AC repair in Brunswick, GA

ARK Homes For Rent has completed its latest build-to-rent community, Walker Point, in Brunswick, Ga. The 237-townhome collection is spread across 25 acres. The company celebrated its opening with a ribbon cutting event late last week.

Walker Point homes features two- to four-bedroom layouts. Rents start at $1,649 per month.

Homes feature granite countertops, large kitchens and living rooms, energy-efficient stainless-steel appliances and laundry rooms with a washer/dryer. The community includes an on-site clubhouse with a fitness center, yoga room, swimming pool, an outdoor lounge with BBQ and dining areas and a dog park. The homes overlook two substantial ponds.

“Brunswick is a city full of coastal charm and a rich history,” John Isakson, CEO of ARK Homes For Rent, told Multi-Housing News. “As demand for quality rental housing continues to grow, the Walker Point community is a testament to our commitment to investing in the city and providing quality homes.”

READ ALSO: US Single-Family Rent Index—February 2025

Brunswick is a historic destination for visitors given its Victorian-era architecture, art galleries, local shops, restaurants, 900-year-old oak tree and marina-front park. Education institutions, convenient transportation options and outdoor activities such as fishing, dolphin watching and kayaking are all in proximity.

Other BTR projects across the nation

“Capital interest in the BTR sector tremendously outweighs deployable opportunities across developments, forward sales and stabilized communities,” Matthew Putterman, managing director single family rental leader, JLL Capital Markets, told MHN. “Leasing activity is gaining momentum, with some communities already experiencing double or triple more leases in March than February or January.”

As more investors investigate the strong potential behind the BTR sector, more activity is brewing across the nation. Among the recent BTR activity is The Woodlands for The Sylvan by Marquette Cos., which has begun preleasing in Houston.

“The Sylvan’s master-planned design with lush green spaces, top-tier amenities and proximity to major employers aligns with our strategy for modern, lifestyle-driven single-family rental communities,” Chris Yuko, managing director of development at Marquette Cos., told MHN.

Also upcoming this year, NexMetro will open six new Avilla Homes communities, representing more than 1,200 new BTR homes in the Austin, Phoenix and Dallas metros.

“We’re seeing considerable demand for our leased home neighborhoods because a growing number of consumers are seeking a lifestyle that combines a new detached home with mortgage-free, maintenance-free living,” Jason Flory, managing director for NexMetro in Austin and Atlanta, told MHN.

Flory added that the single-family lifestyle of BTR neighborhoods is especially appealing to those priced out of the new home market. “We see long-term opportunity in these dynamic markets because of their continued strong demand drivers of population, household income, and job growth, along with well-situated submarket locations that appeal to renters by choice in the market.”

Earlier this month, a luxury BTR project in Deerfield, Ill., also secured a construction financing package. Park5, located some 30 miles northwest of downtown Chicago, is set to feature two- and three-bedroom homes.

The coastal Georgia city of Brunswick is home to one of the country’s busiest ports, a historic Old Town boasting Victorian-era buildings and a robust fishing and shrimping industry.

It may also be Georgia’s most polluted city. Brunswick is home to four Superfund sites, a federal designation for contaminated properties that require a long-term cleanup. That’s more than any other city in the Peach state.

Now, a new peer-reviewed Emory University study confirms what many in the city of 15,000 have long-suspected: Some Brunswick residents have been exposed to rare toxins tied to the polluted sites around them at levels that far outstrip the general population.

For the study, researchers from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health collected blood samples from 100 residents of Glynn County, which is home to Brunswick.

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

In nearly 40% of the participants, researchers detected blood levels of rare polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs — a class of now-banned man-made chemicals — that were higher than 95% of the general population of the U.S. They found more than 20% of those tested had concentrations of toxaphene, a pesticide produced for years in a local factory run by Hercules, that were above the 95th percentile nationally. Some had levels in their bodies “many times higher” than even those considered the most exposed in the U.S., the scientists said.

Noah Scovronick, an Emory associate professor of environmental health and one of the study’s lead authors, said these chemicals “can persist in the environment for long periods of time and are known to have contaminated some industrial sites in Glynn County.”

The findings resemble what’s been shared with the local community in public meetings over the last year and a half. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also observed blood sampling for the study and reported the preliminary results early last year. But their publication in Environmental Pollution, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, adds new heft to the findings.

The scientists began looking into pollution exposure in Brunswick back in 2022 at the urging of community groups, who have been concerned for years about health effects of the area’s legacy of industrial pollution.

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Brunswick’s Superfund sites include a tidal creek where wastewater from the former Hercules pesticide plant was discharged; and the LCP Chemicals site, an 813-acre property on the marsh that hosted several industrial tenants over the decades, including a power plant, an oil refinery and a chlorine factory. Some of that heavy industry fouled soil, groundwater and almost 700 acres of surrounding marsh with dangerous pollutants, including mercury, lead and PCBs.

Both the Hercules plant and LCP Chemicals closed years ago, but the harmful pollutants they produced linger in the environment.

Neither Hercules nor Honeywell, the multinational giant that purchased the LCP Chemicals property in 1998, responded to requests for comment.

Emory’s study only evaluated the community’s exposure to the toxins and compared them to the general population. It did not explore how chemicals made it into peoples’ bloodstreams or try to tie specific health impacts to the pollutants.

But the study’s results hint at exposure from the environment around Brunswick, the researchers said. The two PCBs found at high levels in study participants are known to exist in marshlands around the city. The same is true for toxaphene.

“The most plausible explanation is that there was a local source of these contaminants,” Scovronick said.

From the 1940s until 1980, Hercules produced toxaphene, a pesticide later found to harm wildlife and humans. Its use was banned in the U.S. in 1990 and today, the federal Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as a probable human carcinogen.

Portions of the LCP Chemicals site are contaminated with mercury, lead and PCBs, which were once used in transformers and other electrical equipment. The EPA says PCBs are also a probable human carcinogen linked to immune system impairment, lower birth weight and neurological deficits.

The EPA, which is overseeing cleanup at some Brunswick Superfund sites and conducting long-term pollution monitoring at others, did not immediately offer comment on the findings.

Anita Collins, a Brunswick resident who grew up near the Hercules plant and heads a local citizen-led planning group, praised the Emory team’s efforts to investigate the community’s long-standing concerns.

“We want folks to know about the legacy of industrial harms, the reality of a fence line neighborhood and the chronic health issues experienced by our neighbors in Brunswick, a breathtakingly beautiful paradise,” Collins said.

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Emory’s study did not find unusually high levels of mercury or other heavy metals in the participants.

The survey did detect elevated exposure to a specific type of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS, a class of man-made chemicals that have been linked to cancers and other health problems. The specific PFAS that showed up at unusually high levels in some participants is perfluorodecanoic acid, or PFDA, which has been used to greaseproof food packages, furniture, carpets and more, according to the EPA. The agency is currently studying PFDA’s human health effects.

Scovronick said his team wants to expand the study to enroll more participants, plus explore other questions the community still had about the pollution — like how people were exposed and what the health consequences are.

He said they are seeking funding from the National Institutes of Health to support the study’s next phase. But like many federal agencies, the NIH has endured deep staff cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration and has pulled back on research funding. Under Trump, the EPA has also been hit with staffing cuts, which some have warned could hamstring Superfund cleanups.

About the Author

Drew Kann is a reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covering climate change and environmental issues. His passion is for stories that capture how humans are responding to a changing environment. He is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia and Northwestern University, and prior to joining the AJC, he held various roles at CNN.

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BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Georgia’s largest Buc-ee’s is set to open this summer.

The Texas mega convenience store chain confirmed to Action News Jax that the grand opening date for its Brunswick location will be July 1.

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It’s being built off of Interstate 95 and Georgia 99. The Brunswick location will be the third Buc-ee’s location in Georgia.

This will be the second Buc-ee’s location in the Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia area, as the Buc-ee’s in St. Augustine opened in February 2021.

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Action News Jax first told you about this development back in July 2022 when economic leaders in Glynn County said they approved plans for a large travel center off Exit 42 (Georgia State Road 99) on Interstate 95.

We also told you when the company officially broke ground on the Brunswick location in January 2024.

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The building will be 74,000 square feet with more than 100 gas pumps.

The location is estimated to bring 200 full-time jobs.

In addition to Florida and Georgia, Buc-ee’s has opened travel centers in Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Colorado, since it began its multi-state expansion in 2019.

PHOTOS: Buc-ee’s breaks ground on its Brunswick, Georgia, location

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