1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

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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