Sports medicine practice prepares for construction

An Augusta sports medicine practice broke ground recently on a two-story medical office in Martinez.

//

Sports Medicine Associates of Augusta held the ceremony Oct. 23 for its 31,000-square-foot practice at the new Village at Crossroads medical office park on Jimmie Dyess Parkway near Wrightsboro Road.

Administrator Trish Kinney said construction is expected to be completed between October and December 2008.

The facility will include a physical therapy center on the ground floor and a medical office space on the second floor.

"That's taking our current business and moving that over," Kinney said. About a fourth of the building's space will be available for unspecified future expansion.

Kinney said the practice will move from its location near Doctors Hospital to Martinez on completion.

Sports Medicine Associates specializes in surgery, physical therapy and massage therapy, and employs a staff of three licensed athletic trainers.

The group also practices general orthopedics and muscular and skeletal injury, and handles knee replacements and other joint problems, Kinney said.

She said the group liked the idea of moving into a medical campus in the Martinez area to capitalize on growth without moving too far away from its existing patients.

"Columbia County is absolutely growing significantly," Kinney said of the decision to relocate the practice.

She said she did not have an estimate on the potential cost of the project because of increasing construction costs and other concerns.