Oakwood Planning Director Larry Sparks said multiple retailers on Mundy Mill Road and Winder Highway are planning to open their doors to customers this spring and summer.
Sparks said the new Sam’s Club located on Mundy Mill Road in the Super Wal-Mart Shopping Center is nearly 75 percent complete, and the current Sam’s Club operating on Mundy Mill Road will relocate to the new building this spring.
He said the Sam’s Club fuel center, as well as the 20-suite retail center in the new Sam’s Club building, will also be finished this spring. Retail stores and restaurants will be able to begin moving into the development upon completion, Sparks added.
The Wachovia Bank and Taco Bell on Mundy Mill Road will reopen on Mundy Mill Road in new locations this spring.
Sparks said the Taco Bell was forced to relocate as a result of the Department of Transportation’s property purchase at the intersection of Thurmond Tanner Parkway and Mundy Mill Road.
He said Wachovia Bank was also adversely affected by a median placed on Mundy Mill Road as part of the DOT road project. The new Wachovia building is currently under construction and will reopen in the Wal-Mart shopping center. Taco Bell will reopen at the old Shoney’s location near Interstate 985.
Stan Brown, Oakwood city manager, said Winder Highway is another hotbed of development in Oakwood.
He added that Oakwood’s sewer agreement with Braselton will allow Oakwood 2.5 million gallons of sewer capacity in the Braselton sewer treatment plant, which will undergo expansion beginning in early 2009.
Brown said diverting Oakwood’s sewer lines from Flowery Branch’s sewer plant to Braselton will allow Oakwood more sewer capacity in order to develop the Winder Highway corridor.
A Kroger grocery store is currently under construction on the corner of Winder Highway and Sloan Mill Road, Sparks said. He said the grocery store shopping center will also contain multiple retail outlets, and the development is 50 percent complete and will open this summer.
Construction on a package store located off Winder Highway on Martin Road could begin within two months, Sparks said. He added that plans are under review for a small retail center on the corner of Winder Highway and Perry Lane, and businesses could move in to the development by late summer.
Brown said that while Oakwood’s two current commercial nodes are boasting new developments, there’s more than commercial development in store for the area.
DOT will soon contract work for phase three of the Thurmond Tanner Parkway extension, Brown said.
"It will connect Mundy Mill Road to Spout Springs Road," Brown said. "(The DOT project) will make (Thurmond Tanner Parkway) a four-lane parkway that will open the area up to commercial and office park-type development."
Brown added the Thurmond Tanner Parkway extension project may be one that Oakwood officials could finance with a tax allocation district funded by county property taxes. He added that although school board taxes are not currently allowed to fund public infrastructure projects, the Thurmond Tanner Parkway extension is a common goal for both Oakwood and Hall County officials, and may lend itself to a county-funded tax district.