WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The City of Warner Robins is Central Georgia's boomtown, and it keeps growing. Soon, you'll see even more homes and retail stores.
13WMAZ spoke with a few people Thursday who said the future of Warner Robins is promising. By the end of 2025, they expect to see a 47 percent increase in new apartments and other housing to make sure Robins keeps booming.
Sarah Braswell grew up in Warner Robins. She moved away 21 years ago, and now she's back.
"There's so much here. There's so many opportunities -- the children, the parents, the schools. That's the reason that I am here! I want to be a difference," Braswell said.
She says she also moved back to be closer to her family, but Braswell says she's not the only one choosing Warner Robins as home.
"There's nobody in this neighborhood that I am aware of that are from Warner Robins, so they intentionally came back as well. Now, this is a retirement community and most of these people are military-related, but they chose to come back here as well. Why? Because it's a comfortable community, a family-oriented community. It's a place where their kids could actually thrive and grow," Braswell said.
Right now, Warner Robins has 7,700 multi-family homes, but in the next three years, Community of Economic Development Director Kate Hogan says Warner Robins will have 3,300, new duplex and apartment homes, "Which is fantastic. We haven't seen that level of investment in multi-family housing in years, since maybe early 2000s, before that, probably the 1980s, and so it's gonna be an incredible opportunity to see our population grow. It's about 2.6 people, per household," Hogan said.
"I am excited about the direction the mayor is going and the housing coming up. Again, it's so important for people to have their own places to live, and the housing that's coming, is going to be economical housing, housing they can afford," Braswell said.
Hogan says construction is already underway in the Watson Boulevard area near I-75 and near Highway 96. 90 of the 3,300 new multi-family homes are going to be affordable housing.
The city is not just predicting residential growth. They're also projecting a 6.1 percent growth rate for commercial and retail opportunities in the next 5 years.
Hogan specifically mentioned Arby's and Huey Magoo's, but they're still working out specific details. Some of the incoming building permits and site plans show concentrated growth near the corridor roads, but she says new businesses will be spread throughout the city. Hogan goes on to say businesses are choosing Warner Robins because of the city's location and because of the Houston County's school system.