Tifton, Ga. — The groundbreaking for a planned 83,000-square-
foot expansion to the University of Georgia’s Rural Development
Center took place here July 24. The expansion promises to bring
better educational opportunities and economic stimulus to the
Tifton area and south Georgia.
The $9.8-million expansion will be an addition to the current
UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center here. The expansion is
slated to open for business in January 2004. Construction will
start in 30 days.
The expansion will include:
* A 3,000-seat auditorium with multi-purpose space for
exhibits.
* A greatly expanded conference center, anchored by a ballroom
with capacity for 1,000-person seated dinner. (The current
center can feed only 70 people in one room.) This can also be
divided into four smaller conference spaces.
* A catering kitchen and other associated conference support
spaces.
The cost of the new expansion will be divided between the
University System of Georgia and Tift County. A Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax referendum passed in the mid-1990s
provided $4.9 million for the project.
“This was done in the spirit of partnership and cooperation,”
said Michael F. Adams, UGA president, who praised the efforts of
the local delegation to the General Assembly.
“This facility will help us raise to the next level the
economic prosperity of this state,” Adams said.
The current UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center contributes
about $4 million annually to the local economy, said Fred
Terasa, TCCC coordinator. It is estimated that just six 350-
person conferences at the new center would contribute an
additional $4 million to the local economy.
“We must market and sell conferences well in advance of the
early-2004 opening to achieve our fiscal goals,” Terasa said.
“This gives us a great opportunity to partner with the local
community for economic development and have a huge impact on the
community with conferencing,” said David Bridges, assistant dean
for the Tifton campus of the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences. “We hope Tifton becomes the conference
center for south Georgia.”
This expansion fulfills the original plan set forth for the RDC
23 years ago.
“From a university perspective, this gives us a world-class
facility to do our outreach, instruction and research for the
future,” Bridges said.
One of the strongest economic engines for Georgia is research,
especially when that research can be applied to develop new
opportunities and nurture new companies and jobs for the state,
Adams said.
And the location of this expansion is certainly a step in the
right direction to keep and produce new economic opportunity for
south Georgia, said John Hunt, University System of Georgia
regent and Tift-area businessman.
“We need help in the economic development in Georgia,” Hunt
said. “And we want to see economic growth.”
One of the most important missions of the UGA CAES is “to extend
our university to the people of this state. This facility will
certainly help us discharge that information,” said Gale
Buchanan, CAES dean and director.
