Oconee County Issued Building Permits For Central Complex At Epps Bridge Centre

No New Tenants Listed

Oconee County Code Enforcement issued a shell permit last week for building 700, part of the central, four-building cluster at Epps Bridge Centre.

The county had issued a shell permit for building 500 on May 8 and a foundation permit for building 400 on May 3.

Code Enforcement issued a permit for building 600, the fourth building in the cluster, in January of this year.

Theater 5/12/2013

These four buildings will sit in front of the University 16 Stadium Theatre, scheduled to open next month.

County records show the permits for buildings 400, 500 and 700 being issued to Epps Bridge Centre LLC, the shopping center owner, rather than to any tenants.

Utility Department records also indicate that the capacity fees for water and sewer services have been paid by Epps Bridge Centre, rather than by tenants.

12 Tenants Identified

County records list 11 tenants in addition to the theater for the $76 million shopping center now under construction inside SR Loop 10 between Epps Bridge Parkway and the Oconee Connector Extension.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, PetSmart, cosmetics retailer Ultra, Five Below and Pier 1 Imports are to be part of Building 100, located northwest of the theater. Five Below targets the teen and pre-teen market with a variety of products.

Off Broadway, a shoe discounter, and Marshalls are to be located in Building 300 to the theater’s northeast.

Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Children’s Place are to be in building 600 in the four-building cluster to the north of the theater and between the theater and the Oconee Connector Extension.

County records do not show any new tenants since these tenants were listed in Utility Department records late last year.

Records Show 60 Percent Occupied

The identified tenants will occupy about 60 percent of the space in the seven-building central part of the shopping center.

An additional 12 out parcels surround that seven-building core. Tenants for these have not yet been listed in county records.

Last Fall the Bishop Company, developer of the shopping center, provided the Planning Department with a leasing plan that listed the Georgia Theatre Company (for the theater), Marshalls, PetSmart and Dick’s as companys with whom it has executed leases.

It listed Off Broadway, Ultra, Pier 1, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Ross and Vitamin Shoppe as companies for which leases were in negotiation. Ross is an off price clothing and housewares retailer.

It listed 11 other retailers as companies with which letters of inquiry were in negotiation. Largest of those, in terms of retail space, was Best Buy.

Five Below is the only retailer on that list of 11 that county records confirm will be part of the shopping center.

Beer And Wine

Plans submitted when the Bishop Company and land company Epps Bridge Centre LLC were before the county for rezoning back in 2008 indicated that restaurants would occupy many of the out parcels.

Those almost certainly will require a beer and wine license. Many national franchises likely would prefer to be able to sell liquor by the drink, but Oconee County voters have turned down authorization for such sales on numerous occasions.

The Georgia Theatre Company applied for a license on May 3 to be allowed to sell beer and wine in three areas of the theater, the food service area, the banquet room and one of the theater auditoriums.

The Board of Commissioners delayed action on the request at its May 7 meeting because of a technicality regarding the gap between the time of the application and the Board meeting, but the BOC is expected to have the item on its agenda at its meeting on May 28.

Building 700 To Cost $1 Million

The permit for building 700, provided to me late Friday by B.R. White, director of Planning and Code Enforcement, is for a 19,170-square-foot building with an estimated value of just more than $1 million.

Construction of the steel and masonry shell is estimated to be completed by June 1.

The permit for building 500 is for a 13,200-square-foot building with an estimated cost of just less than $1 million.

It also is to be a steel and masonry building, and construction of the shell is expected to be completed by the middle of August.

The county will have to issue interior permits when the developer wants to finish work on the buildings before occupancy.

New Complex on SR 316 in Oconee County To Include Hotel, Medical Offices And Assisted Living Facility

Proposal Not Yet Reviewed

Land planning firm Williams and Associates filed documents with the Oconee County Planning Department on Monday proposing a $57 million project, including an assisted living facility, medical offices and a hotel, for the northeast corner of SR 316 and the Oconee Connector.

The project, being referred to as Resurgence Park, will require the county to change zoning for the 30-acre parcel to allow for the assisted living facility.

Oconee County Commissioners Turned Down Garrett Request For Recycling Facility–Slowly

160 Plus Attended

Forty-three second elapsed between the time Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis called for a motion last night and when Commissioner Jim Luke offered one.

And 11 seconds elapsed between the time when Luke made his motion and Commissioner John Daniell seconded it.

Presbyterian Homes Of Georgia Abandoning Plans For Rocky Branch Road Facility

County Not Yet Notified

Presbyterian Homes of Georgia has decided to abandon its plans to put a continuing care retirement community in the dormant Autumn Glen subdivision on Rocky Branch Road.

In a letter dated yesterday sent to those who expressed an interest in living in the facility, Frank H. McElroy Jr., president and CEO of the south Georgia company, said that the requirement by the county that PHG install a gravity-fed sewer line to connect to the county sewage system killed the project.

Theater at Epps Bridge Centre Seeking Beer and Wine License At Busy Oconee County Commission Meeting Tomorrow Night

Agenda Also Contains Appointments

Near the end of a very busy agenda tomorrow night, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners is set to take up an application for a beer and wine license at University 16 Cinemas now under construction inside of Epps Bridge Centre off Epps Bridge Parkway.

The application is to allow the sale and consumption of beer and wine in what is labeled on the application as the food service area, a banquet room and one of the theater’s 16 auditoriums.

Conflict Of Interest In Zoning Cases Defined Narrowly, Oconee County Attorney Says

Garrett Request Case In Point

One of the votes cast on the controversial request to put a materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road on Tuesday night likely will come from Commissioner Jim Luke, whose wife's family has property about a mile from the site.

The family connection is not enough to require Luke to recuse himself, according to County Attorney Daniel Haygood.

Hearing Before Oconee County Board of Commissioners On Tuesday For Dials Mill Road Recycling Facility Only First Step

EPD Permit Required Too

If the Bernard Garrett family gets a favorable vote from the Board of Commissioners after Tuesday night’s public hearing on its request for a permit for a materials recovery facility on Dials Mill Road, it will have passed a first hurdle in getting a state of Georgia permit for the facility.

Before the state would issue its permit, it would hold another hearing where the public could once again state its support or voice its opposition to the proposed plan.