Medical College of Georgia's new foundation now owns the Fat Man's property and will develop it for student housing for the school, freeing up land for future expansion, officials said.
The foundation, called the Georgia Health Sciences University Foundation Inc., was created from the school's real estate corporation and was renamed Thursday. The foundation purchased the 3.79-acre site on Laney-Walker Boulevard for $2.5 million, the school said. That includes about a $2 million loan from SunTrust Bank, said Foundation Chairman Clayton P. Boardman III.
The housing, which will replace older student housing along 15th Street, would be for about 150 students, MCG President Daniel W. Rahn said. Getting rid of the current student housing would free up 9 acres for the school, which when combined with the neighboring Gilbert Manor site would give the school 24 acres for future projects, he said.
"And that we think is just of incredible value in terms of securing the footprint for academic development long term, to enable us to have the space for the new School of Dentistry, the School of Medicine and our next research building," Dr. Rahn said.
The housing would pay for itself through rent and should not cost the school, Mr. Boardman said.
"MCG will not spend any money on this land or this facility," he said. Preliminary architectural work is already under way and the foundation hopes to have cost estimates soon, Mr. Boardman said.
If all goes well, the foundation "hopes that we'll have people living there in August of 2010," he said.
MCG already has housing for married students across 15th Street from the school, and a traffic and pedestrian safety study will be under way soon, Dr. Rahn said. An MCG graduate student was killed in March trying to cross 15th Street to get to MCG.
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
Let's see, Rahn displaces a lot of residents in Gilbert Manor and then can't (won't) pay for the purchase. Now he spends millions buying more land for housing? Also how nicne to have your own real estate company. Lot's of money in higher education. Maybe one day they can concentrate on turning out medical professionals.
Thats great put students in the ghetto. Easy pickens for some of Augusta's finest citizens. I hope they explode a roach bomb before they open the housing.
So, the new MCG foundation is already $2 million dollars in debt? Wow.
Way to go
What a Landmark, I hate to see it go, I use to shop there from a boy until it closed. Mrs. Usry was real nice to me, she use to let us jump on her kids trampoline back in the day. I wish they would open up a smaller store.
The site for mcg is just fine. Stop being so scared of everything. People can live there with no problem.
Making people well is a long way down on the priority list at MCG.
Would have been great is if Paine could have bought it. I guess they aren't looking to expand any time soon.
I think paine is trying to buy that land around the area too.
Did I miss something. They bought the land for 2.5 Mil and got a loan for 2 Mil. Where did the other .5 Mil come from. Someday we will have real reporters that actually ask questions and don't show up for interviews just to take notes of what is said. I like the idea that students will pay their rent so I guess we won't see and ARC budget lines for MCG or any SPLOST funding to build palaces.
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