Augusta commissioners overwhelmingly approved a plan Tuesday that will allow Medical College of Georgia to gain the property of the Gilbert Manor housing project and use it for expansion.
About $10 million will be taken from the city's reserve funds and deposited into four local banks as collateral for loans to the city totaling $10 million. That money will be given to MCG to buy the housing project from the Augusta Housing Authority and build a new facility for the School of Medicine in conjunction with a School of Dentistry building.
City officials will then ask voters to approve $10 million in special purpose local option sales taxes to pay off the loan and return the money to the city.
If MCG does not use the property for expansion, it would revert back to the city.
The cost of the property is $6.9 million. Building demolition and infrastructure will cost $3.1 million.
Participating banks are Georgia Bank & Trust, Queensborough National Bank & Trust, Capital City Bank and First Bank.
Commissioner Joe Bowles said the plan gives the city an "ideal opportunity to show what the medical college means" to Augusta.
Commissioner Corey Johnson, the only one to vote against the proposal, asked how they could know "for a fact" that residents are going to approve the tax package.
Mayor Pro Tem Betty Beard asked MCG President Dan Rahn whether he could assure commissioners that MCG's main campus will remain in Augusta.
Dr. Rahn said he operates under the governance of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, which has asked MCG to lead the effort to expand medical education around the state, but with the main campus remaining in Augusta.
The Gilbert Manor property is key to the school's efforts. The school is contemplating increasing its class size from 190 to 200, but officials have said that is the limit of its current buildings.
MCG also plans to open a satellite School of Medicine campus in Athens in conjunction with the University of Georgia. That campus will eventually have a class of 60 per year, allowing the school to expand to 1,200 students, with 30 students each spending part of their time at clinical campuses in Savannah and Albany.
MCG will need to formally request permission from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to purchase Gilbert Manor, which likely won't occur until the board's August meeting, said J. Michael Ash, the vice president of administration for MCG.
In other action Tuesday, commissioners:
- Reconsidered the 90-day probation of Club Platinum and will allow it to stay open until 2 a.m. but admit only people 18 and older.
- Approved donating $2,000 to help buy rings and jackets for the Academy of Richmond County's golf team, which won the Georgia State Golf AAAA Championship. Commissioner Jerry Brigham said he didn't think it was an appropriate expenditure of public money.
Reach Sylvia Cooper and Tom Corwin at (706) 724-0851.
GILBERT MANOR TIMELINE
JANUARY 1940: A contract is awarded in the amount of $671,500 to Claussen-Lawrence Construction of Augusta to build 278 public housing units. The new housing was to replace 175 substandard housing units in what was then known as University Place.
APRIL 1941: The first tenants move into Gilbert Manor.
JANUARY 2007: Officials acknowledge a plan to establish a satellite campus of the Medical College of Georgia in Athens in conjunction with the University of Georgia, but they insist that the plan would not hurt the Augusta campus.
AUG. 2: Amid concerns that MCG might lose facilities to Athens if it did not have room to expand, the board of the Augusta Housing Authority votes to close Gilbert Manor.
SEPT. 6: In an interview, MCG President Daniel W. Rahn acknowledges that the school's expansion plans could involve the acquisition of Gilbert Manor.
DEC. 21: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approves the sale of Gilbert Manor to MCG.
JAN. 7, 2008: The city's housing authority says 112 residents have sought Section 8 waivers, which provide assistance for rental of private housing.MARCH 8: More than 100 of the 257 families at Gilbert Manor have moved from the complex.
APRIL 28: Jacob Oglesby, the executive director of the housing authority, says roughly 50 residents still living in the complex will be moved by mid-June.
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