Several of the house and townhome subdivisions, apartment buildings and complexes factoring in the approximately 3,970 housing units planned within the city limits of Statesboro have progressed far enough to raise questions of the “What is that going to be?” sort.
It’s a question the Statesboro Herald put to city Planning and Housing Administrator Justin Williams this week. He also provided that estimate of 3,970 units as the latest update, since he and City Planning and Development Director Kathy Field in late October 2023 reported to council about 2,427 housing units in private developers’ sketches and plans submitted to City Hall for actions ranging from zoning changes to final plats and building permits. Small projects with fewer than 20 units weren’t counted, and annexations were already set to boost the total.
With nearly 2,000 homes also planned for subdivisions on land in rural Bulloch County and Brooklet now getting into the act with recent some subdivision approvals, some local officials have begun to ask if the supply might exceed the need, even with the “Hyundai effect” and growth in other industries. But the Statesboro city planning and development staff’s preferred approach is to let builders and developers decide what the market will bear.
“I would say that the development community, they’ll pull the trigger on that before we do,” Williams said. “The development community kind of knows where they are, and when the demand has been met, they’ll realize that the demand’s been met.”
At Lovett & Gentilly
What is that going to be on Lovett Road, across from the back of Statesboro Mall and beside L.A. Waters Furniture? Passing drivers can see equipment such as bulldozers and excavators hard at work in the clay. That will be Pointe Grand, an apartment complex with 216 apartments in six multi-story buildings, plus a fitness center and clubhouse area, on 18.5 acres. Hillpointe, based in Athens, is the developer.
“They have an active land disturbance permit,” Williams said Tuesday. “They have not been issued their formal building permit just yet, though. They’re still going through the infrastructure process.”
Nearby, also noticeably in the earth moving stages, the development on Gentilly Road across from Statesboro Family YMCA is Gentilly Townhomes, to contain 20 home units in four buildings on 2.96 acres. It’s a project of local developer Danny Jones, and the Jones Home Rentals website gives spring 2025 as the “target” for move-in.
At Old JPB School
Meanwhile, over on the westside along Donnie Simmons Way at Stockyard Road, W.H. Gross Construction’s transformation the old Julia P. Bryant School campus into a new senior living community called Bryant’s Landing is well underway. Single-story apartment buildings have taken shape that will include about 51 units.
That’s actually Phase I of the development for which developer Bill Gross and his Kingsland-based company qualified for federal and state tax credits, with the city of Statesboro technically holding the deed on land and buildings Gross obtained from the Bulloch County Board of Education.
Rent rates for seniors will be limited by the tax credit criteria.
“That one’s actually moving along pretty well,” said Williams. “I think we’re all pretty proud of that one.”
A Phase II, requiring further tax credits, could eventually double the number of units.
Charme on Georgia Avenue
Targeting the other end of the age spectrum for residents, Rael Corp has rapidly gone vertical with its Charme on Georgia Avenue mid-rise student apartment complex on the former University Plaza shopping center grounds.
Originally announced as potentially five floors but with six rows of windows visible in illustrations, this complex is now described at Raelcorp.com as containing 291 units and 694 beds and scheduled for “delivery” in summer 2025.
Other happening sites
Bel Air East – The 126-house, detached single-family subdivision called Bel Air East, proposed by developer Lamar Smith, is now under construction. This was the 37-acre tract on Beasley Road whose annexation into the city drew opposition first from some neighborhood homeowners and then an objection from the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners during the first half of 2023.
The number of home units was substantially reduced from the initial plan, and the city agreed to accept responsibility for previously county-maintained portions of the road.
Lakeview Road – Not to be confused with a much larger project with “Fern” in the name planned for a tract recently proposed for annexation, Fernhill Farms subdivision is on land annexed along Lakeview Road three years ago, and has room for 80 single-family homes. It too is under construction.
Cawana Road – Construction is also underway on Cawana Road, where Valnoc LLC plans to build 200 townhouse units and 31 freestanding homes.
Veterans Memorial Townhomes – Horizon Homebuilders planned for 172 townhouse units in this project, behind the Jimmy Britt Chrysler dealership from Veterans Memorial Parkway. “That one is under construction as well,” Williams said. “Actually, a lot of those townhomes are standing, and some of them are occupied.”
S&S Railroad Bed Road – L&S Acquisitions’ plan called for 140 single-family homes. Some “land disturbance” groundwork is underway.
Miller Street Project No. 1 – An existing phase is under construction, with developer Domenic Spencer’s plans reportedly calling for 184 units, eventually, in a multi-family housing complex.
On Fair Road – More than one phase of clearing and groundwork has been visible on Encore Capital Management LLC’s property off Fair Road at Georgia Avenue. This was planned for a real estate or rental office by Lisa Hodges, to be followed by some home construction. A building permit was issued for the office, but none yet for homes, Williams said. However, the tract is zoned R-3 medium-density residential, which would allow duplexes or cottages to be built there without rezoning.
This very incomplete list does not include some projects that were identified last fall but which Williams said are “on hold” for various reasons, “under review” or for which plan revisions are expected soon.