Brunswick | Glynn County: Hitting on All Cylinders
Downtown rebirth, tourism and expansions
For several years now, historic downtown Brunswick has been poised for takeoff. Signs of progress were there – a successful storefront here, a new restaurant there – indicating a willingness of residents to return to a downtown that commercial sprawl and malls had left somewhat abandoned. But the revitalization has taken a while to hit on all cylinders.
That’s changing, as vacant property gets snapped up, lofts and apartments appear in mixed-use buildings and more small businesses open. Travis R. Stegall, the city’s economic and community development director and head of Opportunity Brunswick, attributes much of the new vibe to capitalizing on Federal Opportunity Zones.
It helps that the surrounding community of Glynn County and the Golden Isles is also thriving. Consider these factors: Unexpectedly, the two-years-and-counting pandemic seems to have boosted tourism. The area has presented a united front as it tackles workforce development issues. And expansion projects are planned for the Georgia Ports Authority’s booming vehicle import/export facility and other existing industries.
When it comes to downtown’s new vigor, Stegall says three reasons come to mind. “First of all, the city really invested in economic development and what it looks like. Second of all, we’ve been incredibly lucky to have very good investors who actually live here. I think before, the city of Brunswick drew spec investors who didn’t live here, and now we have very good local entrepreneurs. And finally, there’s all of our incentives. We’ve been able to understand our niche is small business, and now that we understand our niche, everything we do is geared toward that,” he says.
By his count, that led to 55 new small businesses downtown in 2021 and about 220 jobs.
“Economic development is definitely a science – it’s not just throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Stegall says. “After a study, we realized a lot of people were moving here or vacationing here who really liked the downtown area, so it is a perfect opportunity to provide housing and a perfect opportunity for Federal Opportunity Zones.”
The disused commercial buildings downtown are massive, which made it a challenge for a single investor to take on. But with Federal Opportunity Zones, which give investors a chance to defer capital gains taxes by investing in recognized areas of economic need, that big-building challenge goes away, Stegall says.
Ralph Staffins III, president and CEO of the Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce, agrees about the influx of investors. “When I got here three years ago, there were lots of for-sale signs and those buildings have all been purchased, every single one of them. We went from having 10 buildings available to having none, and four of the largest buildings are now under renovation. In one building, the lofts sold out before the building was finished,” he says.
Downtown’s dormant buildings are now being developed by individual investors as mixed-use projects that combine lofts, short-term vacation rentals, retail space and even micro-manufacturing, Stegall says. “Whether you are manufacturing large equipment or you are manufacturing soap, it’s still manufacturing,” he says. He calculates there are 90 new residential units downtown, a mix of affordable and market-rate.
Brunswick City Manager Regina McDuffie says the city was ahead of the curve with downtown loft development because existing zoning raised no barriers to it. Give credit, too, she says, to those who organized events that made downtown an attractive destination. These include the music-oriented First Fridays and PorchFest, which turns the historic district’s front porches into stages.
Quality of life factors in as well. “One of the things we are working on is developing bike paths. Brunswick is just such a bikeable city – it’s flat and has some nice, quiet historic areas,” McDuffie says.
Erin Granados agrees that lifestyle wellbeing is bringing people back downtown. She’s executive director of the nonprofit Forward Brunswick, which focuses on quality-of-life issues to increase economic vitality. Its two key projects are the Liberty Brunswick Project, which involves planting 99 trees in the city to salute the 99 Liberty Ships built there during World War II, and MathTalk Trail, an interactive walking trail with an educational component. “There are lots of plans that have already been [drafted] in the community. Forward Brunswick is taking those plans off the shelf and seeing what can be done,” she says.
Workforce Development
Glynn County shares the workforce development challenges many communities are experiencing. “Our workforce has not grown – but our jobs have grown. So here we are busier than we have ever been but with less people to fill jobs,” Staffins says. “I’ve got 1,200 members who tell me they need more employees.”
The business and economic development entities in Glynn County worked with the Carl Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia to compile a workforce development plan, and have already finished many of the action points, he says. Key among them is education, and the most tangible action on that front is united community support for a new building on Coastal Pines Technical College’s Brunswick campus – and the new programs it will bring.
The Brunswick campus’s proposed Business and Technology Center will be built on the remaining 40 acres of its site near the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport, says Lonnie Roberts, president of Coastal Pines Technical College, which has seven campuses scattered throughout southeast Georgia.
The approximately 93,000-square-foot building would house a new aviation maintenance program, expand the college’s small hospitality industry program and incorporate advanced manufacturing, HVAC, computer, construction management and welding programs, Roberts says.
“We’re committed to putting whatever program is needed in the workforce,” Roberts says. For example, the aviation maintenance program will be taught within a stone’s throw of both Gulf-stream Aerospace’s aircraft plant and Delta’s operation at the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport.
Staffins says 17 organizations involved in business and economic development in the county agreed to make the building their top legislative priority and sent a 100-member delegation to the General Assembly this session to make their case. They were successful: almost $3 million is in the FY2023 budget to cover architectural fees, engineering, site planning and permitting. The construction budget itself will be the focus of a future lobbying effort.
A program to address the need for healthcare workers was also recently announced. Southeast Georgia Health System is partnering with the College of Coastal Georgia (CCGA) to expand the number of registered nursing (RN) graduates over the next five years. The $2 million investment will finance additional faculty and help increase the maximum enrollment of RN students at CCGA from 260 to 340. The added faculty will enable students to enter the program in spring as well as fall and make possible an accelerated program of four consecutive semesters for those eager to hit the workforce sooner.
“The nursing shortage problem isn’t going to solve itself, so we asked ourselves, ‘How do we create pipelines?’ and with this program, we are doing just that. With College of Coastal Georgia, we have a great nursing program. Can we enhance that by increasing the number of nurse applicants we take in?” says Scott Raynes, president and CEO of the Southeast Georgia Health System.
Record-breaking Travel
“A new bar has been set for tourism in the Golden Isles,” says Scott McQuade, president and CEO of the Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau. Last year turned out to be a record- breaker for the area, as pandemic-weary leisure travelers embraced the outdoor attractions of the Golden Isles. “Picking up where we left off last year, all the numbers continue to increase here. Tourism is receiving the most business it has ever had. This is shattering records, even pre-COVID records,” he says. “Currently, it is a matter of all the elements coming together. Leisure travel was extremely strong across these destinations and continues to be extremely strong, but this year we are seeing group business come back in full swing.
Last year turned out to be a record- breaker for the area, as pandemic-weary leisure travelers embraced the outdoor attractions of the Golden Isles.
Glynn’s hotel-motel tax is a reliable measure of tourism performance. “Currently we are tracking 52% ahead of last year’s all-time record. We’re tracking $2 million over last year at the same point,” McQuade says. “Between our short-term rentals and our accommodations, we can host 42,000 people a night.”
“Picking up where we left off last year, all the numbers continue to increase here. Tourism is receiving the most business it has ever had. This is shattering records, even pre-COVID records,” he says. “Currently, it is a matter of all the elements coming together. Leisure travel was extremely strong across these destinations and continues to be extremely strong, but this year we are seeing group business come back in full swing. Last year it was driven by leisure travel but this year every segment is back, with every sector growing, except international.”
Glynn’s hotel-motel tax is a reliable measure of tourism performance. “Currently we are tracking 52% ahead of last year’s all-time record. We’re tracking $2 million over last year at the same point,” McQuade says. “Between our short-term rentals and our accommodations, we can host 42,000 people a night.”
At state-owned Jekyll Island, Jones Hooks, the executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority, is struggling to determine what the “new normal” will be. A rundown of his questions: Leisure travel has soared, but will it stay high when cruises and international travel fully bounce back? How seriously will high gas prices impact travel? The island has added two hotels in an innovative design that shares common space like the lobby and pool – what will the impact of those additional rooms, which opened during the pandemic, be going forward? Golf demand lagged on Jekyll pre-pandemic, then boomed when COVID-19 hit – is that a lasting change or a blip? The past two years have been such anomalies that projections are difficult.
Jekyll Island’s revitalization plan was intended to spruce up the island’s aging facilities. Most of the work is now complete – modernized or new hotels, revamped beachfront parks with amenities like restrooms, all in a mix of private and public investments.
“There’s one project with revitalization that remains, and it was postponed on purpose because we required the owner of that project to wait and do a market analysis to determine what would be the best use of that property at this time,” Hooks said. “Their findings recommended a lower-density project there, to be more of a housing opportunity rather than a hotel, so we are waiting now to receive their plans.”
Industry Expansions
On the industrial side of Glynn County’s ledger, recent activity has focused on expansion of existing industries.
“We broke ground on Weyerhaeuser’s regional corporate headquarters. They were already in town in a leased facility, but we got them onto a piece of property that the county owned that had been cleared and dormant for a number of years,” says Ryan Moore, president and CEO of the Golden Isles Development Authority. The timber-focused industry employs about 40 people and expects to complete its new building on Highway 341 in nine to 12 months, he says.
Scojet, in another expansion, sold its building in McBride Industrial Park to nonprofit food bank America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia and is building a new production facility with a $5 million price tag at the North Glynn Commerce Park, adding 15 new jobs, Moore says.
The authority also issued bonds to support the $18.6 million expansion of Symrise, a German company that makes fragrances, flavors and cosmetic solutions.
When it comes to industrial brawn in Glynn County, nothing beats the Port of Brunswick, a vehicle-centric facility that ranks as the second-busiest Ro/Ro (roll on, roll off) port in the nation. Now, the aim is to further increase capacity in a $150 million development plan that will add a fourth berth, warehousing and facilities for additional auto processing.
“At the end of the day, what this means is prosperity in the state. It leads to further economic development. It maintains our leadership position as a gateway to the world,” says Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA).
The port also brings the story full circle, back to the revitalization of downtown Brunswick. Although the auto docks on Colonel’s Island account for the lion’s share of the port’s business, Mayor’s Point terminal in downtown Brunswick remains in operation as a breakbulk port and is part of GPA’s planned expansion. It became even more vital when container shortages created problems for customer Georgia-Pacific, Lynch says. (Breakbulk cargo is transported in separate pieces and not shipped in containers.)
“We purposely kept that facility operational, very deliberately,” he says.
In other words, in Brunswick, everything old is new again.
LOCAL FLAVOR
Celebrating 75 Years
Jekyll Island wasn’t really for sale when the state of Georgia went shopping not long after World War II, but being a state gives you an edge in the real estate market. A $675,000 bargain (in 1947 dollars) led to the creation of Jekyll Island State Park.
The park is observing its 75th anniversary this year with a calendar of events spaced out across 2022. The celebration kicked off with a black-tie ball, complete with big band music, fireworks and a performance by a professional synchronized swimming team (in January, no less).
The Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) has been delving into its archives to mark the occasion, coming up with a timeline reflecting the 75 years (and counting) of the island’s “state era.” You can see that history – as well as a reflection on its original indigenous inhabitants and a deep dive into its decades as a millionaires’ playground – in a local museum, the Mosaic, which was refurbished a few years ago thanks to a partnership between JIA and the private nonprofit Jekyll Island Foundation.
“We actually went back to the original billboard at the causeway entrance that directed people to Jekyll Island,” says Jones Hooks, JIA executive director. The JIA had photos of the original billboard, but the billboard company declared itself to be stumped – so staff members stepped in and designed it themselves.
The Jekyll Island Causeway didn’t open until Dec. 11, 1954, several years after the park opened, and it began ferrying tourists, complete with station wagons and newly born baby boomers, to the island.
But that access wasn’t for everyone in the still-segregated South. It took a court battle before the state was forced to grant Black Georgians beach access to the segregated Saint Andrews Beach on the southern part of the island. Further battles were required before a segregated hotel and pavilion could be built.
Remaining events in the anniversary year include two days of “Dolphin Club Days” tours this month, where trolleys take guests to the grounds of the long-gone Dolphin Club and Motor Lodge that greeted Black tourists and famous Black performers of the pre-Civil Rights era; the Beach Village Block Party, an August 6 family-friendly street party that will involve the unveiling of a mural to commemorate the 75th anniversary; the dedication of a time capsule on October 7; and inclusion in the Jekyll Island Shrimp and Grits Festival, back for the 15th time after a two-year hiatus.
