The Oconee County Planning Commission last week unanimously recommended approval of a modified concept plan for the 22.6-acre commercial development between Virgil Langford Road and SR Loop 10 east of the Oconee Connector to increase the allowed square footage from 174,500 square feet to 250,000 square feet.
The new concept plan for what is called the Research Quarters Commercial Buildings shows 11 buildings, four of which already are constructed and three of which are currently in the permitting stage.
The four completed buildings are the two-story Goddard School daycare facility and three one-story medical office buildings.
The three buildings in the permitting stage at the Oconee County Planning and Code Enforcement Office are a four-story hotel and two one-story retail shopping center buildings.
The remaining four buildings listed on the concept plan are two three-story medical office buildings, a coffee shop, and a three-story hospital.
Wellstar Health System Inc. of Marietta owns the three lots on which the hospital is shown in the concept plan, Origins Research Parkway LLC of Watkinsville owns a lot on which a three-story medical office is shown, and Jennings Mill Land LLC or another similarly named LLC own the remaining properties.
The recommendation of the Planning Commission for approval of the request for the concept plan modifications is scheduled to go before the Board of Commissioners for final decision on Aug. 4.
Reason For Request
Burgess Jennings Mill Land LLC, with Tim Burgess and John Gavin Griffeth as property owners, originally rezoned the 22.6 acres from agriculture use to B-2 (Highway Business District) in 2019.
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| Retail Buildings Representative Drawings From Submitted Permitting Documents |
Land Planner Beall told the members of the Planning Commission at the July 20 meetring that he was before them largely because of the request for additional square footage.
“My clients wanted to develop this property into a commercial subdivision,” he said. “When developers want to do projects, they sometimes have an idea of who the tenants may be, but they never know all of who the tenants are going to be.”
“Development is a risky business,” he said. “You spend a lot of money and you take a lot of risk, but you don't always know the answers at the zoning stage of the project particularly.”
“So when we originally did the plans for this project,” Beall said, “we wanted to limit the maximum amount of building square footage to below 175,000 square feet for the sole purpose of not having to go through a Development of Regional Impact, because that would be an automatic 30-day delay, and the property owners wanted to get the plans approved on the project as soon as possible.”
“So really the main reason why I'm here now to enlarge the building square footage is the demand for the space has just been much larger than anybody originally perceived it to be,” Beall continued.
“So we've modified all the plans to increase that maximum square footage to 250,000 square feet, which is an increase of 75,500 feet,” he said.
In the narrative for the rezone, Beall said said that “potential tenants are undetermined” and the buildings shown on the concept plan may have to be modified during the permitting process to accommodate the needs of actual uses of the space.”
Plans for the hotel in the permitting documents show a LIVSmart Studios by Hilton.
DRI Report
The Northeast Georgia Regional Commission completed its Development of Regional Impact (DRI) study for the Research Quarter on June 18.
“Additional buildings proposed include retail and lodging options such as two shopping centers, a hotel, and a coffee shop,” according to the DRI. “Collectively, these facilities would likely yield economic benefits through job creation and the provision of goods and services for the community.”
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| Concept Plan With Labels Added (Click To Enlarge) |
“The proposed development is near existing shopping centers, which would likely increase the economic competitiveness of the area due to more consumer options existing within the community, as some goods and services provided at this site may not be available elsewhere in the county,” the report continues.
“The proposed development does not include any housing units but does include lodging options, which could complement the existing lodging options nearby and provide consumers with goods and services within the project site,” according to the report.
“The applicant estimates that the project would be worth over $56 million at build-out in 2030 and generate approximately $534,000 in annual property and school taxes,” according to the DRI. “Sales tax revenues are not included in the estimate.”
“On a per-acre basis, the project would be worth approximately $2.4 million and generate approximately $23,000 in tax revenue,” the report states. “Prior to approval, the County should measure the life cycle costs of the infrastructure needed to serve this project to ensure that they would not be committing to more maintenance expenses than the new tax revenue can cover.”
Beall also submitted a traffic study dated June 22, 2026, which showed that Average Daily Trips generated by the development will be 6,983 at build-out.
Tax Records
According to Oconee County tax records, Wellstar purchased the 5.21 acres on which the hospital is shown in the concept plans in April of this year from Burgess Jennings Mill Land LLC for $5.7 million.
Two of the three lots that make up that parcel back up to the Oconee Connector, but the concept plan submitted with the rezone request shows access from a roundabout at the intersection of Research Parkway and Goddard Way, both of which intersect with Virgil Langford Road.
Origins Research Parkway LLC of Watkinsville purchased the 1.44 acres on which one of the three-story medical office is to be built in December of 2024 for $1.2 million.
That property is at the corner of Research Parkway and Virgil Langford Road.
The two retail buildings sit between Research Parkway and Goddard Way, backing up to the proposed hotel.
Those two retail building were the source of a small amount of discussion at the Planning Commission meeting, with Commission Member Jim Jenkins asking Beall if he could identify tenants for those properties.
Beall said he could not.
Beall was the only one to speak for the request at the Planning Commission hearing. No one spoke against it.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County YouTube channel.
The meeting begins at 7:06 in the video.
The request for the zoning modifications for Research Quarters was the only item on the agenda.
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