Commerce Plans Mixed-Use Development

The City of Commerce is planning a major mixed-use development for its downtown area.

According to a report on Mainstreet News.com, the City is looking at totally renovating and redesigning the former Oxford Building on State St. in downtown Commerce.

Members of the Commerce Downtown Development Authority got their first look last month at the vision of two University of Georgia students Arwen Chen and Bryan Hardman with UGA’s Archway Partnership.

According to the student’s design plans, the Oxford would be converted into the mixed-use complex that would include six 1,300 sq ft condominiums, 14 hotel rooms, two 1,300 sq ft galleries, a restaurant, a retail business and a rooftop terrace.

The 32-page document includes schematics of individual hotel or condominium rooms, artist’s renderings of the overall layout, photos of what the galleries and rooftop terrace could look like, patterns of traffic flow and diagrams of the overall site and its relationship to the rest of town.

The students’ plan also offers optional second and third phases which would add more condos and additional parking.
Rick Billingslea, community improvement director said the plans will be presented to Georgia hotel developers, development personnel at Georgia Electric Cities, the Georgia Developers Association and to real estate agents in the area.