Eagle Group unveils resort
Project expected to span 1,400 acres
By KATHLEEN McKEVITT Sentinel Writer

CEO of Eagle Group Ron Reeser (above) and President of Eagle Hal Hayes.

Thomas Murphy, Jr. was hired by the County seven years ago as Executive Director to bring commerce into the area. In his own words, his intent was "not seeking explosive growth, but rather to sustain a level of active growth, which would provide good job opportunities for the people."

Intended or not, the big news announced formally this week of a 1,400 acre resort/village on the south side of Lake Nottley is likely to ignite explosive growth in the county. According to Murphy, in a "Reynolds Plantation-type project" the new project informally called Crane Creek (a new name is being sought) would include two 18-hole golf courses (one public, and one private), a 350-room hotel, a clubhouse, marina, twobedroom cottages, estates, chapel, village business locations, an outdoor auditorium, and a hotel that could employ as many as 500 people.

The developers of the project is The Eagle Group, a conglomerate, along with West Paces Hotel Group. The resort will have it's own sewer and water works, through NOTLA. BRMEMC is geared-up to supply the needed electricity, all of which is carefully controlled and monitored by the state.

The Development Authority inducement to the Eagle Group was with sixty-million dollars of industrial development revenue bonds. The developers, put up a million-dollar option on the property that was non-refundable.

According to Murphy, "When the Reynolds Plantation went into Green County, their tax digest went from five percent to seventy-four percent from commercial business, giving individual property owners a break, "and", He adds laughing, "It might even lower our taxes." Has that ever been seen once taxes are raised? Murphy says, "Not in my lifetime!" But it could mean a three-fold increase in revenues into the county, which is good for everybody, including local businesses in Blairsville and across the county.

In a two-hour meeting at North Georgia Technical College on Tuesday, spokesman for Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, Miami, Florida, (DPZ), the designer group on the project, laid out a detailed design for the yet-to-be-named village and resort.

In a week-long Charette, an intense urban planning technique for consulting with all stake-holders in a project where joint ownership of the ideal solutions are discerned, the project was defined.

Ron Reeser, Chief Executive Officer, and founder of Eagle, presided over the early part of the meeting, and described what is to be "A true mountain village" plan, where affordable lots and estates are at the base of the mountains. Speaking of their intentions to do no clear-cutting in the construction, Reeser said, "It's the only way to build."

Reeser, and Hal Hayes, President of Eagle, have built what they call a "sister project" with 588 lots in Pensacola, Florida. It was a pioneering effort with the look of an 1890's or turn of the century village.

Spokesman for the DPZ corporation said that there will be some 600-700 acres of green space in the Nottley Lake project. "No house will back to the waterways, and house fronts will be on the part area, creating a closer community."

During the Charette, designers, illustrators, architects, illustrators and others gathered to talk about what makes a community "timeless and authentic." While some of the plans are still in the drawing, planning and coming together stages, what was viewed at Tuesday's meeting was two hours of detailed, land, village, grounds, water works, building styles, colored in, and given some scale so that people in attendance would have a clear idea of what is meant by "the old-world charm that blends with the natural beauty and culture of the Appalachian mountains."

In one location, a foundation stone from the old Epworth Methodist church, will also be the foundation for the new church center in the planned village. Peter Young mountain is also a major focal point of the village, around which the village parks and buildings will be built.

"We will build the homes with very small footprints," according to the spokesman for the 14-person design group, meaning that the new designs, sometimes called "treehouses," sit on unobtrusive frames, and are more vertical than horizontal.

The village, on the other hand, its intended to create what designers call "body heat," or closeness. There are plans for a Boy Scout pavilion, a children's park, an amphitheater, other areas for young people's recreation, civic quality of life, piazzas (strolling areas). All of this is with the intention to "tread very lightly on the land. Minimal disruption of the natural setting, and for the existing wildlife, is our goal."

The hotel and conference center were not as deeply defined in this meeting but according to the developers will be a world-class Ritz, with incredible space, plazas, spas and the best in dining, comfort and services, all nestled in a country setting.

Ground-breaking dates were not given, but a planned opening date is September of 2008.

Eagle Group CEO Ron Reeser says, "We will be part of Blairsville, this is for the people here. It is our place, a place of community."