The Columbia County Public Facilities Authority received an update on the Columbia County Performing Arts Center Support Facility on Tuesday.
County Manager Scott Johnson told the PFA that the firm that designed the PAC is the one who designed the Support Facility, which will be located next to the PAC. The facility will be 17,000 square feet and two-stories.
“We wanted it to be similar to what’s there,” Johnson said. “But it also has kind of its own distinct features…This is a support facility in that we needed additional storage space for the PAC. We also found out we needed a full kitchen for the PAC. We also found out that since Savannah Rapids is down, how many people really need a space to entertain 200-300 people. Our museum as getting a lot of rentals. The lobby of the PAC gets a lot of rentals, so Windsor Room, obviously. This building will be big enough to feed 250 people upstairs. Pretty good size upstairs, has some built in bars. But the whole idea is that downstairs on the PAC side of it is really storage, kitchen, all of that so if we have to go back and forth to the PAC, we can.”
The project was budgeted for $6,471,490. The bid for the contract was award at the Aug. 19 Board of Commissioners meeting to R.W. Allen Construction, who was the lowest bidder with $9,684,000. The support facility is a SPLOST project approved by voters in the 2023-2028 SPLOST and is paid for with sales tax dollars.
“The building did come in over budget, but we have the necessary funding available in our interest that we were able to get. We need to spend that interest, so we don’t get arbitrage,” Johnson said.
With the contract now awarded, construction is expected to start in the next month or two and is expected to take 16 months.
Hospital Authority meeting
The Hospital Authority received an update on the new Wellstar Hospital coming to Grovetown.
According to information shown to the Authority, the hospital is 79% complete with the MOB being 72% complete. For the MOB, the completion is for the core and shell only, the interior construction is set to start September 2026. The construction expected to be complete in April 2026 with an expected opening in Fall 2026. A groundbreaking was held in April 2024 for the facility.
Next meetings
The Public Facilities Authority and Hospital Authority will next meet on Tuesday, Nov. 25, with the PFA meeting at 9:30 a.m. and the Hospital Authority meeting at 10 a.m.
