BOARD APPROVES $32 MILLION ABAC PROJECT

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved today the largest residence hall construction project in the history of public two-year colleges in the state of Georgia by giving the go-ahead for $32 million in residence hall construction at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Funded by private bonds and supported by the ABAC Foundation, the project also represents the second largest building project in the history of Tift County, topped only by a $35 million Tift Regional Medical Center renovation.

“These residence halls will change the face of ABAC forever,” Abraham Baldwin President Mike Vollmer said. “I have to give all the credit to ABAC Foundation Chair Butch Davis, Foundation Trustees Dale Pflug and Pait Willis, Development Director Melvin Merrill, and many other hard-working members of the Foundation who gave some unbelievable hours putting this mammoth project together.”

Vollmer said all the existing residence halls at ABAC are at least 30 years old. Because of their state of disrepair, the college had to make a decision.

“Our Master Facilities Plan calls for new residence halls,” Vollmer said. “We were to the point that we had to either become a complete commuter college or build new halls. We chose to build.”

Place Properties will develop 835 new rooms on the campus with construction assistance provided by Alcon Associates from Albany and Jones Construction from Tifton. Most of the units will be four-bedroom, two-bath with a full kitchen and living area. Each student will have a private room complete with Internet, phone, and cable television access.

An 8,500 square foot clubhouse will be in the center of the complex and will feature a kitchen, an exercise room, recreation and television space, a study lounge, a computer lab, a large meeting room, and management offices. The clubhouse will be directly linked to ABAC’s new Pedestrian Mall, a 12-feet wide brick walkway that extends through the center of the campus.

Vollmer said construction will begin as soon as the tax exempt bonds are sold. In fact, the college hopes to have 200 beds available for the spring term, which begins on Jan. 12, 2004. The remainder of the rooms are scheduled to be ready for the 2004 fall semester.

A per month lease price has yet to be determined, but Vollmer said approximately $345 a month for a 12-month lease would be “somewhere in the ballpark.” The rent will include cable, water, and electricity.

ABAC is already one of the largest, residential two-year colleges in the state, housing over 750 students annually. Because the college attracts students from 141 Georgia counties, 14 states, and 15 countries, Vollmer said residence halls are a necessity on the campus.

“We have a rich history of providing on-campus housing for our students,” Vollmer, who is about to complete his second year as ABAC’s president, said. “These new rooms are going to provide great impetus for us as we move toward ABAC’s 100^th birthday in 2008.”

ABAC attracted a record enrollment of 3,033 students during the 2002 fall semester. Applications are already running ahead of that pace for the 2003 fall semester.

“We started with a great vision by a President who knows how to get things done,” Davis said, speaking of Vollmer. “Now, we’re ready to go forward, and the Foundation is 100 percent behind it.”

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