The Baptist Collegiate Ministries building on the Georgia Southern Campus will be demolished to make room for a new, four-story facility that will feature a worship hall, a coffee shop, and multiple stories of residential units.
Jeff Warwick, owner of the BCM property on Chandler Road, spoke in favor of the project at the June 18, 2024 Statesboro Council meeting, where the council voted to approve special exceptions and uses to enable the development of the facility. The approved requests are going to allow for increased density of the proposed multi-story apartment and a commercial space (the coffee shop) to be included in the development.
Warwick is the founder of CCI Real Estate based out of Suwanee, Georgia, which is in a “long-term partnership” with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. In the meeting, Warwick described the real estate investment company's purpose in undertaking the development on Chandler Road as furthering the mission of the GBMB.
“We start with the ministry and we end with the ministry,” said Warwick.
He commented that the GBMB has been accomplishing “great ministry work” on the GSU campus for over 75 years but are working out of older facilities under constrained budgets. The partnership between the GBMB and CCI real estate will help to achieve both of the organization’s missions of ministry and community.
Warwick says this will be achieved through designing and building a community, based around “the heart” of a worship hall that expands indoor and outdoor to allow for hundreds of students to gather.
“It is anchored by the BCM and always will be anchored by the BCM,” said Warwick, adding that the coffee shop will serve as a communal hub for student residents to lounge and interact, as well as provide retail support to the facility.
The new residence will be geared towards upperclassmen and graduate students, as the units will be all one and two beds. Warwick told the council that CCI is working across Georgia and other states to provide the safety, community and missional values that parents want to send their kids into.
Tune back in to Grice Connect for updates about the slated developments progress in the near future.
