Saturday, March 03, 2018

Oconee County Review Committee Approves Plans for Buildings For Land Between Jennings Mill Road And Oconee Connector

***Extends Medical Complex***

The Oconee County Development Review Committee approved the preliminary site plans for two additional buildings on the now-cleared land between Jennings Mill Road and the Oconee Connector at SR Loop 10.

Those plans calls for a 21,020 square-foot-building to house University Surgical Vascular and a 9,972 square-foot-building for an office of The Commercial Bank.

The two buildings will a join a third building with 11, 500 square feet of space on the cleared 5.2 acres.

The three lots will have access from Jennings Mill Road, the Oconee Connector and Virgil Langford Road.

The Virgil Langford Road access will be from the lot containing the Bank of the Ozarks at the corner of Virgil Langford Road and the Oconee Connector.

Extended Medical Complex

Development of the five acres extends what has become a sprawling medical complex beginning with 316 Professional Quarters at SR 316 at Jimmy Daniell Road and continuing to the Oconee Connector.

Commercial Bank Site
Jennings Mill Road On Left, SR Loop 10 Off Ramp Ahead

It includes the two-building Oconee Health Campus of Piedmont Health Care.

John-John Investments LLC of Athens is developing the property that will include University Surgical Vascular and Commercial Bank.

A series of holding companies controlled by Gavin Griffeth and Tim Burgess have developed the commercial complex including the 316 Professional Quarters and the Oconee Health Campus of Piedmont Health Care.

An application for reinstatement of the John-John Investments LLC filed with the Georgia Secretary of State Office in July of 2015 lists the company address as 2500 Daniells Bridge Road and Griffeth of Colbert as the registered agent.

Ken Beall, land planner representing John-John Investments at the Development Review Committee meeting on Feb. 16, said Burgess was the land owner.

County tax records list the land owner simply as John-John Investments LLC. The developer Burgess is not the Tim Burgess who serves on the Oconee County Board of Education.

University Surgical Vascular

University Surgical Vascular currently has offices at 195 King Avenue across from the Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center.

Primary entry to the building planned for Jennings Mill Road and the Oconee Connector will be off the Oconee Connector, with parking surrounding the building but concentrated on the sides.

The site plans do not specify if the building will be more than a single-story high.

At the Development Review Committee, Gabby Bryan from Planning and Code Enforcement asked about just less than 0.1 acres shown on the site plant.

Beall said Burgess has a contract to purchase the unused acreage at the corner of the lot from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Commercial Bank

The Commercial Bank has an office at 1550 Timothy Road in Athens. It is based in Crawford in Oglethorpe County. (See Note below.)

In the Dec. 6, 2017, narrative for a special exemption variance for the Oconee County lot, Beall stated that the Bank had contracted to purchase the 1.3 acres and construct a two-story bank building.

The lower level will house the banking operations and the upper level will be for future expansion needs, according to the narrative.

At its Feb. 6 meeting, the Board of Commissioners approved the special exception variance requested by John-John Investments to allow for elimination of a buffer between the bank property and others in the complex.

The Development Review Committee approved in June of 2017 the preliminary site plan for the third building in the complex, designed as a retail building. It is on Jennings Mill Road between the Commercial Bank and the Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center.

John-John Investments also owns the 2.6-acre-lot at the corner of Virgil Langford Road and Jennings Mill Road, but no plans have been submitted to date for its development.

Three Banks In A Row

The Commercial Bank could be only one of three banks in the short stretch of the Oconee Connector once it crosses SR Loop 10 heading south to SR 316.

The second is the Bank of the Ozarks at the corner of the Connector and Virgil Langford Road.

The Board of Commissioners approved in 2016 zoning for another bank on the southwest corner of Virgil Langford Road and the Oconee Connector, opposite the Bank of the Ozarks.

Pinnacle Bank, according to the rezone narrative, will open an office there.

Pinnacle is locally owned and has branches in northeast Georgia, including on Lexington Road in Athens.

The Development Review Committee last year also approved plans for a First Madison Bank And Trust building at the corner of Daniells Bridge Road and the Oconee Connector opposite QuikTrip.

Video

I did not attend the Development Review Committee meeting on Feb. 16, but Penny Mills did and made the video below.

The meeting begins with a discussion of Rhino Storage in Bogart.

Discussion of the preliminary site plan for University Surgical Vascular begins at 5:39 in the video.

Discussion of the preliminary site plan for the Commercial Bank begins at 16:53 in the video.

The meeting was chaired by Adam Layfield from the Public Works Department.

Other county departments represented were Planning and Code Enforcement and the Water Resources Department. Fire Marshall Russ Henson and Fire Chief Bruce Thaxton also attended.

OCO: DRC 2 16 2018 from Lee Becker on Vimeo.

NOTE: An earlier version of this post had The Commercial Bank linked to Synovus. I thank the knowledgeable and careful reader who caught the error. I apologize for the mistake. It turns out that "The" is important, and I missed that.

1 comment:

Xardox said...

Piedmont Regional is making a significant investment in this complex. The Surgical Center will arise shortly and there is talk of a mental health facility of some kind also on the campus.
Three banks in a row and immense professional and retail within a mile radius. Too bad about an automobile dealership being crammed in the region.
One wonders where all that sales tax is.