City sees boom in development

04/24/06

Housing, shopping are all on horizon

By MARY STARR

The Brunswick News

Florida's loss may be Glynn County's gain.

That's how Artie Jones III, community development director for Brunswick, sees it.

Southeast Georgia has become attractive to those fleeing high property prices and the threat of hurricanes, and the retailers are following, Jones said.

"Retailers are coming because of rooftops," Jones said. "They see the residential development going on and become interested.

"The more rooftops we have, the more retailers we'll get."

With the recent opening of the Outpatient Care Center at the Brunswick hospital of Southeast Georgia Health System and proposed projects like Liberty Harbor, Parkwood Village and Glynn Isles Market on the drawing board, Brunswick is experiencing a boom unlike any in recent memory.

Jones said that large parcels of land in Camden, Glynn and McIntosh counties are being picked up by developers while prices are still relatively low.

"One thing they don't make any more of is shoreline," Jones said.

Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson says one reason so many large-scale developments are interested in the area is because of planning and marketing.

"That's what we do at Blueprint Brunswick – we market and promote the city and coordinate information," said Thompson, the organization's president and chief executive officer. "The Liberty Harbor folks said they would not be here if it was not for Blueprint Brunswick."

What makes Thompson's job easier for projects like the waterfront Liberty Harbor project is the fact that the city already had a good comprehensive master plan.

"Coordinating and facilitating the master plan and getting information out to people who are receptive to that information shows that you have a community that is really well organized," Thompson said.

Cooperation among city and county officials, chamber representatives, and citizens are keys to Brunswick's future, Thompson said.

"We now have people all looking in the same direction at the same time and that raises the comfort level for people who are looking to invest money here," Thompson said. "When you're looking to invest, you don't want to walk into a lot of uncertainty and vagueness – you like to see cooperation and a plan."

There are other reasons the boom is happening now.

"It's a combination of things," Thompson said. "The obvious growth around coastal areas can be attributed to the boomers who are retiring and who will continue to retire for quite some time and to the Floridians who are tired of getting slammed by hurricanes. They are moving to other areas of the coast that are not as prone."

Royce Hobbs, president of the Brunswick-Glynn Board of Realtors and the broker for Village Realtors on St. Simons Island, has lived in Glynn County for the past 17 years and has seen a lot of changes. But he feels especially upbeat about what he is seeing today.

"I'm very optimistic about what's going on," Hobbs said. "In fact, I'm more optimistic than I ever have been about the entire area."

Not everyone is excited about Golden Isles Market, a shopping center planned for the corner of Golden Isles Parkway and Altama Avenue. As proposed, the 500,000 square-foot shopping center will push out Harvey's.

The supermarket will close to make room for the shopping center and tenants like Target, Petsmart and Office Depot.

It's next door neighbor, H&H Furniture, will move to a new location in the center.

Louise Smith, who lives on Strafford Avenue, just behind the site of the shopping center, says she will be sad to see Harvey's go.

"I've been trading there (Harvey's) for a long time and I'll miss them being right behind me, but at least they won't be too far away," said Smith.

Harvey's will reopen at the current Food Lion location on Altama Avenue. The two are owned by the Delhaize Group, a Belgium-based company.