1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

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
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