This is the proposed design for a new city auditorium at the present Five Points shopping center location.

Council votes Dec. 23 on whether condemnation effort moves ahead



VALDOSTA—Though condemnation proceedings have yet to begin, the City of Valdosta already has a vision of what Five Points Shopping Center could look like in the future.

On Dec. 23 at 6 p.m., city council will vote on whether or not to move forward with condemnation on more than 22 acres of the Five Points Shopping Center after several weeks of negotiations to purchase the property fell through when the property owners asked more than what the city had deemed a fair price for the property.

“We did not want to pay what they asked for the property,” said City Manager Larry Hanson.

Council approved for the city to proceed with condemnation proceedings in an executive session, Hanson said, and will formally vote on the condemnation at the Dec. 23 meeting.

The goal of the city is to utilize the property for the public by building an amphitheater and auditorium and allowing the library to build a new facility on a section of the property.

“I think that what is there now has held back that side of town for quite some time,” Mayor John Fretti sad. “I think that the persistent failure to upgrade the site in any form has held back most of the midtown area around there.”



• Vision for the future

All plans for the property are in conceptual phases and will probably be revised several times before actual construction begins, Hanson said.

“This is all conceptual because we have to go through a very extensive master planning process,” Hanson said. “We will have a steering committee representing the community. It will take a year to design this so it will ultimately meet the needs of the community.”

If condemnation moves forward and the city purchases the property the desire is to smooth out the street area, soften the entrances to Five Points and have designated turn lanes while keeping two lanes of free flowing traffic, Fretti said.

The space between Ashley Street and Patterson Street will be widened to contain a regional retention pond and a traffic circle will be implemented at the intersection with North Oak Street Extension, Fretti said.

Fretti said the new municipal auditorium will be 60,000 square feet and hold 1,200 people, the same as Mathis Auditorium. Estimates put the construction costs for the new auditorium between $25 -$30 million and would be paid for with future SPLOST dollars.

“Mathis has a lot of limitations. It’s a 50 year old building,” Hanson said. “But you have to carefully balance having a facility that’s too small so that you don’t meet the needs of the community and yet not so large that your typical event is swallowed up in empty space.”

The new auditorium would have a larger receiving foyer, pre-function hall, breakout rooms and a kitchen, Fretti said.

“We will be careful not to duplicate what the role of the conference center is, which is aimed at generating business,” Hanson said. “This is primarily to serve our community.”

The conceptual plan also has a 250 to 300 seat amphitheater to the side of the auditorium, which would be built in a manner that allows for the utilization of the same staging or provide space for two functions at once, Fretti said.

Valdosta currently has an amphitheater at Saunders Park, but neither Hanson nor Fretti are sure how often the facility is used.

“We want to do this right so it’s a showplace and a regional attraction,” Fretti said.

The initial conversations with the library have the city giving a parcel of the property to the library, but the library will have to raise money to fund the construction, Fretti said, as the city does not currently have plans to include the library in the next SPLOST.

The city’s new property, if acquired, will also provide connectivity to a proposed high end apartment complex that local developers, the Ambling Company, are building adjacent to Five Points, Fretti said.



• The process of condemnation

If council agrees again to move forward with condemnation, a superior court judge will appoint a special master to preside over the public hearing, Hanson said.

Once condemnation proceedings begin, the city and property owners can agree to a price for purchase outside of the hearing, he said.

“It’s still our desire to partner with the owners. We think the project brings a lot of value to their remaining property and that it will significantly enhance its value and marketability,” Hanson said.

Before the public hearing, both sides will gather information, including property appraisals to present to the special master.

Witnesses, such as property appraisers will present their findings during the public hearing.

Once a price is determined through condemnation, the property owners are required to sell or appeal, Hanson said.

“At some point there is an end,” he said.

If council fails to move forward with condemnation they would be required to wait six months to bring it back up, Fretti said.



Condemnation would force three businesses at Five Points to move



VALDOSTA — If condemnation of the Five Points Shopping Center goes through, Speedy Lube, Brian Sumner State Farm Insurance and Big Lots will be searching for new locations.

Though these are the only businesses lying within the 22 acres the city plans to purchase, other businesses will be affected.

Speedy Lube owner A.D. Holt said most of the conversation about the proposed condemnation has been between him and the city.

He has had very little conversation about the issue with the LRS Company out of Jacksonville, which manages the property, or from the property owners themselves, he said.

“We feel pretty comfortable with the city’s position, we’ve known about this for a long time,” Holt said.

He does prefer the sale of the property rather than condemnation, but the city has assured him and Brian Sumner that they will

honor their leases and they will be treated fairly.

If the condemnation does go through, relocation will be difficult, he said.

The current location provides great visibility in an area of town with a high traffic count, Holt said.

“It has always been a good place as far as location, but at the same time it has not been utilized to the best by LRS,” he said.

LRS owns, develops, brokers and leases properties throughout Florida and Georgia and manages the Five Points Shopping Center for the property owners.

Brian Sumner’s State Farm Insurance office is in the same building as Holt’s Speedy Lube, an area with high visibility that may not be matched if he has to move, Sumner said.

Though the potential need to move is still several years out, Sumner hopes the current conversation about condemnation doesn’t affect his business.

“The traffic count at this location on this side of town is probably one of the best, if not the best,” Sumner said. “That will be something that I don’t think I will find again.

“As a business owner, Fretti has kept us in the loop and we weren’t surprised when it all came out,” he said. “We feel like it would be a good place for the city to have an auditorium.”

Phone calls made to the Big Lots corporate office in Columbus, Ohio were not returned.

The shopping centers on both sides of the middle swath of property have the potential to benefit from the proposed development or become bogged down in condemnation proceedings and possible construction.

A representative from the Moe’s restaurant located in the Five Points Shopping Center said they would rather not comment on the issue at this time.

“I think it’s great, I think it’s been long overdue,” said Tom Fazekas, managing partner of Five Points Liquor. “Five Points has been run down for many years now.”

Fazekas thinks the proposed plan by the city to build a municipal auditorium and amphitheater is a fantastic idea and should increase traffic flow to the business.

The proposed development by the city of Valdosta would leave the shopping center housing Moe’s, Anytime Fitness and Farmer’s Furniture intact.

The store manager for Farmer’s Furniture also happens to be the representative for District 5 on city council.

Tim Carroll said the real estate director at Farmer’s Furniture’s corporate office would need to comment on the how the condemnation would affect the business.

Carroll went on to say that since there might be a perceived conflict of interest he will be abstaining from the discussion and vote regarding condemnation at the Dec. 23 city council meeting.

A call place to Farmer’s Furniture’s corporate offices in Dublin, Ga. was not returned nor was a call to Anytime Fitness, and other businesses in the center.