While North Augusta was celebrating a new access point to the Greeneway and the announcement of a second restaurant for the Beacon Bluff project, work continues across the street on a multi-million-dollar renovation to the former Medac Building.
Palmetto Peach Development is transforming the building into space for the Augusta Oncology (AO) Multispecialty Clinic. It is a partnership with Coronis Health to create a state-of-the-art cancer treatment center on Bluff Avenue, across from the North Augusta Municipal Building.
“The whole place has been gutted. There are no walls in it anymore,” Brett Brannon, President of Palmetto Peach Development, told ABD. “The plumber’s been in, they’ve got almost all of the plumbing, the drain lines, and all that put in. HVAC is working.”
Doctor David Squires with AO Multispecialty said the new center will have cutting-edge radiation equipment unlike anywhere in the country. The medical oncologists will move from their current location at Piedmont Augusta to the new facility. He anticipates the move will benefit patients.
“The biggest issue we’re running into downtown is parking,” he explained. “There’s not enough parking for all our patients, but in this facility, we will have ample parking, lots and lots of parking, which I think the first thing the patients think about is parking when they go to a facility and they go there because they want quality care, but it bothers them if they have to go to great lengths to find a parking space.”
Palmetto Peach is also responsible for the Beacon Bluff project, which includes renovating the old carpet shop and skating rink. Brannon said $35 million has been invested in the two projects, $20 million of that in the 36,000-square-foot Medac building to date. It will include retail, restaurants, professional space, and apartments. It is expected to open this April.
“It’s going to be a nice synergy, I think, between the number of people that’ll come to AO Specialty every day, both employees and patients,” said Brannon. “They average hundreds of patients a day. Most of their patients come with family members because can’t necessarily drive themselves after treatment. All of those people need places to eat and drink while treatments taking place, and then things to look at, like shops to be in and all that.”
Squires agreed it is a beautiful location.
“Just all the amenities around it are going to be a big advantage for our patients, and so we definitely appreciate what Brett is doing to make that area just shine, and patients are going to appreciate it, too,” he said. “We anticipate that this will be the beginning of a large number of medical offices being there. We will have medical oncology, as well as radiation oncology there, but I anticipate other specialists will start recognizing that as a location that is ideal for many reasons, to provide medical care.”
Squires said the opening will come in two phases. The first phase will utilize 15,000 square feet of the building, He anticipates that will happen at the beginning of January. That will be followed two months later by the opening of the medical oncology facilities.
