1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

11 

Tech-Tonic 

Shift 

14 

Residential 

Renaissance 

33 

Rebirth of a 

Community 

ISSUE 1 

FALL 2018 

HONORING 

THE PAST, 

EMBRACING 

THE FUTURE 

THE 

REVITALIZATION 

OF DOWNTOWN 

AUGUSTA 

52 

A Coordinated 

Effort 

65 

New Life for 

Old Offices 

1736Magazine.com • $4.95 

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MAGAZINE PARTNERS

PRESIDENT 

TONY BERNADOS 

WELCOME MESSAGE 04 

MAYOR’S MEMO 06 

DOWNTOWN MAP 08 

TECH-TONIC SHIFT 11 

RESIDENTIAL RENAISSANCE 14 

BACK TO BROAD 29 

REBIRTH OF A COMMUNITY 33 

WHATS ‘OLDE’ IS NEW 37 

TURNING BACK THE BLOCK 41 

UPSCALE ON THE RIVER 44 

KING OF OLDE TOWN 48 

ON THE STREET 50 

A COORDINATED EFFORT 52 

PICTURE THIS 54 

TWO CITIES, ONE DOWNTOWN 58 

DOWNTOWN BEAUTIFICATION 60 

NEW LIFE FOR OLD OFFICES 65 

FINAL WORDS 71 

EDITOR 

DAMON CLINE 

DESIGNER 

VICTORIA KNIGHT 

Mailing address: 

725 Broad Street, Augusta, GA 30901 

Telephone 

706.724.0851 

Editorial: 

Damon Cline 

706.823.3352 

dcline@augustachronicle.com 

Advertising: 

706.823.3400 

We welcome suggestions. 

Please send ideas or inquires 

to dcline@augustachronicle.com 

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based on the information contained in this 

publication. 

A PRODUCT OF 


FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Inviting 

The Future In 

Tony 

Bernados 

PHONE 

706.821.6602 

EMAIL 

tbernados 

@augustachronicle.com 

Like perhaps many natives 

and longtime residents of 

Augusta, Jennifer Hilliard 

Scott almost didn’t 

recognize her hometown on a recent 

Friday night. 

As we note in an Augusta 

Chronicle editorial, Scott was 

simply blown away by the vitality 

downtown when she attended 

the Augusta Symphony’s seasonopening 

performance at the newly 

restored Miller Theater Friday, Sept. 

28. 

She shared her happy epiphany on 

Facebook: 

“The Miller is gorgeous and 

the symphony was stunningly 

beautiful,” she posted. “But what 

shocked me more? As I drove down 

Broad Street looking for a place 

to park, I was happily surprised. 

There were people EVERYWHERE. 

Outside walking, eating, looking in 

stores and art galleries. Downtown 

Augusta was straight-up packed 

with people.” 

That gets your attention, coming 

from an Augusta native who, like 

many, had dreamed in her youth 

of faraway places. Still, her post 

might’ve been the end of it – except 

that commenter after commenter 

came in under her social media 

post to add their own praise for 

downtown Augusta. 

“I’m overjoyed to see people 

enjoying downtown!” one of them 

wrote. “I have a feeling the best is 

still to come too! Let me tell you – 

my hometown is going places. Go 

see for yourself! #hometownproud 

#downtownAugusta.” 

“I had a similar epiphany not too 

long ago,” observed another. “Had a 

little bit of trouble finding a parking 

spot and parked a couple of blocks 

away. Started walking toward the 

restaurant ... weather was nice, some 

guy was playing a saxophone on 

the street corner and it was echoing 

through the buildings, people 

milling about, just very pleasant. I 

literally stopped in the middle of the 

sidewalk to do a reality check. Went 

to Solé and sat out on the patio. It 

4 u 1736magazine.com

was so nice. It is not the same place, definitely 

up and coming!” 

Welcome to Augusta, circa 2018. It’s not 

just the historic Augusta of your past. It’s the 

exciting Augusta of your future. An almost 

cosmic confluence has flowed together to 

put the city on the fast track to a growing, 

prosperous new day. 

Across the river, North Augusta, S.C., has 

already opened multi-use stadium SRP Park, 

awarded 2018 ballpark of the year by both 

Ballpark Digest and BaseballParks.com. Office, 

hotel, retail and residential amenities are 

going up all around it. 

Augusta has also become ground zero for 

the booming cybersecurity revolution. The 

Pentagon’s ongoing consolidation of its 

U.S. Army Cyber Command at nearby Fort 

Gordon prompted Georgia officials to build 

the $100 million Cyber Center on the Augusta 

riverfront. And all of it has inspired new and 

existing cyber-related industry to come to 

town, which is only beginning. 

The increased business and industry is 

leading to more nighttime vitality, as noted by 

the above social media observers. More people 

are shopping, dining, dancing and enjoying 

world-class entertainment downtown. 

One online commenter said her son ran into 

comedian Jerry Seinfeld recently while jogging 

on the Augusta Riverwalk. “Downtown 

Augusta can be full of surprises,” she said. 

Meanwhile, new hotels are popping up, 

historic buildings are being refurbished, 

Augusta University is bringing lively young 

students to its downtown campus – and to 

the cyber center – and a new $94 million 

mix of retail, office and residential offerings 

is planned for the depot property along the 

river between 5th and 6th streets downtown. 

The historic depot will be given new life, as 

downtown is given added life. 

Most communities around the world would 

love to be experiencing half the headway 

Augusta is making. If there’s ever been a 

headier, more exciting time in this grand old 

city’s history, we’re hard-pressed to think of 

one. 

Maybe the only comparison is to the days 

of the early 20th century when downtown 

was abuzz and alight with multiple theaters 

up and down Broad Street. But even there 

we’re recapturing some of that magic with 

the restored Miller Theater teaming up with 

the Imperial Theatre to create a vibrant arts 

district. 

There’s even talk of replacing James Brown 

Arena, just a few blocks away from Broad, 

with a new state-of-the-art facility with 

greater seating capacity and an expanded 

capacity for hosting big-time acts. 

Nor can we imagine a better time for 1736 

– a magazine that’s all about advocating the 

very kind of dynamic progress we’re seeing 

emerge. 

But while all this bustle makes our job 

of advancing Augusta’s interests so much 

easier, we can’t become complacent. Our job 

as a community is to do everything possible 

to maximize the amazing opportunities 

knocking on the city’s door. 

That’s what 1736 is for. It’s the program 

with which you can follow all the action on 

Augusta’s increasingly crowded stage. 

So grab your program, sit back and watch 

this amazing performance of a city come 

alive. 


PHOTO BY JON-MICHAEL SULLIVAN 

Mayor’s Memo 

Hardie Davis 

Mayor 

Augusta, the heart and soul of a 

metropolitan area exceeding a 

half-million people, is a city rich in 

history, tradition, and culture. 

Our city’s importance in Georgia 

goes back to its founding in 1736, first as a 

strategic outpost, then as the state capital from 

1785-1795 and eventually its growth into its 

second-largest metro area, with notable residents 

including Godfather of Soul James Brown, 

President Woodrow Wilson and country music’s 

Lady Antebellum. 

Today the city enjoys a diverse economy and 

an internationally recognized name thanks to 

the famed Masters Tournament. And though 

the community is heavily showcased every year 

during the first week of April, golf is only a small 

part of what makes the “Garden City” a special 

place to live, work, and play. 

The city – home to nearly 202,000 residents 

and growing – is brimming with international 


companies, top-notch research institutions, 

cutting edge businesses and world-changing 

organizations. 

Augusta University is the state’s only public 

health sciences graduate university, helping 

supply a growing state with physicians, dentists, 

nurses and other health care professionals. 

Our downtown medical district also includes 

University Hospital, Children’s Hospital of 

Georgia, the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center 

and AU’s state-of-the-art Cancer Research 

Center. All told, the area health care industry 

employs more than 25,000 people, generates 

nearly $1.8 billion in economic impact, and makes 

Augusta a regional hub for medical training and 

biotechnology innovation. 

Manufacturing, too, has had a long and sizable 

presence in our region, even as globalization has 

moved significant industrial production overseas. 

Augusta’s quality workforce, abundance of 

resources and pro-business atmosphere continue

making manufacturing a vital piece of the 

local economy. 

Augusta is proud of the “Golf Capital 

of the World” title, with 90 percent of the 

world’s golf cars manufactured by two 

area companies, E-Z-GO and Club Car. In 

addition to those industry leaders, we also 

have manufacturing facilities for Covidien, 

International Paper, The Kellogg Co., 

Starbucks, Elanco and many more spread 

out over the 306 square miles of Augusta- 

Richmond County. 

Though modern medical and 

manufacturing are key drivers of our 

prosperity, Augusta’s Fort Gordon is rapidly 

becoming the region’s 

epicenter of growth, 

innovation and 

opportunity. 

Established in 

Augusta’s downtown, 

once struggling to 

remain relevant, now 

is filled with incredible 

dining, growing 

businesses and new 

living spaces. 

1917, the installation 

formerly known as 

Camp Gordon has long 

been the time-honored 

home of the U.S. Army 

Signal Corps. But the 

important role it has 

played in the city’s 

expansion became 

outsized in late 2013 

with the base being 

selected as the new 

home of Army Cyber 

Command. 

This announcement 

has brought thousands 

of soldiers and families 

to Augusta and has 

piqued the interest of 

defense contractors and cybersecurity firms 

wanting to be in close proximity to the brave 

men and women who engage in 24-hour cyber 

warfare. 

The energy and excitement generated by 

Fort Gordon’s new mission is undeniable. 

Augusta’s downtown, once struggling 

to remain relevant, now is filled with 

incredible dining, growing businesses and 

new living spaces. Old textile mills are 

being converted into office space for tech 

startups. Cybersecurity firms are relocating 

and expanding in buildings overlooking the 

Savannah River. 

Hardie Davis 

AU’s fledgling Riverfront Campus is home 

to the Georgia Cyber Center, a $100 million 

facility that will train Georgia’s workforce to 

use, and in hope create, the tools necessary to 

keep our nation safe from cyber threats. 

The 332,000-square-foot, Georgia 

Technology Authority-owned facility, a 

priority of Gov. Nathan Deal, will bring 

academia and public and private sectors 

together under one roof to educate, innovate 

and collaborate on pressing issues in the cyber 

industry. 

Augusta residents and companies are 

embracing the changes at Fort Gordon, too. 

Businesses such as Sizemore Inc. have 

relocated to Gordon 

Highway, the main 

corridor between 

downtown and Fort 

Gordon. So ripe for 

redevelopment is this area 

that I’ve named it SOGO, 

for “South of Gordon 

Highway.” 

In the public sector, 

government leaders are 

actively working with 

landowners to promote 

mixed-use developments, 

micro-manufacturing 

facilities and other land 

uses along the popular 

thoroughfare. The singlelargest 

SOGO project would 

be converting the vacant, 

800,000-square-foot 

Regency Mall into space 

that spurs redevelopment 

along the corridor. 

As mayor, I am working with property 

owners and local stakeholders, and I am 

confident this site will realize its full potential 

in the near future. 

A community with historic roots and 

endless possibilities, Augusta will soon be the 

undisputed Silicon Valley of the South and 

Cyber Security Hub of World. 

Thanks to the hard work of so many, we 

are moving from a city of potential to a place 

of endless opportunity for everyone, a place 

where people want to live, learn, work and 

raise their family. • 


3 

1 

5 

4 

2 

1 

Augusta 

Cyberworks 

Location: Former Sibley and King mills, Goodrich St 

Description: Renovation of two 19th century textile mills into a 

multi-phased, 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use campus featuring 

a 20-megawatt data center & 250 market-rate apartments Owner/ 

Developer: Cape Augusta Digital Properties LLC Investment: $150 

million Timeline: Sibley Mill phase I completed June 2017; cyber 

training center March 2018; data center July 2019; King Mill apartments 

Sept. 2019 

2 

MCG Foundation 

gateway project 

Location: 15th St between John C. Calhoun Expressway & Walton Way 

Description: 20-acre mixed-use urban development with 1.2 million 

square feet of housing, offices, general retail, hotel and a grocery store 

on the former Kroger-anchored Central Square shopping center 

Owner/Developer: MCG Foundation Investment: $132 million 

Timeline: Ground breaking scheduled late-2018 

3 

Riverside Village 

Location: NA riverfront & 13th St. bridge 

Description: Public-private mixed-use development anchored by new 

Augusta GreenJackets baseball stadium; will include 180-room Crowne 

Plaza hotel and conference center, apartments, restaurants, retail 

and office space Owner/Developer: City of North Augusta, Augusta 

GreenJackets, Greenstone Properties Investment: $230 million 

Timeline: 

8 u 

Ground broken June 2017; all projects expected to be 

complete 

1736magazine.com 

in Dec. 2018 

4 

Location: 1268 Broad St. 

Description: 100-room hotel includes ground floor retail and 

restaurant space as well as a 140-space parking deck on 1-acre tract 

previously occupied by a vacant bank branch 

Owner/Developer: DTJR LLC 

Investment: $25 million Timeline: Ground broken June 2017; 

completion expected 4th quarter 2018 

5 

6 

Hyatt House 

Georgia Cyber 

Center 

Location: Augusta University Riverfront Campus, 13th & Reynolds 

streets 

Description: 168,000-square-foot cyber education facility for Georgia 

state agencies also will house AU Cyber Institute, a cyber range & 

small business incubator Owner/Developer: Georgia Technology 

Authority Investment: $100 million 

Timeline: Hull McKnight Building opened July 2018; Schaffer-Mc- 

Cartney building to open in Dec. 2018 

TaxSlayer 

Building 


Description: Evans-based tax preparation software developer will 

move 100 programmers into the 94-year-old former Family Y Downtown 

building it purchased in June 

Owner/Developer: TaxSlayer LLC Investment: $5 million 

Timeline: Renovations & move-in expected 4th quarter 2018

DOWNTOWN 

AUGUSTA GEORGIA 

Nearly $1 billion in public and private investment is poised to help transform 

Augusta’s urban core during the next several years, including these 11 projects: 

6 9 

7 

8 

10 

11 

7 SunTrust Building 


Description: Renovation of 50-year-old building’s 

compartmentalized office suites into modern shared-space 

work environments ranging from 1,000- to 20,000-sqft spaces 

Owner/Developer: Broad & Eleventh Street LLC 

Investment: $4.5 million 

Timeline: Renovations started July 2017 ; completed Sept. 2018 

8 

9 

Lamar Building 


Description: The 102,000-square-foot historic 

skyscraper’s new owner, a real estate investor from Charleston, S.C., 

is said to be exploring redevelopment of the property as a residential 

and office complex, possibly in conjunction with the nearby Marion 

Building 

Owner/Developer: Park Meridian Holdings Investment: 

$820,000 for building; renovation cost unknown 

Timeline: Unknown 

Marion Building 


Description: The 10-story building, vacant and 

mostly gutted for more than 40 years, could be redeveloped as 

residential space, possibly in conjunction with the nearby Lamar 

Building, with which it shares a parking lot 

Owner/Developer: Marion Partners LLC 

Investment: Unknown Timeline: Unknown 

10 

Location: 709-711 Broad St. 

Description: Museum would double in size by relocating from 

the Augusta Riverfront Center to the nearly 58,000-square-foot 

neo-classical former bank building 

Owner/Developer: Morris Museum of Art 

Investment: Unknown Timeline: Possibly 2021 

11 

Morris 

Museum of Art 

Riverfront at 

the Depot 

Location: 511 Reynolds St. 

Description: Six acres of city-owned riverfront property is being 

marketed to a private developer with plans to build a large-scale 

mixed-use complex that would include residential 

Owner/Developer: BLOC Global Group; city of Augusta 

Investment: $94 million 

Timeline: Project announced Oct. 2018 



“Tech”-Tonic Shift 

Fix downtown Augusta today for tomorrow’s residents 

PHOTO BY DAMON CLINE 

By Damon Cline 

Poor old James Oglethorpe. 

Every day his monument in 

the center of the Augusta Common 

faces the decrepit Kress 

building, one of downtown’s least 

attractive – and yet most prominently situated 

– structures. 

At least the statue of James Brown at 

the Common’s south end faces away from 

the blight. Perhaps that’s why the bronze 

of the city’s most famous son is smiling 

and its colonial-era founder isn’t? 

On most days, there is 

little around either effigy 

to indicate to anyone – 

especially visitors – that 

they’re in the heart of a 

community teeming with 

vitality. Certainly nothing 

that would indicate 

they are in a place Fortune 

magazine said has 

potential to become the 

“World’s Cybersecurity 

Capital.” 

What ramshackle 

buildings like the former 

department store do best 

is make Augusta’s urban 

core look rotten. The 

same goes for the boarded 

up, long-vacant and 

condemned structures in 

other areas of the central 

business district. 

They whisper in your 

ear like an apparition: 

This city is tired…depressed...dying… 

Appearances aside, the reality of downtown 

Augusta is that it’s more alive than 

it’s been in a long time. 

The voices of the city center’s old 

ghosts are slowly being drowned out by 

a cacophony of investment – nearly $1 

What people 

don’t see is that 

property is 

changing hands 

downtown at 

one of the 

highest rates ever. 

Margaret Woodard 

billion worth of private and public dollars 

flowing into everything from new hotels 

and office buildings to streetscape improvements 

and a high-tech cybersecurity 

innovation center. 

“What people don’t see is that property 

is changing hands downtown at one 

of the highest rates ever,” said Margaret 

Woodard, executive director of the Downtown 

Development Authority. “I have not 

seen this pace in the 12 years that I’ve been 

here. There’s a major shift going on that 

many people are unaware of.” 

The tectonic shift she alludes to is perhaps 

best described as a 

“tech”-tonic shift. 

Just tally up a few of 

the developments turning 

Augusta’s urban core 

into the metro area’s 

center of innovation: 

Augusta University’s 

expansion of research 

facilities in the medical 

district; the soon-tobe-completed 

TaxSlayer 

software-development 

operation on Broad 

Street; the expansion of 

Unisys’ state-of-theart 

client services center 

along the Savannah 

River; the renovation of 

the Sibley and King textile 

mills in Harrisburg 

into a high-tech campus 

known as Augusta Cyberworks; 

and ongoing 

construction of the $100 

million Georgia Cyber Center on AU’s Riverfront 

Campus. 

This tide of tech-fueled investments 

appears to be the early stages of what AU 

President Brooks Keel has repeatedly called 

a “cyber tsunami” – an influx that thousands 

of highly-skilled electronic warriors 


and military contractors will have on the economy 

once Army Cyber Command completes its 

move from Fort Belvoir, Va., to Fort Gordon by 

2020. 

The rapid establishment of the entirely new 

industry could be the most transformative event 

to hit the region since the federal government 

built the Savannah River Site across the river 

in the 1950s, possibly since Bobby Jones established 

his world famous golf club here in the 

early 1930s. 

Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis says the city is 

undergoing a “renaissance.” 

“We’ve taken a community that many see as 

a community ‘down by the river’ to a community 

of innovation and technology,” he said. 

The command’s move to Augusta is pumping 

more than $1 billion worth of new construction 

and 5,000 jobs into the base, but city leaders 

such as Keel say the real transformation of the 

region – and downtown in particular – could 

occur from cyber-related start-up companies 

and spin-offs. 

“(It’s) not just the families who are going to 

be moving here as part of that command,” Keel 

said. “But the families that are going to be moving 

here as part of the industry that is going to 

support that command … This is just an unbelievable 

opportunity for Augusta.” 

Indeed, the convergence of the information 

security industry in Augusta could establish 

the region as an innovator in a rapidly growing 

sector that safeguards everything from household 

appliances to the nation’s missile defense 

systems. 

Many of those future cyber workers will be 

young people wanting to make their home in 

downtown Augusta, said Stan Shepherd, chairman 

of the CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon, 

whose Fort Gordon Cyber District initiative is 

marketing the seven-county area as “the ideal 

environment for technology professionals to 

live, work and play.” 

“We are really in the process of talent attraction 

as a community as we try to bring cybersecurity 

professionals into the area,” he said. 

“Oftentimes, what we hear from those professionals 

is that they are looking for a downtown 

area to call home.” 

And they’re going to be looking for office 

space, too. That’s one of the reasons a real 

estate investment firm affiliated with Augusta-based 

McKnight Construction Co. purchased 

the SunTrust Building at Eighth and Broad 

streets last year. 

The company recently completed a multimillion-dollar 

renovation that opens up the 

50-year-old building’s compartmentalized offices 

to better appeal to tech companies that rely 

on shared workspaces to boost collaboration and 

productivity, said Ryan Downs, the investment 

group’s senior vice president and head of McKnight’s 

real estate holdings. 

The spaces, which range from 1,000- to 

20,000-square-feet and access the same highspeed 

fiber optic line that serves the Unisys office, 

will be marketed to tech companies big and 

small – including startups that could emerge 

from incubators such as the SharedSpace 

co-working center on Greene Street. 

“I think it’s is a very complementary project,” 

Downs said. “It would be a very natural 

progression for a start-up there to simply move 

to a suite here, or, vice versa, for people who 

work here to work on their innovative start-up 

there on their own time.” 

The central city’s tech-centric transformation 

is the third revitalization wave to emerge 

since the exodus to the suburbs hollowed out 

downtown during the 1960s and 1970s. 

The first ripples of a renaissance were created 

by artists and boutique owners moving into 

vacant storefronts during the 1980s and early 

1990s; many of their shops and galleries still 

line Broad Street’s “Artists Row.” 

The next two decades belonged to bar and 

restaurant owners, whose eclectic eateries and 

pubs helped fuel the burgeoning milieu and cement 

downtown as the city’s cultural and entertainment 

center. 

Tomorrow’s urban core is being shaped today 

by information technology companies and 

their city-loving millennial employees who seek 

the “live, work and play” experience on the very 

streets that Oglethorpe mapped out nearly three 

centuries ago. 

The transition couldn’t come at a better 

time, said Georgia Chamber of Commerce CEO 

Chris Clark. Augusta isn’t the only community 

vying to make its central city attractive to young 

professionals. 

“Whoever wins them and gets them to move 

to their communities and their downtowns will 

find economic success,” Clark told Augusta 

business leaders earlier this year. “If you can’t 

attract millennials, it’s done. It’s over. Hang the 

sign on the door.” • 


DOWNTOWN AUGUSTA 

What's Needed? 

SOME 

SPRUCING 

UP: 

“It’s a beautiful city – it just needs a facelift. It needs some work. When you 

look at what we’re trying to attract – the type of businesses and the type 

of person – they’re looking for a revitalized, vibrant, live-work-play space 

where they can do all that.” Dale Dye, former site director, Unisys 

MORE 

PARKING: 

A 

SINGULAR 

VISION: 

“Parking is becoming a very large issue in the downtown area. We believe 

that now is the time to look at that issue and maybe develop a plan to go 

three or four years out so that we can be prepared for the eventuality of 

people having to find safe and hopefully convenient parking.” Sue Parr, 

president, Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce 

“I believe I’ve seen three of four versions of what downtown can be, so I 

believe that a unified vision is important and probably (not having one) 

right now creates more of a barrier than anything else.” Angela Pringle, 

superintendent, Richmond County Schools 

BETTER 

POLICY-MAKING: 

PROACTIVE 

PROPERTY 

OWNERS: 

“The commissioners are elected by districts, so their interests, of course, 

are for their district. But they have to overlook that in order to invest in 

downtown, because that’s good for everybody.” Paul Simon, managing 

partner, Augusta Riverfront LLC 

“Even though we’ve made tremendous progress downtown, on Broad Street 

there are still a lot of storefronts that have not had the development that I 

think you’d like to see.” Augusta University President Brooks Keel 

RENEWED 

CIVIC 

PRIDE: 

CONSISTENT 

BUSINESS 

HOURS: 

MORE 

RESIDENTIAL 

DEVELOPMENT: 

“Where we were was people didn’t appreciate what they had, and I think 

now they do. And I think that appreciation is going to spread. When we feel 

good about Augusta, other people are going to feel good about Augusta.” 

Robert Osborne, chairman, Augusta Tomorrow 

“We’re going to have to have a seven-day-a-week business environment. 

No more restaurants opening three days a week, no more museums being 

closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.” said Brenda Durant, 

executive director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council. 

“You might as well say we’re at 100 percent capacity when it comes to living 

units. So the living aspect – the rental property and the opportunity to own 

in the downtown area – is something that would help strengthen 

downtown.” Stan Shepherd, chairman, CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon 


RESIDENTIAL 

RENAISSANCE 

New generation of renters and homeowners 

repopulating Augusta’s urban core 


S 

unset turns the windows of Cameron 

Henry’s Broad Street apartment 

into a picture show. 

Fleeting daylight bathes the 

downtown buildings of upper in 

amber. Neon letters at the Firestone tire 

shop glow red like a beacon. Asphalt turns 

into a stream of headlights and taillights. 

Passersby meander along the sidewalk on 

their way to dinner, drinks or a show. Or 

perhaps all three. 

The vitality of 

the central business 

district outside his 

We have the 

best seat to 

every parade. 

Alexis Parr 

1,500-square-foot 

loft is certainly not 

what the 25 yearold 

project engineer 

expected when he 

moved here two years 

ago. 

“All the things I 

heard before I moved 

to Augusta were like, 

‘Oh, you’re going to hate it there,’ ” Henry 

recalled. “But I remember calling people 

a week after living here saying, ‘Hey, this 

place rocks. I just went to this amazing 

concert – 40 feet from my house.’ ” 

Downtown Augusta wasn’t always this 

cool. 

A decade ago, the apartment the Kansas 

native shares with his girlfriend, Alexis 

Parr, 23, didn’t exist. Two decades ago, 

most of the restaurants, bars and nightclubs 

they frequent were vacant buildings 

– including the Mellow Mushroom pizzeria, 

where they met. Three decades ago, 

downtown Augusta was on practically on 

life support. 

Today, the occupancy rate for downtown 

loft apartments is consistently above 

95 percent. Only the most unwieldy and 

dilapidated commercial spaces remain 

undeveloped. An eight-story 

Hyatt Place hotel is under 

construction just two buildings 

down from Henry’s 

apartment. Two blocks to 

the north is the bustling 

construction site of the $100 

million Georgia Cyber Center. 

The revitalization occurring 

in the heart of downtown 

is merely a microcosm 

of what is happening in 

neighborhoods throughout 

the urban core. 

Just east of downtown, a constant flow 

of individuals and real estate investors 

are purchasing and renovating worn but 

charming turn-of-the-century homes 

along oak-lined streets of Olde Town. 

On the westside, in the former textile 

mill neighborhood of Harrisburg, grassroots 

activists are building on the momentum 

of the $90 million Salvation Army 

Kroc Center to replace ramshackle rental 

PHOTO BY MIKE ADAMS 


Downtown Dwellers 

Cameron Henry and Alexis Parr 

AGE: 25 and 23 

NEIGHBORHOOD: Broad Street 

By day, Cameron Henry is in remote 

Burke County working on massive 

water intake structures for the new 

reactors at Plant Vogtle. By night, 

he’s in the heart of downtown 

Augusta having dinner, listening to live music or 

having a beer with friends. 

The big difference is once he gets home to his 

loft apartment on Broad Street, the car keys stay 

hung up. 

“Some weekends I don’t drive the car at all,” 

the 25-year-old construction project manager 

said. 

He moved into the two-story loft apartment 

on the 1200 block when his company assigned 

him to the Vogtle project two years ago. Henry 

said he didn’t want to live anywhere in Augusta 

but downtown because it reminded him of a 

smaller version of Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, 

Kan., where he attended the University of 

Kansas. 

“It’s a good community,” he said. “It has 

a good arts scene. I can see this place turning 

totally into Mass Street.” 

The downtown bar and restaurant scene is 

also conducive to meeting people. Henry met his 

girlfriend, Alexis Parr, an Augusta native and 

student at Augusta University, while she was 

working at the Mellow Mushroom about a block 

from his apartment. 

Alexis said she never thought she would live 

downtown because her family ventured only 

occasionally into the central business district. 

“We would come every once in a while if there 

was a play or something, but other than that, 

not really,” she said. 

Henry said he believes many young people in 

Augusta don’t realize all the opportunities the 

city has to offer. 

“The biggest gripe we hear, and it irks us, is 

when people say, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to do in 

Augusta,’ ” Henry said. “Are you kidding me? 

We live on a river. Take a boat out. Go kayaking. 

Go hiking. There’s plenty to do in Augusta. 

There’s always something going on.” 

And sometimes they don’t even have to leave 

the apartment. “We have the best seat to every 

parade,” she said. 


units and vacant lots with new, owner-occupied 

homes. 

South of downtown, in the historically black 

Laney-Walker/Bethlehem neighborhood, city officials 

are funneling a portion of hotel tax revenues 

into redevelopment projects ranging from new 

single-family homes to an upscale, 221-unit apartment 

complex called Foundry Place. 

Just across the across the state line in North 

Augusta, young professionals and empty nesters 

are snapping up high-end apartment units in the 

brand new SRP Park-anchored Riverside Village 

development along the Savannah River. 

LIKE MOST AMERICAN CITIES, Augusta is in 

the midst of an urban renaissance. 

And that’s good no matter what part of town 

people call home, said Ed McMahon, the senior 

resident fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Urban 

Land Institute. 

“If you don’t have a healthy downtown, you 

simply don’t have a healthy city; the apple rots 

from the inside out,” said McMahon, who also 

serves as chairman of the national Main Street 

America organization. “A downtown is the first 

thing people will look at when considering making 

a relocation or investment decision in a region, 

even if they’re not investing in downtown.” 

As in other cities, the repopulation of Augusta’s 

core is being driven primarily by demographics and 

changes in consumer tastes. 

The good schools, big yards and sprawling 

shopping centers that beckoned young families 

to the suburbs in decades past have less appeal to 

millennials, who are more likely to have children 

later in life, if at all. 

McMahon noted only a quarter of American 

households today have school-age children, and 

that the fastest-growing type of household is an 

unmarried person living alone. Younger consumers 

also are less fearful of urban environments than 

their parents and grandparents, having come of 

age after American crime peaked in the late 1980s 

and early 1990s. 

Millennials also seek a different neighborhood 

experience, McMahon said. They tend to value 

community over privacy, diversity over homogeneity, 

and authenticity and interesting over comfortable 

and predictable. 

But the biggest reason downtowns are coming 

back is that tomorrow’s homeowners are less interested 

in driving. Twenty-five years ago, McMahon 

said, 92 percent of 18-year-olds had a driver’s 

license; today that figure has fallen to 67 percent 

as young people turn increasingly to public transportation 

and ride-sharing services such as Uber 

and Lyft. 

“It used to be a driver’s license was considered 

a ticket to freedom,” McMahon said. “Today, the 

cell phone is your ticket to freedom.” 

THE REPOPULATION OF AUGUSTA’S URBAN 

CORE, much like the suburban exodus that preceded 

it, has been slow, steady and driven by individual 

consumers. New downtown residents are finding 

the same shortcomings that existed a generation 

ago: 

* Its public schools, with the exception 

of magnet schools, vastly underperform 

their suburban counterparts. 

* A large percentage of structures are 

vacant, abandoned or dilapidated. 

* Public access to downtown’s primary 

natural asset, the Savannah River, is 

still limited. 

* The city’s mass transit system is inadequate 

and woefully underutilized, 

serving only 3,000 riders a day. 

* Political subdivisions pit the city’s 

geographic regions against each other. 

But in recent years, downtown denizens have 

encountered a new problem: lack of parking. Developers 

say parking problems are discouraging 

more people from living, working and playing in 

the central business district. 

“Parking is a gigantic issue,” said Paul King, 

president of Rex Property & Land, which owns 

and manages residential and commercial property 

in the urban core, including the mixed-use J.B. 

White’s Building on the 900 block of Broad Street. 

“We’ve been slowed down by the parking as much 

as anything.” 

The problem, he said, is not so much a shortage 

of spaces – the central business district has 

an estimated 5,000 empty spots at any given time 

– but lack of enforcement. Motorists routinely 


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flout Broad Street’s two-hour rule, clogging 

valuable curbside spaces all day and forcing 

potential customers to seek parking on side 

streets or blocks away. 

City Administrator Janice Allen Jackson 

said Augusta still maintains small-town 

attitudes when it comes to parking. 

“Much of that problem has been addressed 

with construction of downtown 

parking decks, but Augustans are still 

reluctant to pay for parking or walk a few 

blocks, like people in larger communities,” 

she said. 

The Augusta Commission earlier this 

year formed a committee to explore parking 

enforcement options in 

advance of a transportation 

tax-funded streetscape project 

designed to make Broad Street 

more pedestrian friendly. Four 

years ago, city leaders voted 

down a parking management 

plan presented by the Downtown 

Development Authority 

because of opposition from 

several downtown stakeholders. 

One of them was Bryan 

Haltermann, whose Haltermann 

Partners develops, owns 

and manages the more than 60 

loft apartments in the central 

business district. He said he is not opposed 

to parking management in theory, but said 

he believed the original plan did not make 

enough concessions for downtown dwellers 

and business owners. 

“I’m not opposed to meters on Broad 

Street if you can identify places on like 

Jones and Ellis (streets) where people who 

work down here all day long or live down 

here can park and not have to feed a meter 

all day,” he said. 

McMahon said he believes parking will 

become less important in American downtowns 

as ridesharing and alternative forms 

of transportation increase in popularity. For 

now, Augusta should consider parking congestion 

a good problem to have. 

“If you have a parking problem, that 


generally means you are successful,” he 

said. “When you didn’t have a parking 

problem, it meant people weren’t there.” 

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FEW MAG- 

NET SCHOOLS and the Heritage Academy 

charter school, the poor academic performance 

of public K-12 schools in Augusta’s 

city center would be a deal-breaker for most 

young families considering moving to the 

city. 

But Ross and Brittany McDaniel and 

their year year-old son, Max, are not your 

typical young family. They sold their home 

in the middle-class National Hills neighborhood 

last year to purchase a three-bedroom 

bungalow on Russell 

Street in Harrisburg, a historically 

blue-collar neighborhood 

devastated by the 

One thing 

we noticed is 

that people 

would look out 

for each other. 

demise of Augusta’s textile 

industry decades ago. 

Today, nearly a quarter 

of its homes are vacant 

or abandoned, including 

its signature “shotgun 

shacks” that housed 

employees of the nearby 

King, Sibley and Enterprise 

mills. Of the homes that 

are occupied, 80 percent 

are low-income renters 

receiving some form of 

federal assistance, according to the grassroots 

Turn Back the Block neighborhood 

organization. 

The McDaniels didn’t choose Harrisburg 

so much as they were “called” to it through 

their church, Crawford Avenue Baptist, 

which they joined in 2015 through a merger 

with their previous church, Berea Baptist, in 

Evans. 

They moved downtown to be close to the 

congregation and improve the neighborhood 

around the inner city church through 

virtuous living. 

“We’re not looking to gentrify the 

neighborhood,” explains Ross, a 28-yearold 

digital marketing executive with New- 

Fire Media in North Augusta. “And we’re 

not looking to come in and rescue anyone or 

Ross McDaniel 

PHOTO BY MICHAEL HOLAHAN


Ross, Brittany & Max McDaniel 

AGE: 29 & 26; son Max, 1-year-old 

NEIGHBORHOOD: Harrisburg 

For decades, Harrisburg was the kind of neighborhood 

people moved from – not to. 

The hollowing out of American manufacturing 

sent the historically blue-collar neighborhood 

into a tailspin, leaving mostly blighted blocks 

of “shotgun shacks” between the city’s downtown 

district and the posh Summerville neighborhood. 

Although investments in the Augusta’s downtown 

and medical districts have helped elevate Harrisburg’s 

stature in recent years, the neighborhood is still not 

the place one would expect to find young professionals 

like Ross and Brittany McDaniel starting a family. 

Faith, not finances, drove their decision last year to 

sell their home in the National Hills subdivision and 

purchase a three-bedroom bungalow on Russell Street. 

Simply put, they are on a mission from God to make 

Harrisburg a better place to live by being good neighbors. 

They take to heart the message espoused in the 

faith-based best-seller “When Helping Hurts: How 

to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and 

Yourself.” 

The book advocates building lasting relationships 

with the poor instead of giving short-term handouts 

that rarely elevate people from poverty. 

“One of the best ways we can do ministry is just by 

living life with folks,” Ross said. “We don’t want to 

be the paternalistic people. We just want to be neighbors.” 

The couple and their 1-year-old son, Max, are members 

of Harrisburg’s Crawford Avenue Baptist Church, 

which is just a few blocks from their home. The Mc- 

Daniels were among dozens of families who joined the 

inner-city church when their previous church, Berea 

Baptist in Evans, merged with the century-old congregation 

in 2015. 

The Russell Street home isn’t Ross’ first experience 

living in Harrisburg. He and a roommate rented a 

home on Starnes Street while working on his marketing 

degree at Augusta University. He realized during 

his college years the neighborhood was populated by 

many civic-minded residents. 

“One thing we noticed is that people would look out 

for each other,” he said. 

Ross volunteers with Turn Back The Block, a Harrisburg 

revitalization organization that aims to increase 

the number of owner-occupants. 

The McDaniel’s 1930s bungalow cost more than their 

previous 1960s-era ranch, but it also boasts 500 additional 

square feet, a neighborhood with sidewalks and 

– the McDaniel’s favorite feature – a front porch. 

“Before, we were back-porch people,” he said. “Now 

we hope to be front-porch people.” 



Amy Patton 

Age: 36 

Neighborhood: Olde Town 

After more than four years of renting 

homes in Olde Town, 

Amy Patton took the plunge on a 

94-year-old home on the 100 block of 

Greene Street in August. 

She wasn’t the only one who wanted 

it. Just 24 hours after the home went on the market, 

Patton sealed the deal by offering $5,000 over 

the seller’s asking price. It was too hard to pass up. 

“It is on the right block for the right price and 

it was already renovated,” the speech pathologist 

said. “It’s got a large beautiful back yard with a big 

old fig tree.” 

With the exception of four years spent in the National 

Hills neighborhood, Patton has lived in Olde 

Town since moving to Augusta right out of college 

at Valdosta State University in 2006. The historic 

neighborhood is a short drive from her job at NHC 

North Augusta skilled nursing facility, and it is 

home to some of the most diverse housing styles 

in the city. 

“I have nothing against cookie-cutter houses, 

but each property and their occupants have their 

own personalities down here,” she said “It’s very 

eclectic. I love that.” 

Augusta is the largest community Patton has 

lived in, but she said her neighborhood exudes a 

small-town feel. She’s already gotten to know her 

neighbors and has become active in the Olde Town 

Neighborhood Association. 

Though some blocks in the neighborhood are 

known for criminal activity, she rejects the notion 

the neighborhood as a whole is unsafe. 

“I don’t like the perception that it’s unsafe,” 

she said. “I am a single woman choosing to buy 

property in the 100 block of Greene Street because 

I love the neighborhood and I believe in the community.” 

She believes that if she waited longer to buy a 

home in Olde Town, she might not be able to afford 

it. 

“It’s a great time to have property in Olde Town. 

It’s a great time to live down here,” she said. “It’s 

the people who make the neighborhood what it is. 

It’s a lot of people like me who are looking to make 

a life downtown.” 


PHOTO BY MICHAEL HOLAHAN

ing anybody out of something. We’re there to 

be polite and love our neighbors and let them 

love us.” 

Ross said relatives were initially fearful for 

the couple’s safety, but have since relaxed a bit. 

But questions remain about Max’s education. 

Ross himself attended a K-12 private school, 

but thinks his son could benefit from a more 

diverse socio-economic experience. 

Right now the family is looking into Heritage 

Academy, the faith-based inner-city charter 

school on Greene Street in Olde Town. 

“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we 

get there,” Ross said. 

McMahon said school quality is a perennial 

inner-city issue. 

“Some schools have turned around, others 

not so much,” he said. “Some people have 

decided to leave because of it, some have decided 

they want to stay in the 

neighborhood and make the 

schools better. 

I don’t like the 

percepetion that 

it’s unsafe. 

Though urban Augusta has 

some of the lowest performing 

schools in the system, it 

also has some of the highest 

achieving schools, such as 

C.T. Walker Magnet School, 

the Academy of Richmond 

County and Davidson Fine 

Arts Magnet School, Richmond 

County Schools Superintendent 

Angela Pringle said. 

Pringle said test scores and graduation rates 

in all schools have improved during the past 

five years, and she pointed out the district gives 

parents the choice to send their children to 

schools outside their traditionally zoned neighborhood 

school. The schools offer 26 programs 

ranging from the performing arts and cyber to 

health sciences and robotics. 

“We want to have programs that best fit 

their children,” Pringle said. “We don’t want 

them to decide they have to move to other places. 

There’s a choice for them here. 

AS A SINGLE WOMAN LIVING IN OLDE 

TOWN, Amy Patton wants to make one thing 

clear: She has never feared for her safety. 

“I have never felt unsafe downtown. Ever,” 

the 36-year-old speech pathologist said. “You 

Amy Patton 

have to live wisely – you make sure your car is 

locked and your doors are locked – but I have 

never been walking down the street and felt 

uncomfortable with anybody I was sharing the 

street with.” 

Patton moved to Olde Town after two years 

of renting a home in National Hills. She was 

drawn to “August’s Oldest Neighborhood” by 

its quirky charm, its architectural diversity 

and its proximity to the downtown arts scene, 

where Patton is a member of the Augusta Players 

theater company and Schrodinger’s Cat, the 

improv group at the Le Chat Noir theater. 

She believes crime in the city is considered 

more egregious if it occurs downtown. 

“My friends in National Hills told me they 

had a woman that was serial-stealing Amazon 

packages and breaking into cars,” she 

said. “Why is that scary if it happens in Olde 

Town, but in National Hills it’s 

just a crazy lady who lives in the 

neighborhood?” 

CRIME IN GENERAL is on 

the decline in Augusta, including 

in the census tracts that 

include Olde Town, Harrisburg, 

Laney-Walker and the central 

business district. According to 

the Richmond County Sheriff’s 

Office, property crime in the 

urban area fell 40 percent from 

2012 to 2016, the latest date for 

which figures are available. Violent 

crime in the same during the same period 

fell 32 percent. Both declines were lower than 

the county’s overall crime figures by 5 percent 

and 1 percent, respectively. 

Patton said neighbors in the close-knit 

community get to know each other and keep an 

eye out for each other’s property. 

“I think for the most part the people in Olde 

Town really know their neighbors, which is 

why I like living down here,” she said. “In National 

Hills you see your neighbors and things 

like that, but they walk past your house. Here 

the neighbors sit on the front porch and will 

stop and talk to you. You get invited over for 

dinner. You get invited to cookouts.” 

Olde Town resident and activist Rick Keuroglian 

said the neighborhood was much dif- 




Most of Frederick Neely’s college friends 

left Augusta in search of jobs. When he 

graduated Tuskegee University in 2012, 

he not only wanted to return home, he 

wanted live in the very neighborhood 

he grew up in: Laney-Walker/Bethlehem. 

“My friends got their degrees and they moved elsewhere,” 

the 29-year-old conductor for CSX Transportation 

said. “I wanted to buck the trend and really come 

back and develop my community.” 

In 2012, he closed on a duplex in the Heritage Pine 

neighborhood, a market-rate single-family neighborhood 

developed by the city Housing and Urban Development 

Department on Pine Street, just blocks from where 

he grew up on 12th Street. 

“My mom still lives there, and I can always raid her 

fridge when I’m hungry,” he said jokingly. 

His home is not only a short drive from his job, but is 

close to the downtown night life scene that he and his 

friends frequent. Neely also is a part-time manager of 

the Studio Neighborhood Bar at 11th and Greene streets. 


Frederick Neely 

Age: 29 

Neighborhood: Laney-Waker 

Other than the length of time it took him to get a 

mortgage – the process was complicated by the lack of 

comparable sales in the Laney-Walker area – he said 

the urban living experience has been largely problem 

free. 

“You’ve got vagrants and panhandlers and things like 

that, but it’s hard for me to see that as a big problem,” 

Neely said. “The only downside is the stigma the community 

still has. A lot of people are still afraid of downtown 

based on what their idea of it is. The things that 

people are afraid of have yet to come to pass.” 

Neely said he dislikes having to drive to North Augusta 

for grocery shopping, but he said he is confident additional 

development in the district will attract a supermarket 

to downtown Augusta. 

He acknowledged downtown living isn’t for everyone 

– his yard, for example is too small for children to play 

– but he said he doesn’t know why more young, single 

people aren’t making the move to the urban core. 

“It’s the best decision I ever made,” he said. “This 

went from being a dark spot for the city to a bright spot 

for the city.”

ferent when he moved in 10 years ago. In fact, 

he was robbed the night he moved in. 

“There was open-air drug dealing, the 

criminals had no fear, the people were oppressed 

and the officers didn’t come,” said 

Keuroglian, director of City Hope Alliance. “It 

was a just a perfect environment for criminal 

activity.” 

Keuroglian said he organized his neighbors 

to start targeting drug and prostitution homes. 

They would confront property owners with police 

reports and ask them to evict the tenants. 

If that didn’t work, they began working with 

city marshals and code enforcement officers to 

issue citations. 

“We eventually shut down seven drug 

homes,” he said. 

People who had been hesitant to report 

criminal activity became emboldened after 

Keuroglian created a neighborhood 

“calling tree” 

prevented criminals from 

knowing which of his 

It’s the best 

decision I ever 

made. 

Frederick Neely 

neighbors reported him to 

the authorities. 

“We basically flipped 

the power overnight,” 

Keuroglian said. “One guy 

was controlling everybody. 

Now he’s afraid of 

everybody that is watching 

him.” 

UNIQUE ARCHITEC- 

TURE is what drew Keuroglian and Patton to 

Olde Town, which is home to one of the city’s 

largest concentration of historic homes. 

King, the developer whose company specializes 

in renovating Olde Town homes, says 

the domiciles are as solid as they are aesthetically 

pleasing. 

“These buildings were way over-engineered,” 

King said. “So when they went 

through they bad times of disinvestment, they 

could survive it because they were so overbuilt.” 

A desire for character and old-world craftsmanship 

was the primary reason Brad and 

Mandy Pond sold their mid-century ranch 

home in North Augusta’s Hammond Hills 

neighborhood to purchase a 116-year-old bungalow 

on Georgia Avenue. 

With the exception of some modern insulation 

and fixtures, the three-bedroom 

two-bathroom home looks pretty much as it 

did when it was constructed in 1901 as the parsonage 

for the nearby Grace United Methodist 

Church. 

“What I loved about it was there was so 

much charm on the inside,” Mandy said. “They 

don’t make built-ins and fireplaces like this 

anymore.” 

The Ponds said most of their friends live 

in newer homes that lack the charm – and the 

history – of their three-bedroom, two-bathroom 

home at 715 Georgia Ave. The home was 

the site of several weddings – including that of 

Brad’s aunt and uncle – during the five decades 

of church ownership. 

But the most memorable event in the dwelling’s 

history occurred on Dec. 17, 

1960, when a private plane chartered 

by “The Augusta Chronicle” 

crashed into the back half of the 

home after running out of fuel on 

a return trip from a Columbia, S.C. 

The Piper Tri-Pacer’s pilot had attempted 

an emergency landing on 

Georgia Avenue. 

The Chronicle reporter, the 

home’s three occupants and the 

pilot all escaped serious injury. 

The post-crash renovation and 

other improvements over the years 

expanded the home to its modern-day 2,600 

square feet. 

The nearly half-acre property gives the couple’s 

four sons – aged 14 to 4 – ample room for 

play in the back yard. And being along downtown 

North Augusta’s main street has other 

fringe benefits, too, including a front-row seat 

to the annual North Augusta Christmas Parade 

for them and what Brad calls “120 of their closest 

friends.” 

The couple has dubbed the tailgating event 

the “Pond Porch Party & Parade Palooza.” 

NOT ALL HISTORIC HOMES in Augusta’s 

urban core are in as good a shape as the one the 

Pond family acquired in 2003. Of the 7 percent 

of Augusta’s housing stock constructed before 

1939, many would not be considered “move-in 


eady.” 

Especially those in the blighted Laney-Walker/Bethlehem 

district, a 1,100-acre neighborhood 

southeast of the city’s medical district, where a 

city-funded survey found roughly 70 percent of 

buildings are in poor, deteriorated or dilapidated 

condition. 

Unlike downtown, Harrisburg and Olde Town, 

where renewal efforts have 

been largely driven by a handful 

of private-sector investors 

and nonprofits, Laney-Walker/ 

It’s like Mayberry, 

in a really urbany 

setting. 

Mandy Pond 

Bethlehem has relied on taxpayer 

dollars and grant funds to 

kickstart revitalization efforts. 

The historic African-American 

community – once considered 

the center of black commerce 

and politics – fell on hard 

times starting in the 1960s as 

anti-discrimination laws enabled 

more affluent blacks to 

move and spend money elsewhere. 

After decades of disinvestment, the first major 

attempt to turn the neighborhood around was the 

creation of the Augusta Neighborhood Improvement 

Corp. in 1999, which disbursed $20 million 

in state funds secured by then-State Sen. Charles 

Walker to rehabilitate dilapidated homes and construct 

new ones. 

City officials upped the ante in 2008 by approving 

a $1 a night hotel tax to help fund a 50-year, 

$750,000 allocation for Laney-Walker/Bethlehem 

improvements. One of the signature redevelopment 

projects is Heritage Pine, a 

small single-family subdivision off 

Laney-Walker Boulevard between 

11th and 12 streets. 

Heritage Pine’s homes are 

among the newest and nicest in the 

neighborhood, which appealed to 

29-year-old Frederick Neely, who 

grew up in Laney-Walker and graduated 

the from nearby A.R. Johnson 

Health Science & Engineering Magnet 

School. 

The conductor for CSX Transportation 

said he believes more 

young people would return to the neighborhood if 

its housing stock was improved. 

“Me buying this house made my friends want 

to own downtown property,” he said. “But there 

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Brad and Mandy Pond; Age 45 & 42 

children Drew, 14; Garrett, 12; Miles, 8; & Luke, 4 

Neighborhood: Downtown North Augusta 

Mandy Pond is not ordinarily impulsive. 

But she knew the home at 715 

Georgia Ave. in North Augusta was 

going to be hers the moment she 

stepped inside with her husband, 

Brad. 

“I looked at him and said, ‘I want this house,’ ” 

she said. “I don’t usually do that very often.” 

The couple passed by the turn-of-the-century 

bungalow on the city’s main drag countless times 

while growing up in North Augusta. But actually 

living downtown was never a serious consideration 

until the 

116-year-old home went on the market in 2003. 

“I always loved these houses through here,” said 

Brad, a salesman for software company Intermedix. 

“I thought, ‘Man, I will have arrived if I can ever 

afford to live in one of those homes.’ ” 

Though the home was priced $50,000 more than 

their mid-century ranch in Hammond Hills, it fell 

within the young couple’s price range. However, 

some family and friends initially found its location 

on the edge of downtown’s commercial district outside 

their comfort zones. 

“Honestly, my mom flipped out,” said Mandy, a 

teacher at Hammond Hills Elementary. 

The nearly half-acre property’s proximity to busy 

Georgia Avenue means the couple’s four sons – 

aged 13 to 3 - play mostly in the back yard. Nearly 

half the home’s life was spent under ownership of 

the nearby Grace United Methodist Church. 

With photos from the church’s history book to 

guide them, Brad and Mandy removed the front 

porch sunroom and vinyl siding to restore the 

home’s facade to its original appearance. With 

the exception of some modern conveniences, the 

three-bedroom two-bathroom home is pretty much 

as it was when it was constructed. 

Despite the occasional siren of an emergency 

vehicle, things are fairly quiet at the home, which 

faces North Augusta’s Calhoun Park, the site of 

Brad’s proposal to Mandy. 

“It probably feels a little busier here than it does 

in small-town North Augusta,” Brad said. 

Adds Mandy: “It’s like Mayberry, in a really urbany 

setting.” 


is a lack of housing that is up to their standards. 

People want to live downtown, but you don’t have 

proper housing downtown for the kind of people 

you want to attract.” 

A ‘MIDTOWN’ AUGUSTA? 

City-funded revitalization efforts in 

Laney-Walker/Bethlehem, coupled with the organic 

growth occurring in Harrisburg, Olde Town and the 

central business district, could lead to something 

Augusta has never had before: a “midtown.” 

Hawthorne Welcher Jr., director of the city 

Housing and Community Development Department, 

said the goal is to turn Augusta’s urban 

neighborhoods into self-sufficient communities, 

where residents could meet all 

their basic needs without having 

to leave the neighborhood. 

“If Laney-Walker was 

We’d be in a different 

universe if we 

had to worry about 

gentrification. 

a town of its own, could it 

survive?” he said. “Could it be 

economically autonomous?” 

Unlike Olde Town, which 

had philanthropists such as 

the late Peter Knox Jr., and 

Harrisburg, which has had a 

stimulus from the Kroc Center, 

Laney-Walker/Bethlehem’s 

main champions have been 

its churches, some of which 

are aligned with Community 

Housing Development Organizations, 

groups focused on building affordable 

housing though federal Housing and Urban Development 

grants . 

“They could have picked up and moved to the 

suburbs, but they didn’t do that,” Welcher said of 

the community churches. “In my mind, they will 

be called to the table to help us sort of catapult the 

neighborhood during the next 10 years.” 

Welcher said the first step is clearing homes 

blighted beyond repair and “hurriedly repopulating” 

the area with a mix of market-rate and affordable 

housing units. The increased population 

and per-capita income will attract commercial 

developments, such as drug stores, supermarkets 

and restaurants. Lastly is the creation of jobs so 

that those who live in the community can work 

there, too 

Bob Trescott, a retired city planner who lives in 

Olde Town and owns several rental units there, said 

Paul King 

the biggest drawback to living in the urban core is 

lack of a full-service grocery store. 

The 15th Street Kroger, urban Augusta’s largest 

grocery store, closed last year after nearly 40 years 

in operation. Gurley’s IGA on Laney-Walker Boulevard 

closed several years ago. It has been replaced 

by a dollar store. 

“You know where we all shop? North Augusta,” 

Trescott said. “I feel guilty about that. We’re 

taking our sales tax dollars across the river. I don’t 

see that as our fault as consumers. I see that as the 

city’s fault for not addressing the need.” 

SOME PROPERTY OWNERS believe the biggest 

barrier to urban revitalization is city leaders themselves. 

As in other cities, the influx of 

mostly white young professionals 

to the urban core could change 

voting patterns in the downtown 

district’s majority black population 

and could put property values 

and rents out of the reach of low 

income residents. 

King said he sees no sign gentrification 

is happening in Augusta, 

and if it is, it’s occurring at a 

“snail’s pace.” 

“We’d be in a different universe 

if we had to worry about 

gentrification,” he said. “We’re 

so far from there. We are nowhere 

near pushing people out of their homes or making 

homes so valuable that people can’t afford to live in 

them.” 

Haltermann laments that city leaders and large 

swaths of its people consider public investment in 

Augusta a zero-sum game – the idea that every 

public dollar invested in downtown is a dollar being 

taken away from the southside or west Augusta. 

What public policy has proved over decades, he 

said, is that investments in city centers encourage 

private-sector development whose revenue can be 

used to find infrastructure improvements in other 

parts of town. 

“Local government should look at downtown 

like a stock,” he said. “If we make the right decisions 

and the right investments, this stock we 

call downtown Augusta can rise dramatically. And 

that means our tax base will be solidified and we’ll 

have more money to spend on potholes out in east 


Augusta. But they don’t even do that. They don’t 

consider downtown a stock with a lot of potential.” 

Downtown stakeholders point to a recent 

initiative to move the James Brown Arena from 

downtown and the difficulty city officials had inking 

a deal with a Birmingham, Ala.-based company 

to build an upscale $93 million mixed-use development 

on city-owned riverfront property as the 

city’s lack of commitment to downtown. 

The deal was salvaged in the 11th hour and is 

moving forward with design and engineering at 

the long vacant site along the riverfront at the 500 

block of Reynolds Street, which formerly housed a 

train depot. 

Jackson, the city administrator, said she believes 

the city’s investments in downtown have 

made the “urban core more attractive, safe, useful 

and convenient for everyone.” 

She points to nearly $185 million capital projects 

have been funded downtown in recent years, 

including the new convention center and parking 

deck, the main library, the Sheriff’s Office Administration 

Building, a multilevel parking deck at the 

Georgia Cyber Center and numerous streetscape 

projects. 

Such projects, she said, “demonstrate a local 

commitment to improving our main thoroughfares 

in our downtown business district and beyond.” 

Infrastructure improvements set the stage for 

private sector investment, which tends to build 

organically, the Urban Land Institute’s McMahon 

said. Once critical mass is achieved, urban revitalization 

has a way of occuring regardless of the 

public sector’s involvement. 

Poor public policy can impede, but rarely stop, 

downtown revitalization efforts, McMahon said. 

“You can ignore everything and just let things 

happen, or you can shape the future you want,” 

he said. “The cities that are doing the best are the 

ones who are taking the reins of the future.” • 

Population density in 2010 vs 2040 

Population density 2010 

Metro area planning officials expect Augusta’s inner-city census tracts to become more 

densely populated during the next two decades. 

25 

Population density 2040 

Metro area planning officials expect Augusta’s inner-city census tracts to become more 

densely populated during the next two decades. 

EDGEFIELD 

20 

COLUMBIA 

28 

25 

520 

AIKEN 

78 

COLUMBIA 

28 

EDGEFIELD 

25 

20 

AIKEN 

20 

520 

78 

520 

25 

20 

520 

78 

520 

278 

78 

25 

520 

278 

COUNTY 

BOUNDARY 

1 

25 

Population per square mile, 

by 2010 Census Tract 

RICHMOND 0–1,000 

1,001–2,000 

2,001–3,000 

Greater 

than 3,000 

2 miles 

COUNTY 

BOUNDARY 

1 

25 

Population per square mile, 

by 2010 Census Tract 

RICHMOND 0–1,000 

1,001–2,000 

2,001–3,000 

Greater 

than 3,000 

2 miles 

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, maps4news.com/©HERE 

25 

GATEHOUSE MEDIA 

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, maps4news.com/©HERE 

GATEHOUSE MEDIA 


Bryan Haltermann poses at his 901 Broad 

St. property, which he is renovating into an 

28 apartment u 1736magazine.com 

and retail building.

BACK TO BROAD 

After flirting with retirement, downtown developer Bryan 

Haltermann ratchets up acquisitions 

PHOTO BY MICHAEL HOLAHAN 


A 

fter nearly four decades in the 

real estate game, Bryan Haltermann 

was ready to call it 

quits a few years ago. 

The man who has done 

more than any one to get people living in 

downtown Augusta had reached what he 

thought was the apex of his career. 

“It had gotten less interesting because, 

really, over the last five years I bought 

very few buildings,” he said. “So it was 

more about maintaining what I owned. 

And that is really not the exciting part of 

the business, I can tell you.” 

But then he felt something he hadn’t 

felt in years: excitement. 

Perhaps it was the economic rebound. 

Maybe it was exuberance from the Army 

Cyber Command announcement. It could 

have been optimism over the Augusta 

University merger. Or the Miller Theater 

coming back to life. Or the development of 

North Augusta’s Riverside Village. 

It might have been all those things. 

“Things started looking good for the 

first time in 40 years,” he said. “Some of 

the things I was kind of looking at came to 

fruition. I said, man this would be a stupid 

time to step out. So that changed my 

retirement plans considerably.” 

Instead of selling off his properties, he 

began buying more, including 901 Broad 

St., which he is turning into nine loft 

apartments with the Laziza Mediterranean 

Grill on the ground floor; and 702 Broad 

St.,a five-story mid-rise office he plans 

to convert into a mixed-use building with 

apartments and a rooftop bar. 

Today, Haltermann’s portfolio includes 

nearly four dozen downtown buildings 

valued at $7 million and includes more 

than 70 apartment units. His company, 

Haltermann Partners, is at 1137 Broad St., 

the first downtown acquisition in 1986. 

The building had two first floor tenants, 

a used shoe store and rehearsal space for 

a rock band called “Abandon.” Neither 

commercial tenant lasted, but his idea to 

convert the upstairs space into apartments 

turned out to be a winning strategy he 

would replicate over and over. 

“I found some medical students who 

wanted to park their bikes in the hallway 

and ride to school,” he said. “I said, 

‘Hmmmm. There’s something to this. You 

don’t get as good a return if it was office, 

but it’s less risky. So from then on, residential 

was a key part of everything that 

I did. Most of my buildings, two-thirds of 

the cash flow is from upstairs. The downstairs 

is really secondary.” 

But before he became a property mogul, 

the 63-year-old developer was a historic 

renovation consultant with Historic Augusta, 

where he specialized in helping 

local developers such as Peter Knox Jr. 

secure tax credits for their redevelopment 

projects. 

Tax credits provide cash incentives to 

developers seeking to preserve the “character 

giving features” of buildings located 

in historic districts or listed on the Na- 


tional Register of Historic Places. The credits 

involve a fair amount of bureaucracy, but can 

make the difference between whether a building 

is financially viable or not. 

“Finally I said to myself, instead of just 

doing paperwork for others, why don’t I try to 

buy a building and do it myself?” he said. 

Broad Street in the mid-1980s was a target-rich 

environment for real estate acquisition. 

“There were a lot of boarded-up or highly 

underutilized buildings,” the upstate New 

York native recalled. “So you might say I came 

along at the right time. Of course, I didn’t 

know it back then.” 

Augusta’s two suburban shopping malls 

were at their peak and downtown was still 

years away from evolving into the city’s center 

for arts, entertainment and dining. 

“The restaurants I refer to as the new anchors,” 

Haltermann said. “We used to rely on 

department stores until the late 70s. At that 

point, retail activity was down to a minimum 

level. Today the biggest traffic generators are 

the restaurants. We rent to like 13 restaurants.” 

CUSTOMER FOCUSED. 

RECORD STORAGE 

SECURE SHREDDING 

E-WASTE SOLUTIONS 

OFFICE MOVES 

LOGISTICS 

FILE RELOCATIONS 

QUALITY DRIVEN. 

We’ll do the heavy lifting, 

so you don’t have to. 

He said he sees no sign of downtown residential 

growth slowing down. He said he 

believes two of the largest empty buildings 

downtown, the historic Marion and Lamar 

office buildings (the latter of which he used to 

own), will eventually be redeveloped as apartments. 

The property’s multiple ownership structure 

and shortage of parking will require a creative 

solution. 

“It’s going to take someone with skill to do 

that project,” he said. “Those two projects really 

need to go together. Until those buildings 

get developed, Augusta will still look a little 

down at the heels.” 

Haltermann notes that the Lamar building 

was acquired on a speculative basis, as have 

many downtown properties in recent years 

from investors hoping to cash in on rising 

real estate prices. He himself won’t purchase 

a building unless he’s certain he can generate 

income from it. 

“I could never own a building that didn’t 

work,” he said. “I couldn’t afford to sit there 

and own empty buildings. Some people use 

that as a strategy, but I don’t think in a market 

like Augusta it has worked up to this point.” 

Besides downtown’s parking problems and 

vacant buildings, the biggest issue facing the 

central business district is lack of interest by 

elected officials. Haltermann said numerous 

urban studies have shown investment in 

public infrastructure produces better returns 

in downtowns than in lower-density suburban 

and undeveloped areas. Encouraging growth in 

Augusta’s central business district could generate 

revenues to offset the cost of providing 

city services in economically distressed areas. 

“Local government never has money to do 

anything. SPLOST is the only thing that you do 

extra things with,” he said. “I’ve always heard 

the only two neighborhoods that are really 

producing an increased tax base are downtown 

and Summerville, where the value of houses 

are going up. Everything else is totally flatlined. 

The powers that be don’t want to encourage 

the growth of those neighborhoods, as 

far as I can tell.” • 


www.ETGaugusta.com 

706.793.0186


Bryan Haltermann 

Owner of Haltermann Partners 

BORN: 

Dec. 9, 1953, Kingston, N.Y. 

EDUCATION: 

Bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University; 

master’s degree in real estate development from 

Columbia University, New York City 

CAREER: 

Started Cupola Co., a renovation contractor that 

became Haltermann Partners Inc., a real estate 

development firm. Wrote history book “From 

City to Countryside” in 1997 and helped establish 

Summerville as a historic neighborhood in 1980 

County Historic Preservation Commission, 

former president of Historic Augusta Inc. and 

Summerville Neighborhood Association, member 

of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the 

Imperial Theatre and Gertrude Herbert Institute of 

Art, former chairman of Main Street Augusta 

FAMILY: 

Three daughters, Cazenove Boulus, Mary Bryan 

Haltermann, Julia Haltermann 

HOBBIES: 

Tennis 


Committed to Augusta. 

Committed to Downtown. 

Special T hanks 

For the past 233 years, The Augusta Chronicle 

has called downtown home. Storms, floods and fires 

failed to shake our roots to Broad Street. 

Our office will become one of the many renovations taking place 

in the Garden City. While preserving the history of the street facade, 

we are bringing the interior forward to reflect more of who we are and 

how we work today. Your hometown paper has been partnering with local 

businesses like Morris Communications Co., LLC and Weinberger’s Business 

Interiors to make this new space one that will last another 200 years. 

We are excited to see the many changes and improvements to downtown 

and are even more thrilled to be part of movement that encourages the 

revitalization of the city of Augusta. 

725 Broad Street • Augusta Georgia 30901 • 706.724.0851 


REBIRTH OF 

A COMMUNITY 

Laney-Walker/Bethlehem sees new housing as catalyst for redevelopment 


Years ago, the only time you saw 

a backhoe or bulldozer in the 

Laney-Walker/Bethlehem area was 

when an abandoned and dilapidated 

home was getting razed. 

Today, the heavy equipment is more 

likely doing site-prep work for a new subdivision 

or multifamily complex. 

Led by the city of Augusta and numerous nonprofit-housing 

development partners, the historically 

black 1,100-acre neighborhood south of 

downtown is in the early stages of a renaissance. 

A notorious public housing project is now a 

brand new apartment complex for residents 55 

and older. Weeded and trash strewn lots are now 

filled with quaint single-family homes. Abandoned 

homes that served as dens of drug dealing 

and prostitution are now duplexes with landscaped 

lawns. 

“There is an unprecedented level of activity 

in a wide variety of housing,” said Hawthorne 

Welcher, director of the Augusta Housing and 

Community Development department. 

Nowhere is revitalization efforts more visible 


A traffic roundabout, also called a traffic circle, being 

built along Twiggs Street near the intersection with 7th 

Street in Augusta, Ga 


than the corner of Wrightsboro Road and R.A. 

Dent Boulevard, where the city and its development 

partner is building an upscale 221-unit 

market-rate apartment complex called Foundry 

Place. The $30 million partnership between the 

city and Columbia Ventures 

of Atlanta is designed 

to boost the low-income 

neighborhood’s per-capita 

The Foundry is 

important because 

it’s an economic 

stimulus. It needed 

to happen. 

Hawthorne Welcher 

income to attract new businesses. 

The neighborhood was a 

center of black commerce 

during the segregation era. 

However, the once-thriving 

area started declining in the 

1950s and ‘60 as black consumers 

began to move and 

shop elsewhere. 

Dozens of abandoned and 

dilapidated homes have been 

demolished, but more work 

is needed, City Administrator 

Janice Allen Jackson said. 

“Although we dedicate hundreds of thousands 

of dollars each year to demolition and mowing 

vacant lots, that degree of resources is only the 

tip of the iceberg compared to the total need,” 

she said. 

City leaders in 2008 adopted a special hotel/ 

motel tax fund to assist with revitalization efforts, 

including the Heritage 

Pine neighborhood on Pine 

Street in 2011, Twiggs Circle in 

2014 and the Legacy at Walton 

Green apartments in 2016. 

But no 

project is more 

ambitious than 

the Foundry 

Place, the 

largest-single 

investment 

in the 

Laney-Walker/ 

Bethlehem 

area in more than 50 years. 

The $900- to $1,200- a month 

apartment community is being 

built on a 7.6-acre former 

brownfield site across the street 

from Augusta University’s Dental 

College of Georgia. 

The development, along with 

a soon-to-be-announced 60- to 70-unit complex 

on Laney-Walker Boulevard, is part of Welcher’s 

strategy to “hurriedly repopulate” the area with 

higher-income residents who can attract businesses, 

such as pharmacies and grocery stores, 

and eventually job-creating industries. 

“The Foundry is important because it’s an economic 

stimulus. It needed to happen,” Welcher 



Hawthrone Welcherdirector of the Augusta Housing and 

Community Development department stands next to the 

future Foundry Place project. 

said. “It showed a commitment on the city’s 

behalf, to say that we’re serious about revitalization 

of these areas that have been destitute.” 

To keep the neighborhood affordable to longtime 

residents, each new market-rate unit is 

matched by two affordable housing units are 

built by Laney-Walker’s three community housing 

development organizations using Housing 

and Urban Development grants, the 30901 Development 

Corp., which is affiliated with Beulah 

Grove Baptist Church; Antioch Ministries Inc., 

affiliated with Antioch Baptist Church; and Laney 

Walker Development Corp. 

The city has not acquired any properties 

through imminent domain and it doesn’t intend 

to. 

“We want to be sure we’re not pushing anybody 

out,” Welcher said. “We have to be sure 

that our affordable housing development keeps 

pace or stays ahead of new construction.” 

In addition to housing developments, the 

city is focusing on three main gateways into the 

neighborhood, Wrightsboro Road; James Brown 

Boulevard, also known as Ninth Street; and 

Twiggs Street, which partially aligns with Seventh 

Street. It also is working with four business 

tenants at the Armstrong Galleria shopping center 

on Laney-Walker Boulevard. 

“We’re not just building houses,” he said. 

“We’re truly bringing back the whole sense of 

community.” • 


Bob Trescott shows prospective 

tenant Quannaires Streeter a room 

at one of his Olde Town properties. 


PHOTO BY DAMON CLINE

WHAT’S 

OLDE IS NEW 

home 

[hom] noun 

a gathering place for family; 

a place or feeling of belonging. 

Helping you find your future! 

New investor building on 

pioneer’s downtown properties 


On a recent Tuesday morning, Bob 

Trescott was showing prospective 

tenant Quannaires Streeter a couple 

of rooms available at his Olde Town 

properties on Telfair Street. 

Streeter, an instructor at Augusta University’s 

Department of Biobehavioral Nursing, said 

she was looking to leave her westside apartment 

complex for something more affordable and 

closer to work. 

“This area seems pretty nice,” she said, 

standing on the porch of 346 Telfair St., unbeknownst 

she was looking at the oldest home in 

Olde Town. 

After she leaves, Trescott remarks the twenty-something 

nurse is typical of his tenants: 

young, upwardly mobile professionals who want 

to be “in the city.” 

“I’ve got a 30-year-old female doctor, a 

30-year-old female attorney, a 30-ish female 

engineer,” Trescott said. “To me, that says something 

about who wants to live down here. These 

are yuppie, professional people.” 

The front of Trescott’s business card lists him 

a member of the American Institute of Certified 

Planners. For most of his life, Trescott made a living 

as an urban redevelopment specialist in Texas, 

Florida and Maryland. His most recent position 

was with the Augusta Housing and Development 

Department. 

He left government work more than a year 

ago but he still blogs extensively on public policy 

through social media channels. 

Now his full-time job now is buying and managing 

property in Olde Town, which he sees as a 

section of Augusta’s future “midtown” district. 

The back side of his business card says “AMMO,” 

his acronym for Augusta Midtown Means Opportunity. 

The way the urban-planner-turned-landlord 

AG-0003090486-01 

©2018 Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc. 

REAL ESTATE 

706.738.HOME • 803.648.SOLD 

MEYBOHM.COM 

OUR ROOTS RUN DEEP. From our humble 

beginnings 64 years ago in a one-room machine 

shop, to our current world headquarters in south 

Augusta, Textron Specialized Vehicles is a global 

company with an Augusta pedigree. 

Whether you’re chasing quail through the fields 

of a south Georgia plantation, splitting the 

fairways of one of our state’s famed golf courses, 

or traversing the tarmac of the world’s busiest 

airport, you’ll find our vehicles. 


Terry Leiden shows Olde Town 

newspapers he used to publish. 

sees it, “midtown” is every residential area in 

Augusta from Lake Olmstead to East Boundary. 

He believes all areas are poised for reinvestment 

not seen in decades. 

“Most midtowns have been abandoned, but 

they’re all being rediscovered,” Trescott said. 

“The millennials and boomers are very interested 

in midtown. This is the easiest neighborhood 

to sell. If this neighborhood were 

in any other Southern town, the 

real estate would be three times as 

high.” 

The rooms Trescott showed 

Streeter near the corner of Third 

and Tefair are part of the historic 

Cantelou House, a home built in 

1815 by Lewis Cantelou, a Frenchman 

who fought for America 

during the Revolutionary War and 

was an aide-de-camp to President 

George Washington. Cantelou’s 

brother, Pierre, later occupied the 

home. 

The frontier-style property was as among the 

few to survive the Great Fire of 1916, a blaze that 

destroyed many parts of downtown and Olde 

Town, then known as the Pinched Gut neighborhood. 

The passage of time was not kind to the 

Cantelou home, which had been gutted and was 

on the verge of implosion when Augusta attorney 

Terry Leiden purchased it and several nearby 

properties in the 1970s. 

“That side of the street was vacant,” Leiden 

recalled. “The cocaine house was at the corner. 

Directly across the street was the fencing operation. 

These things operated in broad daylight, so 

to speak.” 



The properties were not unlike many homes in 

the district that fell into neglect after the city’s 

well-to-do residents began moving up the “hill” 

to Summerville. 

“They had two choices, stay and rebuild or go 

to the hill,” Leiden said. “Probably about 70 percent 

of them, with the advent of the automobile, 

went to the hill.” 

Leiden’s father-and-son law firm, Leiden & 

Leiden, still operates at 330 Telfair St. – one of 

the first Olde Town properties he purchased in 

1973. With his wife, Sara, managing his rental 

properties, Leiden became something of an 

Olde Town activist, going so far as to publish a 

monthly neighborhood newspaper, first the Pinch 

Gut Press and later the Olde Town Crier, for nearly 

20 years. 

Although Leiden’s preservation work is 

eclipsed in volume by the late Peter S. Knox Jr., a 

businessman whose construction fortune helped 

rehabilitate more than 175 homes in Augusta’s 

urban neighborhoods, the two followed a similar 

trajectory. Both men started buying in Olde Town 

in the 1970s and each did the bulk of their restoration 

work in the 1980s, 

largely without fanfare from 

city officials. 

“There was no focus on 

There was no 

focus on 

Downtown. 

Terry Leiden 

downtown,” Leiden recalled. 

“Not only that, the county 

had a pretty severe recession 

going on. The only thing 

keeping Augusta afloat was 

Plant Vogtle. And the interest 

rates we had were like 

14½ percent.” 

Leiden said the sale of 

his Olde Town properties 

to investors like Trescott is 

part of him and Sara’s plan 

to wind down toward retirement. 

Trescott said Leiden and others like him 

helped “save the neighborhood” at a time when 

it was most vulnerable. He believes the next generation 

of investors should find a ways to improve 

the district’s housing stock without pricing 

out the young people who give the neighborhood 

its vitality. 

“Olde Town is at the point where it needs to 

be re-imagined,” Trescott said. “Let’s find a way 

not to go full gentrification, but let’s upgrade,” 

he said. “We don’t need to come in and do bamboo 

floors, granite countertops and stainless steel 

appliances. If you do that, you’ve got to charge


Marty Rose is one of the newest Harrisburg 

homeowners through the Turn Back The Block 

program. 


TURNING BACK 

THE BLOCK 

Nonprofit takes methodical 

approach to revitalizing Harrisburg 



Marty Rose is turning 

his life – and 

his neighborhood – 

around one day at a 

time. 

The once homeless 

and drug-addicted Pennsylvania native 

keeps his body and his home on Metclaf 

Street clean, becoming an exemplar 

of virtuous living in the heart of 

Harrisburg, a community with a reputation 

for vice. 

The 58-year-old registered nurse, 

one of 10 Turn Back 

the Block homebuyers, 

preaches the dignity 

of homeownership in 

a neighborhood where 

nearly 80 percent of his 

neighbors are renters. 

“It’s not just a home,” 

Rose said. “It allows you 

to become a productive 

citizen again who feels 

worthwhile. It’s a renewal 

of life.” 

Rose’s second chance at life is precisely 

the outcome Turn Back the Block 

is looking to achieve in Harrisburg. 

The faith-based nonprofit is revitalizing 

the historic neighborhood by rehabilitating 

dilapidated or vacant properties, 

which it then makes available to 

people who ordinarily wouldn’t qualify 

for a mortgage. 

It’s not just a 

home. 

Marty Rose 

The once stable and working-class 

neighborhood of Harrisburg fell into 

disrepair with the demise of the city’s 

textile industry, where many residents 

were employed. The nearly decade-old 

Turn Back the Block was created to 

restore the district’s luster one block 

at a time. 

“We’re about creating pride in 

homeownership and promoting that 

neighborhood concept,” Executive 

Director Lauren Dallas said. “It’s that 

‘I’m going to mow my lawn because 

my neighbor mows his’ 

sort of thing.” 

It’s a simple concept 

that appears to be working 

on the blocks where 

the organization has 

focused. Rose’s house, 

which sits next to a family 

cemetery plot, was a 

hangout for prostitutes 

before his home and the 

two next door were rehabilitated. 

The organization operates largely 

on donated money, labor and building 

materials, which enables them to 

complete about two homes per year. 

Dallas declined to disclose the number 

of properties the organization has purchased, 

but said it is in the “dozens.” 

She brushes aside concerns of gentrification 

because most of the homes 


MILLING THE 

POSSIBILITIES 

In January investment group 

Cape Augusta LLC purchased 

the 22-acre historic King 

Mill from the Augusta Canal 

Authority for $3 million 

to renovate the textile plant into a 

mixed-use commercial building with 

300 apartment units. 

Cape Augusta in 2017 turned a 

portion of the nearby Sibley Mill into 

Augusta Cyberworks, a high-tech 

office complex whose tenants include 

IT firm EDTS LLC and the University 

of Baltimore – Maryland Campus 

Cyberworks University program. 

The third historic mill along the 

Augusta Canal, the Enterprise, was 

converted into a mixed use office 

and apartment building in 1998. The 

adjacent Sutherland Mill, which was 

primarily used as a warehouse, has 

been renovated into office space. 

they receive from donors are either vacant or 

dilapidated to the point they are no longer habitable. 

“We are just taking what is already there and 

making it better,” she said. “We haven’t moved 

anybody.” 

She said Harrisburg’s biggest problem is “bad 

landlords.” 

“We don’t want people who are only going to 

come around every two weeks and collect cash 

and do nothing to the homes,” she said. 

The group makes every attempt to purchase 

homes that fit into its strategy, but it has to 

pass on homes whose owners seek unreasonable 

prices. 

“We can’t pay a ton of money just because it 

fits into our mission,” she said. “That can be 

tough for people to understand - that we’re not 

flippers.” 

The group was formed to revitalize Harrisburg 

because the neighborhood is the primary 

east-west corridor into downtown and the medical 

district. 

The neighborhood was founded as a village 

in late 18th century and grew into a first-ring 

suburb in the 19th century. A section of the 

neighborhood, also known as the West End Historic 

District, was destroyed in the 1980s by the 

construction of the Calhoun Expressway. 

Given its geographic location, Harrisburg is 

poised for resurgence, Dallas said. 

“That’s the thing: You have high-end housing 

on one side, downtown on the other and the 

university and the medical 

district right next to it,” she 

said. “This area will thrive 

again. We just got to get to 

work on these houses.” 

• 

King Hill 


Lauren Dallas

Business School for Business 

AG-0003098592-01 



UPSCALE ON THE RIVER 

North Augusta turns long-neglected shoreline into a showpiece 


The fastest growing neighborhood in 

Augusta’s urban core is, technically, 

not in Augusta. 

It’s in North Augusta, just across 

the invisible state line formed by 

the meandering waters of the Savannah River. 

There, next to low-lying land along the 13th 

Street bridge, city leaders and private-sector 

investors are creating a $230 million urban oasis 

called Riverside Village. 

The finishing touches won’t be put on the 

35-acre site until early next year, but there 

already is nothing else like it in the metro area. 

The self-contained district just east of the Hammond’s 

Ferry neighborhood boasts hundreds of 

luxury apartments, 60,000 square feet of specialty 

retail and restaurant space, 132,000 square 

feet of office and commercial, a 180-room hotel 

and – its most prominent feature – the 4,500- 

seat SRP Park for the Augusta GreenJackets. 

Just a couple of decades ago, the once floodprone 

property was an overgrown thicket sealing 

off North August from its riverfront. 

“Transformative may be the right adjective 

to describe the City Council’s action years 

ago to purchase tracts of riverfront land where 

Hammond’s Ferry and Riverside Village are now 

being developed,” North Augusta Mayor Bob 

Pettit said. “The decision by our previous council 

members to build SRP Park as the centerpiece of 

Riverside Village was equally, what’s the right 

word, daring?” 

With its sidewalks, narrow streets and compact 

homesites, the mixed-use neo-traditional 

community is deliberately dense, dynamic and 

different, which is what many people are looking 

for in a neighborhood where they can “live, 

work and play,” project investors say. 

“If we had all the apartments available, 



there’s no doubt in my mind we could fill them 

up quick,” said Patrick Jackson, the chief financial 

officer for LIV Development, the Birmingham, 

Ala.-based company building Riverside 

Village’s largest residential development 

– the 280-unit Ironwood apartments. 

The upscale four-story development won’t 

be fully complete until December. But Jackson 

said all units built so far have been leased, and 

that the company has seen brisk pre-leasing 

activity for its units under construction, 

especially from millennial couples and empty-nesters. 

If the pace keeps up, a waiting list is possible, 

Ironwood Manager Amber Hobbs said. She 

said tenants like the idea of being able to walk 

or bike from their apartment to the ballpark 

and the businesses surrounding it, such as the 

Sweetwater Brewing Co. Taproom, Southbound 

Smokehouse, The Swank Co. women’s boutique 

and the rooftop bar on the Crowne Plaza North 

Augusta hotel. 

“It’s a lifestyle that really no one around 

here has ever seen before,” she said. “You’re 

not just living in an apartment; you’re living in 

a community.” 

The next-door 180-room Crowne Plaza 

North Augusta hotel will feature a lounge-like, 

wood-fired grill restaurant on the ground level 

and a rooftop bar on the fifth floor. Jeff Brower, 

who manages the hotel for Atlanta-based-InterContinental 

Hotel Group, which also owns 

Augusta’s The Partridge Inn, said he expects 

the hotel’s 120-seat restaurant and bar to get 

as much patronage from nearby residents as 

hotel guests. 

“I describe our lobby not so much as a lobby 

but a living room,” he said. “I would say what 

we’re doing is creating a food environment 

where people are going to feel comfortable sit- 


PHOTO BY GREENSTONE PROPERTIES 

Amber Hobbs, Manager of The Ironwood apartments 

at North Augusta’s Riverside Village 

ting down and making memories.” 

The property will have more than 14,000 square 

feet of meeting and event space capable of accommodating 

banquets of more than 250 people and 

wedding receptions in excess of 350, Brower said. 

Restaurants in the adjacent Hammond’s Ferry 

neighborhood – the new urbanist community that 

kickstarted North Augusta’s riverfront development 

more than a decade ago – also are a draw 



for Riverside Village residents. The vast majority 

of the 199 homes are custom-built to strict guidelines 

to ensure they retain their value. 

Blanchard and Calhoun’s Will Greene said some 

of the cottages have sold in the low $300s while 

those along the riverfront may fetch more than 

$600,000. Like Riverside Village, Hammond’s 

Ferry was deliberately planned to be walkable and 

foster a community feel. 

“We have strict guidelines that were set when 

the property began and we have never wavered 

from that,” he said. “Even through the downturn 

in the real estate market we held strong to the 

core beliefs.” 

Ironwood’s rental rates are high for the metro 

Augusta market, with one-bedroom efficiencies 

starting at $855 a month and two-bedroom carriage 

units topping out at $1,800. But the department 

developer said renters get a lot for the 

money, including built-in niceties, such as a Bocce 

ball court, grilling stations, a saltwater pool, 

a 24-hour fitness center and a complimentary 

coffee bar. 

The $33 million complex also has stainless steel 

appliances, granite countertops, oversized closets 

and built-in washer/dryer units in every apartment.

Ironwood’s best selling point, however, is its 

riverfront location and direct access to the North 

Augusta Greeneway, the city’s 

seven-mile urban trail system. 

“It’s a built-in amenity for 

us, so we can offer something 

that nobody else has,” Jackson 

said. “We’re really the only 

development on the water.” 

LIV also is developing similar 

apartment communities in 

Nashville, Tenn.; Chattanooga, 

Tenn.; Charlotte, N.C.; Myrtle 

Beach, S.C.; and in its hometown 

of Birmingham. 

The GreenJackets inaugural 

season at the new ballpark 

was a success, club Vice 

President Tom Denlinger said, 

with attendance averaging 

around 4,000 people per game. 

The club is trying to market the facility in the 

off-season to provide year-round entertainment. 

“SRP Park is built as a community venue and 

It’s a lifestyle 

that really no one 

around here has 

ever seen before. 

Amber Hobbs 

our goal at the end of the day is to utilize it for 

things outside baseball,” he said. “We’re open 

365 days a year from our Wow 

club conference space to renting 

the stadium and those kinds of 

things. We have fun things in 

store.” 

Mayor Pettit said he believes 

the investment in Riverside 

Village will radiate back toward 

the city’s older neighborhoods 

and central business district. 

“I can’t help but believe that 

Georgia Avenue and nearby 

established residential areas 

will experience redevelopment 

and new and exciting growth,” 

he said. “People are excited 

about what’s happening along 

the river and throughout North 

Augusta. And I’m excited about 

the possibilities, and ready to see it happen.” • 

NOW IS THE TIME 

Vince Lombardi probably said it best: “Individual commitment to a group effort – 

that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization 

work.” Those words speak volumes when you apply them to Augusta’s downtown. 

TOGETHER, we can be part of something remarkable for our city. TOGETHER, 

we see the potential. TOGETHER, we know it is within our grasp. 

JOIN US TO BUILD A NETWORK TO CREATE MOMENTUM 

To learn more about how you can participate, 

Tony Bernados 706-821-6602 • tbernados@augustachronicle.com 


KING OF 

OLDE TOWN 

Rex Property head keeps people 

living in historic neighborhood 




It wasn’t Paul King’s intent to become the 

largest property owner in Olde Town when 

he rolled into the neighborhood in 1981. 

He was just looking for a place to rent. 

“I had two degrees, college loans, a 

truck payment and $100 in cash,” Paul King recalled. 

“I ended up in Olde Town, and you didn’t 

need much.” 

Today his company, Rex Property & Land LLC, 

is synonymous with revitalization efforts in the 

historic district. A large portion of his 40 buildings 

and 100 upscale residential units fall within “Augusta’s 

oldest neighborhood.” 

His nearly four decades of historic preservation 

work in Augusta’s urban core resulted in him being 

named the 2018 recipient of the Georgia Cities 

Foundation’s Renaissance Award. 

Olde Town, also known as “Pinched Gut,” is 

home to the city’s largest collection of 19th century 

homes, including numerous King projects, 

including the historic Levy House, the Dunbar-Howard 

House, the Patrick-Pund home and 

the Stovall-Barnes House, the latter of which also 

earned him the 2010 Georgia Downtown Award for 

Design. 

King’s name is on the Renaissance Award, but 

he’s had a lot of help along the way, starting with 

the late Peter Knox Jr., an Augusta businessman 

and preservationist who King considers his mentor. 

“Mr. Pete was the real pioneer in downtown,” 

King said. “I learned a lot about what to do and 

what not to do.” 

King was still working as an engineer for Du- 

Pont when he started dabbling in Olde Town real 

estate. Knox first contacted him after seeing a 

renovation project he did on a Telfair duplex and 

later hired him to do a historic renovation of a 

home at the corner of Broad and Forsyth streets 

“It was a roach infestor Section 8 nightmare,” 

King recalled. “But I had an idea for it and that’s 

when I formed the business.” 

By 1985 King married real estate agent Adele 

Dennis, an Augusta native, and began redeveloping 

properties full time. In addition to his own 

units, King’s company manages about 100 residences 

for third-party owners. Adele remains is 

in charge of the firm’s sales and leasing operations. 

“Augusta has been very welcoming to me since 

1981 – shockingly welcoming to a yankee with a 

pretty good Ted Kennedy accent,” the New England 

native said. “I attribute a lot of that to my 

wife.” 

King said Augusta’s urban core was still suffering 

from disinvestment when he arrived. 

“People were saying to me in the early 80s the 

southside is where it’s happening,” he said. “Harrisburg 

at the time was still a vibrant community. 

It was not dead. There were still a lot of people 

there working at the mills.” 

But in time, Harrisburg became even more 

blighted than Olde Town. 

“I’ve never seen anything like what has happened 

in Harrisburg,” he said. “When the mills 

closed and the last people moved out or retired, 

their children got the homes and said, ‘We’re not 

living here.’ Then it turned into rentals or Section 

8. It’s been bad to see.” 

Though progress has been made by grassroots 

organizations such as Turn Back The Block, Harrisburg’s 

large geographic footprint and large 

percentage of small homes pose a challenge to 

revitalization. Olde Town, in comparison, is geo-

Paul King 

Rex Property & Land LLC 

Born: August 1958, Rochester, N.H. 


graphically more compact, and its homes are generally 

more upscale. 

“Harrisburg doesn’t have the bones that Olde 

Town has,” he said. “Harrisburg was always a mill 

community. So mill workers are not going to have 

fantastic homes. That’s just the way it is. That’s an 

economic fact of life.” 

King’s business has seen its peaks and valleys – 

most notably during the past two recessions – but 

in general he has been able to grow the business on 

a fairly consistent basis. He said he remains surprised 

that nobody other than himself, Bryan Halterman 

of Haltermann Partners and Mark Donahue 

of Peach Contractors are actively redeveloping 

downtown property on a large scale. 

“The marketplace is still shockingly uncrowded,” 

he said. 

King has shared his expertise with community 

organizations, such as the city’s Downtown Development 

Authority and he Augusta Metro Chamber 

of Commerce. He was one of the biggest supporters 

of downtown Augusta’s Business Improvement 

District and he currently sits on the city’s parking 

sub-committee, which reviews parking management 

solutions in the urban core. 

He said the city’s failure to address its parking 

problem is stifling downtown development. The 

current ordinance, which requires property owners 

to have dedicated parking spaces before launching 

a redevelopment project, should be scrapped and a 

modern parking enforcement plan should be implemented, 

he said. 

“We’re begging them to relieve this suburban 

parking requirement that is preventing so much 

from happening downtown right now,” he said. 

Family: Wife, Adele; daughters Ashley and Aubrey; 

son Will 

Education: Bachelor’s degrees in engineering and 

biochemistry, University of New Hampshire 

Hobbies: Travel, visual and performing arts, 

reading 

King said he loves Augusta but that he has always 

been frustrated by the city government’s lack 

of interest in the urban core, which he attributes to 

an irrational fear of gentrification. 

“If they want to keep demographics the way 

they are, then Augusta will forever be a poor city,” 

he said. “They’re choking off the money of the future 

and the jobs of the future for their children.” 

“Many in Augusta view everything as a zero sum 

game. If downtown is getting better, it must be 

hurting the southside, for example,” he said. 

He said the urban core could benefit from more 

stringent code enforcement to get owners of vacant 

buildings to shore up their properties. In Philadelphia, 

where his daughter lives, he noted the city 

taxes vacant lots and buildings at higher rates to 

people from letting properties sit idle or fall into 

disrepair. 

Money can still be made downtown for those 

willing to take the risk. King said a perfect example 

is the J.B. White’s condo building, whose commercial 

space on the ground floor is owned by his 

company. He said all 51 condo units have been sold. 

“I said those last condos are going to sell for absolute 

top dollar, and they did,” he said. “Now, resales 

are 30 percent over their original sales price. 

So the people who bought in have made out fine.” 

King himself calls the Summerville neighborhood 

home. But Olde Town will always hold a special 

place in his heart 

“I lived seven years in Olde Town. I met my wife 

in Olde Town. It’s always been dear to me,” he 

said. “It’s still a fun place. It’s an eclectic community. 

There is no more integrated neighborhood in 

Augusta than Olde Town.” • 


Margaret Woodard, executive 

director, Augusta Downtown 

Development Authority 


ON THE STREET 

Building a case for downtown living gets easier all the time 

By Margaret Woodward 

Downtowns across the country are experiencing 

a renaissance, and downtown 

Augusta is certainly seeing its 

fair share of this resurgence. 

Our skyline is changing as cranes 

and construction fences abound on the Broad 

Street corridor. In just the past two years there 

have been many hospitality, professional-office 

and retail developments – many more ribbon-cuttings 

are surely on the horizon. 

Downtown living is experiencing a revival as 

well. Not since the pre-World War II era have so 

many people wanted to live near the jobs, cultural 

amenities and the vibrancy that a 24-7 downtown 

can provide. 

Demand for rental housing in downtown Augusta 

has been strong for more than a decade. 

There are currently about 300 market-rate apartments 

on the Broad Street corridor alone, and an 

estimated 30 in various stages of construction. 

Occupancy rates over the past five years have 

hovered around 96 percent, with many units getting 

pre-leased before construction is completed. 

High demand has translated to higher rental rates, 

as much as 30 cents per square foot in just two 

years. 

With at least 700 IT jobs planned at Unisys, 120 

new jobs at TaxSlayer, completion of the Georgia 

Cyber Center and the soon-to-be complete 

SharedSpace, an estimated 1,500 working professionals 

will be added to downtown’s daytime 

population in the coming months. Many of them 

will want to live close by. 

We need more housing on the Broad Street corridor 

– and we need it now. 

A strong case for new housing became evident 

more than a few years ago when the Downtown 

Development Authority hired Retail Strategies to 

assist with attracting new retail and commercial 

opportunities to downtown. 

Even more research was conducted during the 

recent partnership between the DDA, the city of 

Augusta and BLOC Global on the proposed Depot 

Site development. A housing feasibility study 

completed by Noell Consulting Group provided 

strong market research, including demographic 


profiles, occupancy, absorption and rental rates 

that built a strong case for much-needed living 

space in our city center and can be used to actively 

market housing opportunities to developers. 

We realized downtown Augusta needed to tell 

its residential story: What makes it a great place 

to live? Who is the target resident? What do they 

want in housing – and what are they willing to 

pay? 

So what makes downtown Augusta a great place 

to live? According to Noell analysis: 

• Proximity to work: Downtown is a short 

drive to the medical district, whose excess of 

20,000 jobs make it a major economic hub 

for the region. Health care/social assistance 

is by far the city’s largest industry, and 23 

percent of the jobs pay over $40,000 per 

year. Just under half of downtown residents 

(45 percent) work in Augusta city limits and 

about a quarter of them (27 percent) work in 

the medical district. 

• Shopping: Downtown already is home to a 

variety of eclectic retailers and independent 

restaurants. Shopping centers with grocery 

stores and mass-merchandise retail can be 

found within a 12-minute drive. 

• Night life: Living close to restaurants and 

bars is a key factor for many renters. Downtown 

has spent years becoming a vibrant 

entertainment scene and boasts some of Augusta’s 

most highly rated eateries according 

to yelp.com. 

• Scenic beauty: Downtown neighborhoods 

enjoy, walkability, unique architecture and 

a strong connection to the Savannah River, 

including cycling and pedestrian trails. 

• Cultural amenities: Major shows, concerts 

and art exhibits are common at downtown 

facilities such as the city’s Augusta Entertainment 

Complex, as well as the historic 

Imperial and Miller theaters and open-air 

venues such as the Augusta Common. 

Who is our audience? According to Noell profile: 

• Working professionals: Singles between the 

ages of 20 and 50 will make up half of those 

choosing to live downtown. With an income 

range between $35,000 to $100,000, this 

group will prefer studio and one-bedroom 

apartments that rent between $900 to $1,500 

per month. 

• Professional couples: Couples between 25 

and 50 years, both married and dating, account 

for 30 percent of potential downtown 

renters. This group wants short commutes 

and proximity to downtown amenities, but 

also the flexibility to move if they have children. 

With annual incomes in the $75,000- 

to $150,000-range, they prefer at least one 

bedroom units with large living room spaces 

and are willing to pay $1,250 to $2,250 per 

month. 

• Empty nesters: This age group is between 

50 and 65 years and are mature professional 

couples whose children are out of the house. 

They will account for about 10 percent of 

the urban housing market. Most are fairly 

affluent and many are seeking an in-town 

rental close to work and cultural amenities 

to complement the second home they have 

elsewhere. They earn between $100,000 to 

$200,000 per year and prefer one to two 

bedrooms with a large living room space 

costing up to $2,500 per month. 

• Students/roommates: This group, primarily 

Augusta University students or recent graduates 

looking to live close to campus, will 

comprise 10 percent of the market. Though 

some in this 18- to 35-demographic are 

income-constrained, others will be working 

entry-level or higher jobs, earning a (combined) 

$50,000 to $75,000 per year. They 

prefer studios and two-bedroom apartments 

priced in the $1,400 to $1,875 per month 

range. 

This is good news for housing developers who 

are interested in our city center and are willing to 

make an investment. There are ample opportunities 

to add rental housing, including new infill 

development, the repurposing of class-C office 

space and large vacant buildings that once housed 

department stores. 

In the pre-war era, downtown Augusta was the 

heart of the community because of the diversity 

of uses it offered. That trend is returning, and the 

steady increase of downtown residents will once 

again create a vibrant city center that benefits 

everyone and will significantly reward the city as a 

whole. • 


A COORDINATED 

EFFORT 

Downtown organizations need to speak with 

‘one voice’ to revitalize urban core 

Robert C. Osborne 

President, Augusta Tomorrow Inc. 

Augusta Tomorrow is in a unique position 

of being able to look back and 

see where Augusta was almost 40 

years ago and how far it has come. 

As an early pioneer in public-private 

partnerships, Augusta Tomorrow 

has acted as the private sector’s main advocate 

for urban change since its formation in 1982. 

Like many American cities, Augusta’s downtown 

began losing its allure when suburbs became 

popular. The real blow to downtown Augusta 

came in 1978 when the Augusta Mall and 

Regency Mall opened within a week of each other. 

The central business district soon became a shell 

of its former self. 

For a community to prosper, it needs a strong 

core, and downtown Augusta is the heart of a 

metro area we know as “Augusta River Region.” 

With Augusta Tomorrow representing the 

private sector, its targeted master planning efforts 

during the 1980s and 1990s resulted in the 

realization of major revitalization efforts such as 

Riverwalk Augusta, the Augusta Riverfront Center 

complex, the Augusta Common and Springfield 

Village Park. 

In contrast to downtowns of old, city centers 

have emerging as unique environments where 

people can live and work, often without having to 

step inside a car. Millennials and baby boomers 

nationwide are embracing the opportunity to have 

dining and recreation within walking distance of 

where they live and work. 

Until a few years ago, downtown Augusta was 

on a path of slow but steady revitalization. 

But then came the merging of Augusta State 

University and Georgia Health Sciences University 

in early 2013 to create the state’s newest research 

institution: Augusta University. Later that year, 

the Army selected Fort Gordon as the home of 

Army Cyber Command by 2020-2021. 

Those events have helped spur massive development 

throughout downtown, most visibly 

at AU’s Riverfront Campus, where the state of 

Georgia is building the $100 million Georgia Cyber 

Center. 

Two new hotels are being built in downtown. 

The Medical Districts’ health care facilities continue 

to thrive and grow. North Augusta’s bold 

vision to expand Hammond’s Ferry into Riverside 

Village, a multi-use complex along the Savannah 

River that will feature a new hotel, restaurants, 

housing and the Augusta GreenJackets’ new stadium. 

Unisys has moved a major network operations 

center into Augusta’s downtown and other information 

technology companies are doing the same 

by renovating old buildings into high-tech offices. 

Our public school systems are getting on-board 

by offering cyber classes at the elementary level. 

Augusta’s revitalization is no longer slow and 


steady. 

The upward trajectory we are just beginning 

to experience is steep. The future is exciting as 

we envision a mighty and thriving Augusta with 

a broad economic base that no other community 

in the United States can boast. 

Augusta Tomorrow’s 2009 Master Plan, The 

Westobou Vision, provided a roadmap for the 

next 20-25 years for downtown Augusta development. 

This master plan incorporated all master 

plans in the city of Augusta into one cohesive 

vision. 

Augusta Tomorrow continues to keep this 

master plan alive by steadily working with our 

community partners to complete the master 

plan projects. In less than 10 years, 60 percent 

have been completed or are in progress – a tremendous 

accomplishment in a short period of 

time, showcasing how quickly Augusta is moving 

forward. 

For the first time in years, consensus is building 

among economic development organizations 

on the priorities needed to propel Augusta into 

the future. The roadmap is developing, and we 

are all starting to speak with one voice. 

Every organization has a job to do to ensure 

the vision of a thriving Augusta becomes reality. 

Augusta Tomorrow, with its unique perspective 

and experience, is working to collaborate with 

the various downtown organizations and the city 

government to ensure all aspects of revitalization 

is supported. 

In fact, Augusta Tomorrow has compiled the 

downtown economic development priorities on 

its newly redesigned website, www.augustatomorrow.com, 

to create a comprehensive resource 

for anyone interested in living, working, playing 

or investing in downtown. 

Development is moving at a fast pace. As a 

community, we need to make sure we do not 

lose sight of priorities. Over the years, Augusta 

Tomorrow has helped guide development and 

offers a unique non-governmental perspective 

to projects. 

We will continue providing this leadership to 

assure a thriving downtown Augusta. • 

Augusta Technical College is a public postsecondary 

institution that provides academic and technical education, 

customized business and industry training, continuing 

education, student support, economic development, and adult 

education services to its 5-county service area. Associate 

of Science Degrees, Associate of Applied Science Degrees, 

diplomas, and technical certificates of credit are provided 

through traditional and distance delivery methods. 

Augusta Technical College provides innovative educational programs and 

services of high quality through accessible and flexible curricula resulting in 

outstanding student success. The National Security Agency (NSA) and the 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have designated Augusta Technical 

College as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Two- 

Year Education (CAE2Y) through academic year 2023. Augusta Technical 

College is the first two-year Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) 

institution to hold the CAE2Y designation. In addition to the Associate Degree 

in Cybersecurity, Augusta Technical 

• 15 core competencies including College offers Cyber-related 

cyber defense, security design, programs in Networking, Computer 

Programming, and Computer 

cryptography, and ethics 

Support Specialist. The College 

• Hands-on intensive courses using currently offers Cybersecurity 

commercial equipment 

courses at the Georgia Cyber 

and Innovation Center. For more 

• Skilled faculty, many employed in information regarding these and 

Cybersecurity industry 

other programs, or to submit an 

• Programs focus on current job skills 

application for enrollment, please 

contact Augusta Technical College. 

and industry certifications 

• Options available for education past 

Associates level 

• Millions of jobs available in Cyber 

and related fields 

AG-0003092460-01 

www.augustatech.edu 

706-771-4000 

1736magazine.com u 53 

A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia - Equal Opportunity Institution

PICTURE THIS: 

Riverfront at the Depot 

$94 million development to 

bring life to downtown’s east end 



Riverfront 

at the Depot 

At a Glance 

140-unit market-rate apartment building 

with pool, community room and fitness area 

100,000-square-foot “class A” 

office building 

16,000-square-foot renovation of historic 

train depot building into retail space 

PHOTOS BY AUGUSTA DEVELOPERS LLC 

Two parking decks (490 at the apartment 

building, 352 for the 

office complex) with 10,000- 

square-feet of retail space 

equally split 

Commercial outparcel at corner of Reynolds 

and Sixth streets 

Public greenspace and access to 

Riverwalk Augusta 


Mike Carpenter attended more 

than a dozen Masters Tournaments 

without ever venturing 

downtown. Now the Birmingham, 

Ala.-based developer is 

spearheading the single-largest investment 

to hit the central business district in 25 years: 

Riverfront at the Depot. 

The $94 million mixed-use project aims to 

bring 100,000 square feet of office space, 140 

apartments and a nearly 850-space parking 

deck to the long-vacant, city-owned property 

on the Savannah River at the corner of Reynolds 

Street and the Fifth Street Bridge. 

The Depot’s genesis was March 2015, when 

Carpenter – an architect and principal with 

BLOC Global Group – was invited to tour 

downtown by Retail Strategies, a Birmingham-based 

consulting firm that contracts with 

Augusta’s Downtown Development Authority. 

Downtown’s revitalization efforts – and its 

untapped potential – gave Carpenter the confidence 

to pursue a public-private partnership 

with the city through the DDA. 

“Driving around the downtown area, and 

particularly along Broad Street, it became 

obvious that something was different,” Carpenter 

said. “Based on these observations and 

a strong commitment of support from Mayor 

(Hardie) Davis and the DDA, we decided to take 

a serious look at Augusta.” 

The project’s announcement in early October 

caps off a planning and negotiation process 

that began during the summer of 2016. Carpenter 

said the project will be worth the wait. 

“We would like to see the Depot become a 

regional destination,” he said. “It has the local 

recognition and the amenities to accomplish 

that goal.” 

The Depot would be downtown’s largest 

infusion of private capital since the Radisson 

Riverfront Hotel (now the Augusta Marriott at 

the Convention Center) and adjacent Augusta 

Riverfront Center office building opened in 

1992. That was a $40 million public-private 

partnership with the city of Augusta. 

The project’s first phase will begin during 

summer 2019 with construction of the residential 

building and the redevelopment of the 

16,000-square-foot historic depot building 

into bar and restaurant space. Construction of 

the office building will begin once an anchor 

tenant is identified, possibly a national or international 

cyber-defense company. 

Carpenter said the best way to revitalize 

downtown is by increasing “the duration that 

the commercial business lights are on.” And 

the best way to do that is getting more people 

living downtown. 

“Our project will be a catalytic movement 

toward the accomplishment of that goal,” he 

said. “This location will be one of the premier 

residential addresses in the city.” • 


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AUGUSTA, GA ASHEVILLE, NC CHARLESTON, SC CHARLOTTE, NC COLUMBIA, SC GREENVILLE, SC SAVANNAH, GA 

1736magazine.com AG-0003090500-01 u 57

Todd Glover, North Augusta City Administrator 


TWO CITIES, 

ONE DOWNTOWN 

Augusta, North Augusta city centers can prosper together 

By Todd Glover 

Since the founding of our city in 1906, 

North Augusta has been a bedroom 

community of Augusta. We are not 

only tied geographically but also economically. 

Rarely do you find municipalities 

so close in proximity; our lines literally 

touch. 

With Augusta being the older city, it already had 

an established commercial downtown when North 

Augusta began. The proximity of Augusta’s downtown 

meant that Broad Street also served as a de 

facto downtown for North Augusta. 

As North Augusta developed early on as a resort 

town, a bustling commercial center on the river 

began to develop here. As Georgia was a dry state at 

the time, the North Augusta Dispensary, a government 

operated liquor store, gave reason for many 

Augustans to cross the river. A commercial center on 

the North Augusta side soon built up, but this was 

prior to the dams on the Savannah River, and flood- 


ing was one of the largest reasons for its demise. 

In later days, it became more industrial and then 

just a brownfield. 

In the late ‘70s when malls became fashionable, 

downtown Augusta began to suffer as did most 

downtowns throughout America. Now as we are 

seeing a national trend toward downtown revitalization, 

Augusta’s Broad Street is starting to take 

on the vitality of the days when I was a kid and we 

“went to town.” 

North Augusta’s struggle is that as downtowns 

become en vogue again, we do not have 

the “bones” of an historic downtown from which 

to rebuild. Augusta and many other towns have 

vacant buildings waiting to be repurposed. Sadly, 

North Augusta has very few buildings in our 

downtown that most would 

consider architecturally appropriate 

or significant. 

Our newest commercial 

center, Jackson Square, 

was built to incorporate the 

look of historic downtown 

structures. 

What North Augusta did 

have, however, is available 

land along its riverfront. 

From the very first plans of 

our founder James U. Jackson, 

the riverfront was set 

aside for “Manufacturing 

and Business Purposes.” 

Almost two decades ago, 

City leadership began to acquire land on the riverfront 

to redevelop this area with the new protections 

of flood measures on the river. This area 

became North Augusta’s opportunity to create a 

vibrant, urban area from scratch – a luxury many 

cities will never see. While it was never the city’s 

intention to create a new downtown, it was our 

way to extend our downtown to the river. 

With the $230 million Riverside Village project, 

North Augusta was able to take the concept of a 

mall and leverage it to get the types of amenities 

we have wanted in our city for some time. While 

malls are less fashionable today, the concept still 

resonates. 

Anchor tenants in a mall draw the people in, 

while the small businesses in the mall benefit from 

the crowds. The stadium, hotel, and apartments 

are our anchor tenants that gave us the opportunity 

to land new concept restaurants and boutique 

retail. 

Riverside Village is providing a reason for people 

in all parts of our region to visit. So far, it truly has 

become the destination we thought it would be. 

However, as we have said from the beginning, if 

our downtown does not benefit from this, we have 

failed. While the grand opening of our stadium 

was exciting, I am more excited about opening day 

2019 when the other shops, restaurants, and hotel 

are open. I think then people will see the vitality of 

a live, work, and play community. 

In years past, Augusta and North Augusta did 

not take advantage of our 

proximity as we should. 

With the resurgence of 

Augusta’s downtown, 

the extension of the 

Riverwalk to 13th Street 

(Georgia Avenue on our 

side) and the Georgia 

Cyber Center, we are exploring 

better options for 

pedestrians and cyclists 

to access both sides of 

the river. 

Instead of the river 

being a wall, we need to 

consider it Main Street. 

As amenities build up on 

both sides, pedestrians and cyclists will look to us 

for better ways to access them. We can accomplish 

this through pedestrian bridges, water taxis, shuttles, 

etc. 

I doubt very seriously that visitors think about 

there being a different state on each side of the 

river. They are only concerned with the amenities 

and activities that both offer. Each side will prosper 

as we continue this path forward for development, 

as long as we continue to contemplate how 

to accommodate ease of access for our citizens and 

visitors alike. • 

In years past, Augusta 

and North Augusta did not 

take advantage of our 

proximity as we should. 

Todd Glover 


Sue Parr 

President and CEO, Augusta Metro 

Chamber of Commerce 

DOWNTOWN 

BEAUTIFICATION 

Maintenance key ingredient in ‘recipe’ 

for lasting success 

Pick a city. Any city. No two are exactly alike, but those 

that are making significant gains in urban redevelopment 

tend to have a “secret sauce” – that special 

something that is accelerating growth. 

There is no disputing downtown Augusta’s secret 

sauce is the cyber industry. It is helping fuel a renaissance in the 

urban core that includes the development of new retail, restaurants, 

offices and residential housing. 

Thinking about the secret sauce is important because it gives 

the community pause to consider the elements on which the sauce 

is being applied – the basic “sandwich” of downtown Augusta. In 

many cities on the rise, community leaders have a tendency to focus 

on the sauce more than the sandwich. 

The point was eloquently made by former Denver Mayor Wellington 

Webb when he spoke at the chamber’s annual meeting in 2015. 

The chamber was honored to partner with Augusta Mayor Hardie 

Davis in extending the invitation to Webb, who not only graciously 

accepted but spent a considerable amount of time meeting with 

Mayor Davis and the Augusta Commission. 

His message about the revitalization of Denver was not 

earth-shattering nor complex. It was simple. In his words, the three 

most important things cities can do to bring downtowns back to life 

is clean them up, clean them up and clean them up. 

Making a community attractive to visitors and potential new 

residents is not different than making one’s home presentable to 

guests: “What do you do when company’s coming?” Webb said. 

“You clean up the living room.” 

Sounds like a basic function, but for downtowns the size and age 


PHOTOS BY COOPER CARRY 

of Augusta, keeping the living room clean and 

looking its best can be complicated. Imagine all 

the resources necessary, for example, to plant 

pansies or fix a broken fountain. Such tasks run 

across a spectrum of city departments and require 

dutiful engagement at multiple levels to 

ensure there are ample resources to do those 

jobs, and to do them well. 

Creating a cohesive downtown image is so 

vital to economic growth that the chamber’s 

local policy agenda, established in 2017, provided 

several suggestions on how to manage this 

process more efficiently and effectively. Its first 

recommendation was to consolidate the responsibility 

of downtown beautification, maintenance 

and cleanliness into a dedicated department with 

clear accountability and a consistent, dedicated 

funding source. 

Downtown beautification and maintenance 

is a money issue and an execution issue. Both 

challenges, however, can be overcome if leaders 

recognize downtown as the regional economic 

engine that it is. 

The policy agenda’s second recommendation 

was for the city to adopt a basic set of standards 

for plans, methods and materials to ensure quality 

and consistency. In other words, a playbook 

to serve as a guide for how downtown infrastructure, 

including its flora, is maintained. 

Such a guide would take the guesswork out 

of what color brick pavers should be used on 

sidewalks, or the best seasonal flowers to adorn 

Broad Street. Think of the cost savings achieved 

by outlining a simple set of smart and “green” 

choices? 

The agenda’s third recommendation is to 

leverage pending Transportation Investment 

Act-funded projects to create attractive and 

low-maintenance infrastructure in downtown 

Augusta. We all know it to be true, unfortunately, 

that building something is often the easy part. 

The hard part is marshalling the resources to 

maintain what is built. 

But many of the TIA project concepts, especially 

those on Broad Street, are engineered with 

cost savings in mind. Money-saving ideas include 

raised boardwalks over vegetation to better 

manage stormwater runoff, and year-round 

raised platforms in medians that can double as 

stages during events such as Arts in the Heart. 

Augusta’s central business district serves as a 

destination for visitors seeking entertainment, 

culture and recreation. It also is a magnet for 

residents seeking work, education and unique 

communal environments. 

Most important, a successful and vibrant urban 

core will present Augusta a community that 

is progressive and earnest in its commitment to 

drive economic development through the entire 

city. 

Let’s get busy on identifying and solving the 

most basic priorities that will further accelerate 

our recipe for success. • 


BRIEFING 


HITS & MISSES 

Regency Mall as civic center site: The city coliseum 

authority’s resolution to pick the vacant Regency Mall 

as the preferred site for a new 10,000-plus seat arena 

- an idea roundly rejected this year by city voters in a straw 

poll - is extremely short-sighted and blatantly political. 

Putting the city’s largest entertainment venue miles 

from its arts and culture epicenter defies all logic. 

Thank goodness the idea is on hold. 

Dilapidated downtown buildings: Vacant is one thing, 

hopelessly decrepit is another. Not only have some property 

owners allowed their downtown buildings to fall into major 

disrepair, they compound the problem by refusing to sell 

to others who might be willing to invest the necessary 

time and money. Fix your buildings or turn them over to 

someone who will. 

Hyatt Place: The $25 million-plus Hyatt House hotel project, 

the largest private-sector investment in downtown in 

decades, will transform upper Broad Street when it opens 

with eight stories of luxury rooms, ground floor retail and a 

rooftop bar. 

Status quo crowd: Downtowns are evolving. The central 

business district of yesteryear isn’t coming back. Instead 

of trying to recreate the city in its former self – and falling 

back on “we’ve always done it this way” or “that will never 

work here” attitudes – how about focusing on creative and 

innovative solutions to downtown problems? Or at least not 

knocking those who do. 

North Augusta plays ball: 

Though the Augusta GreenJackets-anchored Riverside Village 

at Hammonds Ferry complex in North Augusta wasn’t birthed 

in the spirit of regional cooperation – the team took its game 

across the river when Augusta balked at a downtown stadium 

proposal - the $230 million multiuse complex could bridge 

the border gap in a manner never before seen. 

HITS & MISSES 


HITS & MISSES 

Provincial parking attitudes: It’s not 1997 anymore. You 

shouldn’t expect to find empty parking spaces on the street 

directly in front of the downtown businesses you frequent, 

nor is it reasonable to think you can let your vehicle occupy 

the space all day long. The parking shortage needs to be 

addressed head on. 

Big name, big impact: If there’s a better use for the longidle 

Golf & Gardens property than the $100 million Georgia 

Cyber Center, we’re hard pressed to think of it. The stateof-the-art 

facility will provide the launchpad for Augusta 

University’s Riverfront Campus and establish the Garden City 

as Georgia’s center for cyber education. 

Augusta Cyberworks investment: It takes more than 

good ideas and bold vision to revitalize the urban core 

– it takes courage and capital. Cape Augusta LLC and IT 

firm EDTS LLC have stepped up on both fronts to invest 

into a 32,000-square-foot space at the fledgling Augusta 

Cyberworks tech complex at Sibley and King mills. 

The Depot project: It wasn’t an easy public-private 

partnership to forge, but the deal between BLOC Global Group 

and the city of Augusta to redevelop the long-vacant “depot” 

property will yield dividends for decades. The $94 million 

development - a mix of office, residential and retail - could 

have just as easily failed had principals at BLOC Global not 

perservered through a much-too-laborious city approval 

process. Both sides of the table are to be commended for 

seeing it through. 

MCG Foundation gateway: The Medical College of Georgia 

Foundation, now at a quarter-billion dollars and fully 

realigned with Augusta University, has big plans to redevelop 

its substantial real estate holdings at the corner of 15th 

Street and the John C. Calhoun Expressway into a “gateway” 

development for the medical district. In an urban core that 

has been labeled a “food desert,” the foundation’s mixed-use 

project - which could include a supermarket - may very well 

be a rainmaker. 

HITS & MISSES 


BlanchardAndCalhoun.com • BandCcommercial.com 

BlanchardCalhounIns.com • AugustaMortgage.com 


AG-0003090495-01

Parker Dye, with Jordan Trotter Commercial Real Estate, stands 

on the 6th floor of the SunTrust Building. 


New Life for 

Old Offices 

Demand for ‘open-office’ space 

could revitalize older buildings 


The future of professional space in 

downtown Augusta is wide-open – 

as in “wide-open” offices. 

The open-office concept that 

has become the norm in larger 

markets, particularly among companies employing 

large numbers of millennials, is driving 

owners of downtown buildings to bring their 

decades-old properties into the 21st century. 

The owners of Broad Street’s two largest office 

buildings – 699 Broad St. and the SunTrust 

Building at 801 Broad St. – are renovating previously 

compartmentalized suites for what they 

hope will be a slew of companies attracted to 

Augusta’s growing tech sector. 

Davis BemanBlanchard and 

Calhoun Vice President 

Interior walls and hallways are being knocked 

down to give workers more natural light and 

better views of the urban core. The functional-but-bland 

drop ceilings are getting ripped out 

to expose architectural details and create additional 

spaciousness. 

“That is what everybody is looking for,” said 

Parker Dye, an agent with Jordan Trotter Commercial 

Real Estate who specializes in marketing 

downtown properties, including the SunTrust 

building. “The more walls you create, the more 

you’re limiting a potential tenant.” 

Renovations at the 48-year-old building began 

in early 2017, shortly after the for the 11-story, 

135,000-square-foot building was purchased 



The partners of Allison South Marketing Group, from left, Mike Thomas, 

Kate Sanders, Cynthia South and Ron Turner, sit in the lobby area of the 

company’s new office in downtown Augusta. 

It wasn’t easy for Alison South Marketing Group to 

find office space in downtown Augusta, despite having 

nearly 400,000 square feet to choose from. 

“It was hard to find the right space,” Cynthia South, 

the firm’s co-founder said during a recent interview. “It 

was either not an ideal location, or it didn’t have enough 

space, or it required too much to make it look good.” 

After several months of searching, the creative firm 

settled on a 2,400-square-foot space on the first floor 

of the 133-year-old Commerce Building at the corner of 

Broad and Seventh streets earlier this year to replace its 

previous Augusta-area office in Columbia County. 

The marble-clad Commerce Building, owned by 

Christopher Booker & Associates, the architectural firm 

that occupies the second floor, boasts 19-foot ceilings, 

decorative cast-iron columns and large plate-glass windows 

that bathe the interior with natural light. 

Though the 22-employee firm is several blocks from 

the hipper section of upper Broad Street, it couldn’t be 

happier with the location it moved into over the spring 

and summer. 

“Everybody really fights for those 10th to 13th 

blocks,” Alison South Partner Ron Turner said. “We 

wanted to put our money where our mouth is down here 

where people are starting to renovate.” 


CASE STUDY 

ALLISON SOUTH 

MARKETING GROUP 


by a company affiliated with the owners of 

Augusta-based McKnight Construction Co. 

and McKnight Properties. 

A similar refresh is going on at 699 

Broad, the 170,000-square-foot mid-rise 

formerly known as the Wells Fargo Building. 

Blanchard and Calhoun Vice President 

Davis Beman, who handles leasing for the 

property’s Augusta-based owner, a corporate 

entity affiliated with owners of the 

Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center 

and the adjacent Augusta Riverfront Center 

office building. 

The 17-story 699 Broad building has 

been converting suites into open-office 

format to appeal to companies seeking 

central business district amenities at rates 

that are more affordable than those being 

offered at the Georgia Cyber Center, which, 

along with the Augusta Riverfront Center, 

is the only lease-able “class-A” office 

space in downtown. 

The only other space that could be 

considered class-A is at “end-user” properties, 

such as the Unisys space in the 

riverfront Port Royal Building and the “innovation 

campus” TaxSlayer is developing 

in the former YMCA building at 936 Broad 

St. 

Beman said the critical mass of residential, 

restaurant and retail developments on 

upper Broad Street has driven reinvestment 

in the old office buildings as much as 

workers’ desire for open floor-plans. 

“People that are coming want walkability 

and high-end amenities,” Beman said. 

“Columbia County was not built on walkability. 

West Augusta and south Augusta 

has some of that, but they don’t have a 

live-work-play center. That, and the character 

of downtown, is something that the 

rest of the area will never have.” 

Last summer, Augusta University Health 

signed a lease to move some of its clinical 

office staff to the building’s first two 

floors. Beman said one of its newest tenants, 

Vision Wireless – previously located 

in Enterprise Mill on Greene Street – is 

moving into one of the new open-office 

suites. 

Beman said 699 Broad’s owners plan 

to update the building’s aluminum- and

By bringing in new jobs, 

we’re generating opportunity 

for more Georgians. 

At Geor Power, we do more thn me ener, we fuel our econom b brnn new 

compnes to Geor Our efforts hve resulted n over 134,000 new obs n the lst 10 ers 

lone, cretn better communtes nd stroner fmles And shown people cross our 

stte more possbltes thn ever before To see how we’re enern opporn, s 

eorpowercorowh 

©2018 Geor Power All rs reserve 



glass-clad exterior during the next two years. 

A recent office-space study conducted by the 

Downtown Development Authority estimates 

nearly one-quarter of downtown’s 1.5 million 

square feet professional space is vacant, with 

rental rates ranging from $14 to $23 a square 

foot, depending on the “upfit” costs, the price 

tenants pay to “build out” the space they lease. 

Space in the $100 million Georgia Technology 

Authority-owned Georgia Cyber Center, whose 

phase II building opens in December, lists at 

more than $30 a square foot. 

Dye, who said rates for the SunTrust Building 

are in the “high teens,” said he expects office 

rents will start creeping up as move-in ready 

space in the central business district fills up. 

That, in turn, could encourage owners of vacant 

or sub-par office buildings to get off the fence 

and invest in their properties. 

“There is space available downtown, but when 

once that space goes, where is the next step?” he 

said. “There is too much going on downtown for 

people not to want to be here.” 

Aside from repurposing long-vacant buildings 

such as the Kress and J.C. Penney department 

stores, on the 800 and 700 blocks, respectively, 

Beman said the biggest renovation 

potential lies in the Lamar Building, the vacant 

102,000-square-foot office tower at 753 Broad 

St. 

The century-old building, considered Augusta’s 

first “skyscraper,” has been owned by an 

Aiken, S.C., businessman since December 2016. 

Beman, the property’s marketing agent, said 

renovating the building has become much more 

feasible since its owner acquired a share of its 

rear parking lot earlier this year. The balance 

of the lot is controlled by the Augusta-based 

investment group that owns the nearby Marion 

Building, another fully vacant property with 

office or residential potential. 

Aside from parking, Beman said, the biggest 

challenge to creating move-in ready office space 

on Broad Street is the high risk and low return 

on investment given the current lease rates. 

Bringing an older structure the size of the Lamar 

Building up to modern fire codes, for example, 

could easily exceed $1 million. 

“If you look at downtown Augusta, there’s 

no lack of available property, there’s a lack of a 

revenue stream behind it to do something with 

it,” he said. “This isn’t Birmingham (Ala.) or 

Greenville (S.C.) where the rates can justify what 

you want to do.” • 


AT A GLANCE 

New and future office developments in the central business district: 

Type/Address/Square footage/Description 

FUTURE 

1 11TH ST./150,000/ 

GEORGIA CYBER CENTER’S 

second phase building, to be completed in 

December, will be devoted almost entirely to 

office space 

NEW 

1 11TH ST./40,000/GEORGIA 

CYBER CENTER’S 

first phase, the Hull McKnight Building, 

opened in July with more than three quarters 

of its leasable space occupied 

FUTURE 

945 BROAD ST./40,000/ 

SOFTWARE FIRM TAXSLAYER’S 

renovation of former YMCA building into its 

“innovation and technology campus” is expected 

to be complete by December 

NEW 

1717 GOODRICH ST./32,500/ 

IT FIRM EDTS 

opened its headquarters at Augusta 

Cyberworks’ Sibley Mill warehouse building 

last fall 

FUTURE 

1051 BROAD ST./30,000/ 

INVESTOR RAFIK BASSALI 

will redevelop the vacant Cobern Furniture 

building into mixed-use commercial space 

later this year 

NEW 

801 BROAD ST./15,000/A 

MCKNIGHT FAMILY PARTNERSHIP 

renovated vacant floors at SunTrust Building 

from compartmentalized to open-style suites 

last summerFuture/901 Greene St./15,000/Atlanta-based 

SharedSpace plans to open co-working 

space by November in the former state probation 

offices 

NEW 

1010 BROAD ST./14,000/THE 

AUGUSTA CONVENTION AND 

VISITORS BUREAU acquired the former 

Whitehouse Antiques building in late 2016 to 

house its offices and the city visitor’s center 

NEW 

624 ELLIS ST./13,000/SHERMAN & 

HEMSTREET REAL ESTATE opened its 

headquarters in the former Merry Land Properties 

offices in April 

FUTURE 

980 BROAD ST./3,400/ 

MARKETING FIRM WEIR/STEWART 

acquired the building next to its 982 Broad St. 

offices for future expansion last fall 

FUTURE 

699 BROAD ST./N/A/THE OWNERS 

OF THE WELLS FARGO BUILDING 

plan to “re-skin” the 221-foot mid-rise with a 

new exterior during the next two years 


GRADING DOWNTOWN 


6 

Downtown development sparks latest downtown score 

5 6 

2 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN MAX MIN MAX 

PUBLIC SAFETY 

statistically, the central business 

district’s crime rate is low. But if 

it doesn’t “feel” safe because of 

dirty streets, neglected buildings 

or aggressive panhandlers, 

residents and visitors will not 

want to spend time or money 

downtown. 

8 

GOVERNMENT 

If there’s a downtown 

“champion” on the Augusta 

Commission, he or she needs to 

speak up. Despite the risingtide 

effect of strong central 

cities, too many local leaders 

fail to see beyond the confines 

of their individual districts. 

7 

HOUSING 

Increased development of 

market-rate housing in the 

urban core will create more 

economic activity as well as the 

“18-hour” downtown many 

young professionals seek. 

Downtown occupancy rates 

in the high 90-percent range 

indicate an appetite for more 

lofts and condos. 

5 

PARKING 

Augusta has no parking 

management plan – making 

it a rarity among mid-sized 

cities. The scarcity of spaces 

poses the biggest impediment 

to downtown growth. Decks 

need to be built, regulations 

need enforced and locals need 

to change their mindsets. 

7 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

MIN 

MAX 

DEVELOPMENT 

A $100 million state cyber 

center, along with multiple 

private-sector projects – 

including new hotels and a 

baseball complex on the North 

Augusta riverfront – signal an 

unprecedented uptick in urban 

core revitalization. 

ARTS & CULTURE 

The Miller Theater renovation 

will help cement the 700 block 

as Augusta’s “theater district,” 

but an extension of the Augusta 

Common would create muchneeded 

space for public events, 

while more public art could 

give the city a greater “sense of 

place.” 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

Uneven sidewalks are as 

uninviting as downtown’s 

gateways. Fortunately, 

shortcomings will be addressed 

with more than $80 million 

in transportation tax-funded 

projects next year. Ongoing 

maintenance will be key. 

COMMERCE 

Downtown has no shortage of 

bars, restaurants and coffee 

houses, but there is room 

for more; and visitors would 

appreciate more consistent 

business hours and a greater 

diversity of offerings. Is it time 

for more high-volume eateries – 

i.e. chains – to move in? 

OVERALL SCORE 

5.75 

MIN 

MAX 


Damon Cline, Editor 

FINAL 

WORDS 

Does downtown deserve 

special consideration? 

Absolutely. 

Over the years, people have asked me 

numerous variations of the same 

question: “Why does downtown get 

so much attention?” 

My usual response: “Why 

shouldn’t it?” 

Downtown, after all, is the most tangible indicator 

of a city’s civic pride, prosperity and overall 

quality of life. As is the case with most large and 

mid-sized metro areas, Augusta’s downtown is the 

one place where its story – past, present and future 

– is told. 

It’s where residents and visitors alike can discover 

Augusta’s identity, character and the thing 

sociologists and urban planners call “sense of 

place.” 

All parts of the city are important; downtown is 

indispensable. 

Its iconic landmarks, layout and architecture 

can’t be replicated, so it is paramount the public 

and private sectors support, maintain and bolster 

those critical assets for current and future generations. 

The necessity of revitalizing Augusta’s urban 

core was succinctly stated by local businessman 

Barry Storey, who paraphrased what Denver Mayor 

Wellington Webb told city leaders in 2015: “He said 

you’ve got three priorities in this city: ‘No. 1, clean 

up your living room; No. 2, clean up your living 

room, and No. 3, clean up your living room.’ And 

your living room is your downtown.” 

He’s right. For locals, downtown is everybody’s 

neighborhood. For visitors, downtown Augusta is 

the neighborhood they will remember most vividly. 

Downtown is the face of Augusta. Shouldn’t it 

have a bright, welcoming smile? 

Downtown is the heart of Augusta. Shouldn’t it 

pulsate with vibrancy? 

Downtown is the soul of Augusta. Shouldn’t it 

radiate positive energy? 

When the “why downtown?” question arises, it 

usually insinuates the central business district receives 

a disproportionate share of the city treasury, 

or that other areas are being marginalized at the 

expense of the city center. 

The reality is that investment and reinvestment 

in the urban core – from Harrisburg to Olde Town, 

from the riverfront to the Laney Walker-Bethlehem 

– helps boost the city’s overall tax base. Not only 

that, the cost of providing services in high-density 

regions is lower than it is in the suburbs and rural 

areas. 

More people living, working and playing in the 

city center is good for everyone. 

And the good news is, that is happening. Young, 

single professionals and empty nesters want to be 

immersed in downtown’s unique entertainment, 

architecture and cultural milieu. But young families, 

too, are planting roots in the central city, 

trading increasingly congested and lengthy suburban 

commutes for walkable and bikeable neighborhoods. 

So as this classic Southern city quickly accelerates 

into the 21st century, it’s imperative that 

community leaders – public and private – not 

put a damper on downtown Augusta’s burgeoning 

renaissance. 

Yes, after decades of neglect, sometimes-glacially 

slow progress and the occasional half-baked 

idea, downtown appears to be getting the attention 

it deserves. 

It’s about time.• 


Your Health is Our Legacy. 

For 200 years University Hospital has been dedicated to improving the health of those we serve. From its humble 

beginnings in 1818 as a two-story, 10-bed hospital, to today’s two-campus, 812-bed organization, University 

Hospital has been here to provide the highest level of care regardless of our patients’ ability to pay. 

Today, University Health Care System has facilities and services that reach more than 25 counties across two 

states; providing preventive, diagnostic, medical, surgical and rehabilitative care at every stage of life and in 

every corner of our community. 

Our physicians, nurses, staff, volunteers and board members are proud to be a part of University Hospital’s 200- 

year legacy, and we look forward to the remarkable strides in health care the next 200 years will bring. 

www.UniversityHospitalTurns200.org 


AG-0003098608-01

1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

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