1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

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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 It has been replaced by a dollar store.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 26 u <strong>1736</strong>magazine.com
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 <strong>1736</strong>magazine.com u 27
Page 1 and 2: 11 Tech-Tonic Shift 14 Residential
Page 3 and 4: PRESIDENT TONY BERNADOS WELCOME MES
Page 5 and 6: was so nice. It is not the same pla
Page 7 and 8: making manufacturing a vital piece
Page 9 and 10: DOWNTOWN AUGUSTA GEORGIA Nearly $1
Page 11 and 12: “Tech”-Tonic Shift Fix downtown
Page 13 and 14: DOWNTOWN AUGUSTA What's Needed? SOM
Page 15 and 16: Downtown Dwellers Cameron Henry and
Page 17 and 18: 1ST COMMU- We play ball. NITY BANK
Page 19 and 20: Downtown Dwellers Ross, Brittany &
Page 21 and 22: ing anybody out of something. We’
Page 23 and 24: ferent when he moved in 10 years ag
Page 25: PHOTO BY MIKE ADAMS Downtown Dwelle
Page 29 and 30: BACK TO BROAD After flirting with r
Page 31 and 32: PHOTO BY MICHAEL HOLAHAN Bryan Halt
Page 33 and 34: REBIRTH OF A COMMUNITY Laney-Walker
Page 35 and 36: Hawthrone Welcherdirector of the Au
Page 37 and 38: WHAT’S OLDE IS NEW home [hom] nou
Page 39 and 40: 1736magazine.com u 39
Page 41 and 42: TURNING BACK THE BLOCK Nonprofit ta
Page 43 and 44: Business School for Business AG-000
Page 45 and 46: PHOTO BY MICHAEL HOLAHAN there’s
Page 47 and 48: Ironwood’s best selling point, ho
Page 49 and 50: Paul King Rex Property & Land LLC B
Page 51 and 52: profiles, occupancy, absorption and
Page 53 and 54: steady. The upward trajectory we ar
Page 55 and 56: Riverfront at the Depot At a Glance
Page 57 and 58: protect your data. One Place for Co
Page 59 and 60: ing was one of the largest reasons
Page 61 and 62: PHOTOS BY COOPER CARRY of Augusta,
Page 63 and 64: HITS & MISSES Provincial parking at
Page 65 and 66: Parker Dye, with Jordan Trotter Com
Page 67 and 68: By bringing in new jobs, we’re ge
Page 69 and 70: AT A GLANCE New and future office d
Page 71 and 72: Damon Cline, Editor FINAL WORDS Doe

1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

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