The Columbia County Planning Commission recently gave the green light to certain design variations for an energy-efficient office building in Evans.
Dr. Keith L. Davis proposed the four-story building to house medical and other offices along Evans Town Center Boulevard at a meeting Thursday. Its construction could begin as early as next spring.
The 35,000-square-foot building and its surrounding parking lot would span a three-acre lot near the Kroger shopping center off Washington Road and next to the proposed Evans Town Center Park.
The building will incorporate an aluminum glazing system to enhance solar energy, said Brian Smallwood from the architectural firm InForm Smallwood and Nickle LLC.
It will include a nearly 10,000-square-foot third floor that will be used for the owner's medical practice. Offices on the first and second floor will be available for lease.
"We set on our goal to build something that we could make a landmark and have a positive impression on Columbia County," said Dr. Davis, who bought the property with a partner several years ago. "It's a little bit modern, but we also think it's timeless. This building here is going to be as green as green can be."
Designs include a brick facade, a metal roof and a covering over the front entrance.
The building is designed to accommodate room for green space and would be accessed by a road on its northern boundary facing the proposed park.
Planning Commissioner Jean Garniewicz said the building looked great, but she had a few qualms about how it would blend with surrounding structures.
"This looks real modern, and I'm not opposed to modern, but it looks like it doesn't fit in with some of the other architecture around (the area)," she said.
Also discussed at the meeting were plans for an additional section for phase one of the River Island subdivision on Blackstone Camp Road. The final plat was approved unanimously. The property, zoned as a planned-unit development, will incorporate 73 lots on about 22 acres.
The commission also unanimously approved three final plats for an 11-lot subdivision on Clary Cut Road, an additional 27 lots in Oakmont subdivision on Avery Avenue and 38 patio lots in the Connemara subdivision on Hereford Farm Road.
Plans to discuss revisions on a Marshall Square preliminary plat were taken off Thursday night's agenda.
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