Development authority says businesses have interest in area

Columbia County Development Authority members were told Tuesday that a furniture production business has shown interest in a site near Wrightsboro and Lewiston roads in Grovetown.

Zack Daffin, the county's development authority director, did not give the name of the business but said it is one of two companies that have made offers on the four-acre site.

Authority members were told that wetlands are near the property in question, but that they aren't expected to be a problem for any development there. Still, authority members voted to allow spending as much as $3,000 to have the wetlands area surveyed.

"We want to get our arms around this to see what value it is to us,'' Daffin said.

In Horizon South Industrial Park, off Wrightsboro Road, another client also is looking to build a facility, with the possibility of expansion in 18 months, Daffin said. He wouldn't publicly give the name of the business but called it "a nutritional resource facility.''

He said the business would like to construct a building with three permanent walls and one temporary wall until a future expansion occurs. The covenants of Horizon South, however, do not allow a temporary wall. Authority members agreed to allow the wall so long as an expansion occurs no later than three years from an approval of the building's original plan.

In other action, authority members also were informed that an Augusta business will relocate to Horizon North Business Center in Grovetown.

Metrac Inc., a heavy-equipment dealership, will invest $10 million in a 10-acre site at the center, with plans to begin construction in eight or nine months.

Lee Fullbright, a field service manager for Metrac, said the Augusta operation and its workers would be relocated to the Columbia County site.