The City of Warner Robins City Council voted to execute a purchase and sale agreement on six acres of property in the Commercial Circle area on Monday night. The city has undergone extensive planning exercises for the development of Commercial Circle since 2009. Through these planning processes and public input, many of the goals and action items stayed the same. This is the first tangible step to putting these plans in place.

“This has been a team effort and is a huge step for me and Council,” Mayor Patrick remarked as she concluded the evening’s city council meeting. “We’ve been working on this acquisition for months. It feels really good to know that today, it is official, we are under contract!”

The $1.6 million property purchase has been identified as an opportunity to recreate the city center which is in close proximity to Robins Air Force Base, Hwy 247, and City Hall. This project will bring some much-needed redevelopment to the heart of the city. As a live-work-play development, this parcel will be the new home of 82,000+ sq ft of commercial retail space and 150,000+ sq ft of residential space.

Community and Economic Development Director, Kate Hogan, says, “Cities all over the state of Georgia follow a similar pattern for their downtown and town center districts: commercial retail space, dense housing, public programmed green-space, and municipal complex. We are excited to be working toward implementation of the commercial and residential portion of creating a downtown. While the area has its challenges, it is past time the City helps guide the development we want to see.”

The next step in the process will be to close on the property in the coming months. The City of Warner Robins will then begin the process of securing a developer for the property. The city hopes to schedule a groundbreaking in 2023.