot. BTW, any word on Centennial Park? That's a project I really want to see happen.

Did anybody happen to catch the article in the paper today (or yesterday) about the new SCVB director? She seems to have good plans to take Statesboro to the next "level" in tourism and conference meetings. Should be interesting.

I came home a few minutes ago, and I went to the newspaper to see if they had updated the site from the past few days. I completely forgot that tomorrow is Business Monday, so I was surprised to see an article. Better yet, it was about the Summit Apartments. It says how it's undergoing a $4.2 million renovation, on both the inside and outside. Should be completed in February with a grand re-opening. I must say, I am quite impressed. I always hated that building because it was so dated and 70's looking. The new exterior, is very classy, if you ask me. I wish Statesboro could get a few more buildings with the same looks like that, even though I would prefer for it to be 8-12 stories. Statesboro needs a few mid-rises, becuase it's sad when your tallest building is only 6-stories. article: http://www.statesboroherald.com/news/article/1621/

Talbots looks like it's on schedule. I went by there and the sign was up and some posters in the windows. I just went by there a few weeks ago and it didn't look like anything was going on. And the Quality Inn, I noticed that they have cleared some of the rooms, such as you could see all the way through it. This might not be a bad project after all.

I've wondered why other national banks haven't opened up in town. You would think that they would, since a lot of the GSU population is from around Atlanta. Banks such as Bank of America, SunTrust, etc are everywhere up there. I know we have BB&T, but that's only a few years old. We have one Wachovia, and it's a pain with so many people. I have heard though, that Wachovia has considered a second Statesboro location.