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Buena Vista Interchange Project Finally Nears Finish Line
In Columbus, Ga., a major highway interchange project is finally getting closer to being finished.
State leaders and transportation officials gathered May 1, 2025, to discuss updates on the Buena Vista Interchange project. The $47 million effort aims to reconstruct the interchange at Buena Vista Road and Interstate 185 on the city’s western side.
Despite past delays, construction at the site is currently almost 80 percent complete, according to WRBL-TV in Columbus.
Marietta, Ga.-based C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. is replacing an existing bridge at the junction of the two roadways with a wider and modified structure to accommodate a diverging diamond interchange, a sidewalk on the south side of Buena Vista Road, and a multi-use trail on the north side.
Georgia State Rep. Carolyn Hugley and her colleague, Rep. Teddy Reese joined Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) officials to walk the site and share project details.
The major roadway project’s concept report was approved in late 2016, and the contractor was selected in 2020 before the onset of the pandemic caused multiple delays in getting the work started.
GDOT’s update on the Buena Vista Interchange said that among the construction challenges, “Contractor and utility owners faced delays in sourcing materials following pandemic supply shortages,” in addition to “smaller work crews or delayed activities due to [the reduced] labor market” and
the busy interchange being open to traffic for the entirety of the work.
“Challenges and risks are inherent when keeping a project site open while undertaking a large-scale construction project,” the agency said.
“We definitely experienced supply chain issues on multiple facets of the project from just construction materials for the actual roadway and utility supplies,” said Kenneth Franks, GDOT’s administrator of the State Transportation Investment Act (TIA).
Despite the myriad of slowdowns and utility relocations, the transportation department told WRBL-TV that the project has gotten back on schedule.
GDOT officials now estimate that substantial completion on the interchange will occur this fall and be open to traffic in 2026.
New Interchange Bridge to Honor Pioneering Legislator
During the briefing, both Hugley and Reese thanked the Columbus community for its patience in waiting on the Buena Vista Interchange project to be finished and stressed that the corridor’s transformation will be worth the wait. They also believe the work will be a transportation upgrade as well as an economic draw for the area.
“A few years back, the citizens of this area were wise enough to pass a TSPLOST, and what that did was [contribute] funds so that we could build the bridges and the roads and do the special projects that we needed to accom-
modate the growth that we have here in Columbus,” said Reese.
“One thing I think everyone is going to appreciate is this beautiful new bridge when it’s done, how well it’s going to look in this area [and] how it’s going to help bring up this area,” he said. “When you think about economic development, you have to think about the ability to move people, the ability of folks to get around and just the aesthetics of the community.”
In her comments, Hugley said that as a result of all the construction happening at the Buena Vista Road/I-195 site, as well as in her Columbus district, “citizens in my community are being inconvenienced. I get that. It’s important to really thank our citizens for, number one, having the vision to vote for the TSPLOST and invest in our community. And two, to encourage them to be patient as we move through this process. We are in what we want to call the messy middle, and the end result is going to be a beautiful interchange here.”
When the construction does wrap up next year, local leaders said that the new bridge will be known as the Maretta Mitchell Taylor Interchange.
“We’re so excited that we are standing on what will be the Maretta Mitchell Taylor interchange to honor the first [female] African-American representative from this area [of Georgia],” Hugley said. “This was part of her district while she was in the legislature. I’m encouraged that this is going to be a wonderful tribute to her, and it’s going to make traveling in this area a lot more convenient for our citizens.”
Demolition Begins On Athens Mall Ahead of Redevelopment
In 2023, the Athens-Clarke County Commission (ACC) approved a plan to redevelop the city’s Georgia Square Mall, but demolition work on portions of the shopping center just started at the end of March 2025.
Such delays are typical, said Mark Jennings, the property’s developer, during a town hall meeting March 27, 2025 to provide an update on the effort, according to Flagpole, a weekly alternative publication in Athens, home to the University of Georgia.
Jennings said that when he is asked, “What’s the holdup?” he answered by saying, “I didn’t know there was one.” His response, he added, is based on the fact that it takes an average of three to four years to break ground.
Jennings’ company, The Leaven Group, won ACC approval to raze the shopping center in March 2023 and only received the necessary demolition and land disturbance permits in fall 2024.
Crews started to tear down some of the outparcels around the mall, Jennings told a crowd of about 200 people at the town hall meeting organized by Athens-Clarke County District 6 Commissioner Stephanie Johnson.
Next, he said workers will move on to the old movie theater behind the mall and, by the end of the year, Jennings hopes they will begin demolishing parts of the mall itself,
starting with the old Sears store. Georgia Square Mall will not completely shut down during the work, Flagpole noted. Instead, the few remaining tenants — including the Athens Police Department substation — will be allowed to move into the central portion of the mall, which will not be demolished.
The Leaven Group’s plans call for keeping the area around the Belk department store, which has a long-term lease and surrounding it with 70,000 sq.-ft. of new commercial space (one possible tenant Jennings named was Dave & Buster’s) and a total of 1,200 housing units, with apartments near Atlanta Highway/Business U.S. 78, as well as townhouses and a 55-and-up senior living center toward the back of the property.
In total, the project will cost an estimated $660 million — making it, according to Jennings, perhaps the largest development in northeast Georgia history — with $189 million covered by future tax revenue from the property. That latter figure represents the property taxes the development will generate over a 20-year period, according to Flagpole.
Athens Works to Spur MallÊs Redevelopment
The city’s mayor and commission created a tax allocation district (TAD) around the
mall in 2020 to encourage redevelopment.
Under a TAD, taxes are fixed at the current level and any additional revenue from new development is plowed back into the district for a certain time period.
In Athens’s case, the TAD will fund stormwater infrastructure and “community benefits,” including 99 affordable apartments for lowincome renters, greenspace and trees, walking and biking trails, a bus station, subsidized commercial space for women- and minority-owned businesses, space for the Boys & Girls Club and internships for Clarke County public school students.
But Jennings told the commission that he has not received any of those funds yet. An agreement between The Leaven Group and the ACC government calls for him to be reimbursed for eligible expenses, so he will not get the money upfront.
That has led to some challenges in financing the project, according to Jennings, so he is working with county officials to change the order in which construction proceeds.
The first phase of the redevelopment of
the Georgia Square Mall, which includes demolition and stormwater drainage work, does not generate any value, he said, so banks have been reluctant to lend money.
“Our Phase 1 has no collateral value,” he said. “If something goes wrong, [banks] don’t want a detention pond in Athens, Georgia. They want an apartment building.”
So far, Jennings has spent $31 million of his own money on the project, including $25 million to buy the mall, according to an annual update required by the TAD agreement filed March 18, 2025. During the town hall meeting, he said that he owns it outright and does not have any debt.
Jennings said repeatedly that setbacks were expected in such a complicated venture, especially considering that TADs are new to Athens and neither he nor ACC officials have worked with one before. He added that he enjoys a good partnership with the local government and is confident the project will come to fruition.
“We want it to be the nicest thing in the Athens area — the nicest thing Athens has ever seen,” Jennings said.
Georgia Square Mall photo
