About Bryan County, GA

Recently the Ford Plantation Equestrian center was a hive of a different sort of activity. The arena was completely revamped in an exercise which included the removal of the entire arena surface and sub surface. More modern footing mediums where then used to rebuild the arena to modern world classs equestrian arena standards, simultaneously drainage and irrigation were upgraded.

The arena is now ready for the winter season and no doubts the riders and horses will be delighted with the upgrade and we look forward to seeing the dressage, jumping, trail riding and training at the new arena at The Ford Plantation Barn this season.

On Tuesday, October 27th a group of about 30 members of The Ford Plantation had a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes of Championship Golf Course Management and Maintenance Program.

Nelson Caron (Golf Course Superintendant) gave a very professional tour of the golf course and specifically talked about the challenges of irrigation and drainage of a low country golf course, greens keeping (and maintaining putting surface consistency from green to green), daily course maintenance decision making, various breeds of grasses (and their pros and cons), specific challenges currently being addressed at the golf course (greens, drainage and irrigation).

Nelson also gave us some tips, which sound simple but I must admit I had it wrong on a few of these pointers. Like how to properly fill in a fairway divot so that the grass will grow back quickly but also so that the lawn care equipment, which is set to very tight cutting tolerances, is not damaged. How to repair green pitch marks, the right way and the wrong way.

It was also fun to visit the workshop and see the fleet of equipment it takes to run and maintain a top course like the Pete Dye Course at The Ford Plantation. How much maintenance takes place and the tolerances that the equipment is set to run to was truly impressive and surprising, these are not your back yard lawnmowers, and they are run more like a fleet of aircraft!

I have been playing golf for over 25 years and this was the first time I got to go behind the scenes. It was truly informative and I encourage more events like this to take place and more attendance, there really is a lot to learn.

Great job Nelson and crew!

The brand new fourth quarter real estate report has just been released. You can download a free copy at this link.

The report contains everything you will ever need to know about The Ford Plantation: Sales, Promotions, Events and Current Listings.

Enjoy!

Real Estate Report

This morning about 40-50 people attended the first public meeting is support of the I95 / Belfast Keller Interchange. (Bryan County, Georgia).

Steve Croy chaired the meeting and explained that this interchange was extremely valuable as it has a great location on the I95 / only 13 miles from the port of Savannah (one of the busiest ports in the US) and the interchange has a railhead, not to mention the value that it could add to Ft. Stewart Military base for deployments and emergencies.

Jimmy Bursed - Bryan County Chair and Commissioner - Noted that of the 8 points required to justify an interchange, we already have 7 checked off. Also that this was not a transport initiative butt and economic development initiative which could bring 10 000 rooftops to Richmond Hill and help with Georgia's 10% unemployment problem, that in this region is 23 months old. Commissioner Burnsed also noted that we have a willing partner as the landowner for the interchange is Rayonier and they are absolutely pro the interchange (they were in attendance to support the meeting).

Special guest Senator Jeff Mullis was at the meeting to assure participants of his support for the project, noting that this was an absolute "dream site" for an new interchange. The senator also shared his experience with the meeting about how significant the positive economic impact for this project could be and supported the whitepaper on the project which states that this project could bring over 3,000 new permanent jobs to the region / 7.3 million sq. feet of industrial space / 3.2 million sq. feet of retail and office space / over $6 billion in planned residential and commercial development / over $700 million in new tax revenues by 2030 / accommodate the 96% expected population increase in Bryan County by 2030. Senator Mullis also commented that this was an important project for Georgia, who on an economic level does not only have to compete with neighboring states but in reality on a global level. In his mind there was no question about if this project should happen it was just a question of how!

Representative Buddy Carter also shared his support for the project and shared his personal experience with how positive the impact is economically for the region when these interchanges happen as he was involved in the I96/I16 interchange. This project put Pooler on the map and opened that way for Savannah Quarters to be developed and more recently led to the announcement that Mitsubishi Power Systems would be building a manufacturing facility at the site which would lead to 500 new permanent jobs. He also noted that this was a great project to curb our 23 month 10% unemployment problem for the region, "we have to get people back to work in Georgia".

As Steve Croy noted this project will be a marathon run over years not months but like all good things we needed to be patient and fight hard for this interchange till we get it!

If you would like to find out more or be placed on the update mailing list for this citizen led project and to follow our progress, feel free to contact me: Mark Arlow (arlowmark@hotmail.com) and I will bee happy to add you to the list.

Today about 55 realtors from Keller Williams Coastal Area Partners visited The Ford Plantation.

The group enjoyed an overall tour of the community amenities and also previewed a few specific properties, including: 543 McAllister Landing, 531 McAllister Point, 1354 Dublin Drive, 70 Little Lulu Lane and 652 Silk Hope Drive.

This was a great opportunity for the Keller Williams Realtors from all three of the regional offices to become more familiar with the beautiful properties for sale at The Ford Plantation. This orientation will serve to help them match these properties and The Ford Plantation lifestyle to the needs of future potential buyers.

After the tour a wonderful lunch was enjoyed by everyone at The Clubhouse; where the General Manager (Bob Gusella) and his staff did and excellent job receiving and hosting the group (... and again the famous Ford Plantation cookies did not disappoint).

A huge thank you goes out to The Ford Plantation for making this event a possibility. We look forward to the next time that we will see you; when we are helping our clients discover their new homes at The Ford Plantation.

The Keller Williams Ogeechee River Group thanks all those who took the time today to come and get to know The Ford Plantation. If you would like to know more about the incomparable Ford Plantation, please visit our website at http://www.ogeecheegroup.com/ .