NewcomersGuide_2017_SpringSummer_-web

BY NEIL GORDON
Publisher, Buzz on Biz
photo by Melissa Gordon
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) or are moving
within the region, I hope you visit the renaissance on Broad Street, thanks to the
passion and investment of many business owners and real estate developers.
COMMUNITY
Our business publication has closely
followed the growth since the beginning
of 2017. By 2018, downtown Augusta
will feature new restaurants, retail
options and the building of three new
hotels to provide beds and meeting
space for the influx of new business
coming to Augusta.
Sparking the onslaught of new
development was the announcement
in early 2017 of an investment by the
State of Georgia and Augusta University
into a $50 million cyber training center
to be built at the Augusta Riverfront
Campus at the site of the closed Golf
and Gardens.
“Cybersecurity is especially important
now that cybercrime is bigger than
the global black market for marijuana,
cocaine and heroin combined,” Deal said
at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s
annual Eggs and Issues breakfast.
Sometime in 2018 the campus will be
complete.
Our managing editor Amanda King
walked up and down Broad Street and
found developers willing to re-invest—
including the Usry family, known for its
“Fat Man’s” brand of shopping decades
ago to its modern day Fat Man’s Café
and Catering in re-developed Enterprise
Mill—just a mile from the heart of
downtown Augusta.
“Since 1948, we’ve been committed
to downtown Augusta,” said VP
of Operations and Development,
Havird Usry. “I think this just furthers
our commitment to the growth and
progression of downtown.”
The family purchased the buildings at
1006 and 1008 Broad Street, he told
King. The 1008 property has been
76 | THE NEWCOMERS GUIDE: GREATER AUGUSTA