Published Sunday, July 05, 2009

Retail boom helped land hospital

The Times-Herald

When local officials took a trip to Atlanta two months ago to lobby Georgia's development office, Coweta County Commissioner Al Smith said he had one primary concern.

"I would like to see us get more than just retail," said Smith. "We are saturated with retail."

He wasn't the only local official in recent years to say something like this. With the explosion of retail growth in Ashley Park and along Bullsboro Drive and Hwy. 34 in recent years, many thought the pendulum had been swinging too far in the retail direction, offering too many low-paying, low-quality jobs.

Some, like Smith, said they would like to see more "heavy industry and manufacturing" jobs brought back into the county. Others said "green" industry, education, or perhaps bio-tech is the way to go. And then there were those who said that Coweta County should expand its medical services base.

But as it turns out, maybe those retail jobs have been getting a bad rap. Because when Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) representative Bob Mayo outlined the reasons for his team's selection of Coweta County over the other 31 Georgia sites under consideration, he didn't hesitate to point out that Newnan offers "the retail environment that patients value."

Newnan provides the "lodging, the food services, the retail choices, and the entertainment that will benefit our patients and their families," Mayo said.

The new hospital -- which will be located just across the street from Ashley Park, in the heart of the retail district -- will include a wing "with 36 guest rooms to accommodate overnight stays for ... patients and their families," according the CTCA's economic development agreement with the county.

Coweta County Development Authority Chairman David Brown said putting the new hospital next to J.C. Penney makes perfect sense when you think about it. What are those guests going to do while they're here? Spend all their time in the waiting room? Not when there's a Regal Cinemas movie theater and ice cream and candy shops right across the street.

"Those families are going to have a lot of time to kill," said Brown. "And they will get to walk out to a clean shopping center. All this clean, new retail has turned out to be so important. I think that definitely worked in our favor."

In other words, he said, all of that retail growth in recent years wasn't "just retail." It was infrastructure. It was investment in the development of local quality of life. It was what helped attract a "big fish" like CTCA.

And how is this for a return on investment: It is estimated that the new cancer hospital will make a $500 million economic impact during its first five years of operation, including $150 million of direct investment.

Mayo specifically named Stan Thomas, CEO of Thomas Enterprises, as a key component of the deal that landed CTCA.

"Stan, what a wonderful location we have now at Newnan Crossing," he said of the 28-acre tract, sandwiched between Newnan Crossing Bypass and I-85.

Many times when it comes to landing big prospects, a lot of emphasis is placed on Coweta's close proximity to the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport -- but the other final candidates for CTCA had pretty much the same proximity, development authority members pointed out.

"The final few had the same distance to the airport that we did," said development authority Secretary Mike Barber. "There were so many communities vying for this hospital, and we got it."

"It was a very close decision," said Brown. "And it took a lot of folks, including Thomas Enterprises, to make this happen. It just shows what a little teamwork will do."

"It was a close race," agreed Thomas. "And it was a tough financial deal to make it work. But we believed in it, and we believe in what they do at CTCA. If I got cancer, that's where I'd want to go."

It's not just shopping and entertainment choices that led the hospital here, Thomas said, but he agreed that it's one big piece of the puzzle.

"The main thing I tried to help them understand is just what a warm, wonderful community this is," he said. "We wanted to make their decision to come here an easy one."