Columbia County Greenlights $3M Multipurpose Athletic Complex Near I-20

Columbia County commissioners approved buying 84 acres on Appling-Harlem Highway. They want to build a new sports complex there. The Board of Commissioners voted without opposition to purchase two parcels at $40,000 per acre, totaling just under $3 million.

The land sits less than a mile south of Interstate 20 Exit 183. It's just north of a commercial strip that includes Agaves Mexican restaurant, which opened in December 2025.

"We've been looking for some time for the perfect piece of property for this," County Manager Scott Johnson told commissioners near the end of their April 21 meeting, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Johnson called it "our Patriots Park-style park." Patriots Park opened in 1992 as the county's first sports complex that serves many purposes.

Four baseball fields will go in. A gymnasium for indoor basketball and volleyball, too. Two outdoor fields will host soccer and other activities. Splash pads will give kids a place to cool off.

Nature play areas and walking tracks, both indoors and outdoors, round out the plans. A multi-use trail would loop around the entire site, wrapping the perimeter.

Euchee Creek Development Co., Inc. owns the parcels. Development conditions for the multistage Greenpoint mixed-use development prohibit residential construction across the highway and require commercial and green space development instead.

"We took that as an opportunity to negotiate with the landowners," Johnson said. Money for the project is available from existing county funds. The concept plan was created in-house, allowing officials to "move forward with purchasing the property, then we will go into a full-blown design."

This Harlem area location marks the second major sports complex the county has built in three decades.