Significant mixed-use development planned at busy Leesburg location

LEESBURG — Milan Patel is a man of vision. While most see what is, he sees what can be.

So it was when Patel made note a couple of years ago of the abandoned fiber optics factory that sat, collecting dust, on the east side of U.S. 19 just inside the Leesburg city limits.

“I look at this corner right here,” he said, indicating space adjacent to the U.S. 19/Robert B. Lee Drive intersection, “and I saw a location that has the potential to be a hub for this community. Look at the businesses around here. They all would benefit from the addition of residential and retail developments.

“I look at this area, and I see something that could be very nice for this community. My philosophy in development has always been that any time you can take something and make it better, you do it.”

To that end, Patel, one of southwest Georgia’s most active and successful developers, and his partners have begun demolition work on the old Applied Fiber factory, which encompasses five buildings that are scheduled to be completely razed to make way for a development that will include “high-quality one- and two-bedroom housing units” and retail space.

The primary target for the housing units will be young professionals.

“There will be no restrictions per se, but these housing units are not going to be designed for a mom with three kids,” Patel said. “The target tenants will be young professionals who work in southwest Georgia. You look at this area; it’s a short drive from anywhere in the region. Cordele and I-75 are 37 miles away. Phoebe (Putney Memorial Hospital) in Albany is 15 minutes away. It’s 25 miles to Americus, 50 to Tifton.

“As for retail, you look at the daily population of this area with all the students and government employees, and you realize there’s not even a coffee shop. And for the adults, there’s nowhere to buy an alcoholic beverage. Go to a location like this in Atlanta, and you’d see seven or eight coffee shops. I just think this is a great opportunity.”

During its active days, the Applied Fiber plant produced fiber optics for Lucent Technologies, one of what Patel called the “tech darlings of the ’90s.” When that product became no longer relevant, the plant was sold and shuttered.

“When you know something that is being produced is no longer relevant, it becomes an opportunity,” the developer said. “It’s like, for example, I wish I’d recognized the opportunity with iPhones in 2009.” 

Patel said there are still issues to work out on the development, so he did not want to go too deep into the details of the project, which he called one of the largest he’s ever undertaken, until it is a little farther along. But he said the development will be unlike any other in the community.

“There is definitely a need for this kind of project here,” he said. “It will be a nice step in moving this community forward.”