Tuesday, Apr. 18, 2023–1:00 p.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

Work continues on prepping Enterprise Corner and the Battery Business Center for potential prospects.

Missy Kendrick, President and CEO of the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority gave an update on the two sites on Tuesday.

For Enterprise Corner, the 202-acre site off Highway 411, almost all of the environmental reports are back. In addition, all of the historic resources, endangered species, geotechnical, boundary survey, and wetlands delineation have all been done, meaning they can now move into the GRAD certification.

“Which is Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development,” Kendrick previously explained. “That is a certification program that lets a prospect or a project know that the property had already gone through these due diligence phases. It also shows that the chain of title is clear, that there are no environmental issues with the property and it is a certified ready piece of property for development.”

Meanwhile, environmental assessments are underway at the Battey Business Center, which is the former Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital property. A $500,000 grant was awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency for the assessments.

“They are actually out there this week doing the lead-based paint and asbestos assessments,” Kendrick said. “They will be out there next week. Things like ground penetrating radar, soil samples, and borings need to be done t get the assessment completed. Once that happens, we will come up with a mitigation plan and remediation for the hazardous materials, if they find anything.”

Once that has been completed, a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development will be used to fund the demolition of the buildings and the development of the property.

Prosperity Way Extension in the works

The Rome-Floyd County Development Authority is working with Floyd County on an extension of Prosperity Way.

Plans are for the road to be extended into the lot behind the Lowe’s Distribution Center. The development authority is trying to market that 52-acre site and there has been some interest.

The idea is to eliminate and reduce risks for a project by extending the road across the gas lines.  Many times, a prospect will look somewhere else to avoid having to cross gas lines. Extending the road will eliminate that challenge for that site.

Kendrick added that the extension will be expensive and the development authority will have to pay for it. However, it will be less expensive to have the county do the work as opposed to hiring the project out.