Cheney

THOMASVILLE — After meeting with and talking to state officials, including the governor, it is not definite the Thomasville state farmers will be closed by the state, a Thomasville Payroll Development Authority (PDA) member said.

PDA members, city officials and District 173 state Rep. Darlene Taylor had a phone conversation with Gov. Brian Kemp and met with Georgia Department of Agriculture officials in Thomasville.

PDA member Stephen Cheney said agriculture department officials said closing the farmers market is not definite. If the market does close next year, tenants could be left with no place to conduct business, Cheney added.

The officials, Cheney said, think there is “a reasonably good chance that the farmers market will stay open.”

If it does close, a local resident interested in buying the market would be given a chance to purchase it.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to take a financial toll on state government, several state farmers markets were earmarked for closing. The Thomasville market was among them.

Later, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black assured Taylor the market would remain open until the end of the state fiscal year — June 30, 2021.

Wholesale produce companies, a retail produce business and a restaurant operate at the Thomasville market.

Two private investors are interested in another state-owned property in Thomasville.

Investors are interested in purchasing Southwestern State Hospital property if tenants occupying parts of the facility remain. Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities officials said earlier the entire South Pinetree Boulevard 200-acre campus would be vacated effective Sept. 30, which has been extended to Jan. 1.

Kemp and Frank Smith, who heads the State Properties Commission, both assured the PDA that Southwestern and farmers market tenants may stay, Cheney said.

“The property would be more valuable with tenants,” Shelley Zorn, PDA executive director, said. “It’s not worth as much without tenants who provide a built-in revenue stream.”

Both parties interested in Southwestern would keep the facility as it is now and continue to rent to state agencies that now occupy some offices.

Also, both parties would offer housing for social services, Zorn said. 

“It might become a social services hub,” she said.

The property was appraised by the state at $22 million, with a $2.5 million debt, about six years ago. The PDA appraisal a year later was $16 million.

Both investors would be required to present their plans to the PDA. If the PDA did not approve either, the state would begin a bidding process on the property, Zorn said.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820