1736 Magazine - Fall 2018

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.”
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CASE STUDY
ALLISON SOUTH
MARKETING GROUP
PHOTO BY DAMON CLINE
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