Here's where a senior care home wants to build 155 Augusta-area cottages and apartments

Joe Hotchkiss, Augusta Chronicle
·2 min read
An artist's rendering shows how proposed senior living cottages might look if constructed at Thrive at Augusta in Columbia County.
An artist's rendering shows how proposed senior living cottages might look if constructed at Thrive at Augusta in Columbia County.

A Columbia County senior home wants to build 155 apartments and cottages off Furys Ferry Road but needs the county’s permission first.

Thrive Senior Living’s campus is nestled between the Westhampton and Brookfield subdivisions. Its entrance sign fronts Furys Ferry.

Developers had eyed the property since 2015 to establish a senior living facility. Thrive opened the 85-bed campus in 2019 as Indigo Hall and later changed the name to Thrive at Augusta, taking the name of its manager, Atlanta-based Thrive Senior Living.

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Owner DREP Indigo Hall Augusta LLC was close to selling the property in late 2022, as first reported by The Augusta Chronicle, but the deal couldn’t be finalized. The most recent zoning revision, also in late 2022, raised the height of proposed independent living apartments to 60 feet and set the maximum number of apartments to 180.

Now, in reassessing Thrive’s development, DREP is pivoting toward a plan that it says best fits the property’s purpose.

A site plan sketch shows how 155 new senior housing units would occupy property owned by Thrive at Augusta. At far left, Furys Ferry Road is shown running vertically.
A site plan sketch shows how 155 new senior housing units would occupy property owned by Thrive at Augusta. At far left, Furys Ferry Road is shown running vertically.

DREP is now asking Columbia County to change the property’s zoning status to build 92 units in a three-story independent living building with units in a partial basement; and 63 single-story cottages with between one and three bedrooms and two-car garages.

A horse barn and pasture on the property is expected to remain untouched. It would sit between two clusters of the proposed cottages.

The Thrive campus is composed of several parcels. One parcel is zoned to allow a medical facility that developers had previously envisioned for the site, but the owner wants that status altered to allow residences instead.

The Columbia County Planning Commission is expected to hear the rezoning request at its meeting May 2.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County senior care home proposes 155 new housing units