Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

FACES OF DOWNTOWN
5 Rob Wynn
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
[DAMON CLINE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
As a professional financial advisor,
Rob Wynn isn’t one to let
low-risk/high-return opportunities
slip by.
Which is why the founder
of Wynn Capital couldn’t sit idle as
the median on the 900 block of Broad
Street – a major pedestrian crossroads
that features the “Welcome to Downtown
Augusta” sign – slowly descend into
decrepitude.
Rather than rely on city workers to
occasionally trim hedges, mow grass,
pull weeds and fix dislodged brick
pavers, Wynn and a handful of neighboring
business owners stepped forward to
take responsibility for weekly median
maintenance.
Wynn considers “adopting” public
greenspace a high-yield investment in the
city center.
“In my view, the core of our local
economy in the future will likely be
downtown,” Wynn said. “A lot of what
will drive the economy is people coming
downtown. If they haven’t been down here
in a long time, they need to see that it looks
nice, and if it looks nice, they’re more
likely to come back.”
Wynn started thinking about improving
the space shortly after opening his investment
firm in late 2015. Inspired by Augusta
businessman Barry Storey’s adoption of
medians along major city gateways, Wynn
began exploring the idea of hiring a private
landscaping firm to maintain the 900
block median shortly after purchasing his
965 Broad St. building in 2017.
But the plan languished in bureaucratic
red tape until the city’s Environmental
Services Department established the
Keep Augusta Beautiful initiative in 2018,
which streamlined the adoption process
and negated the need to petition Augusta
commissioners for permission to maintain
public property.
By December 2018, Wynn and fellow
downtown property owner Paul King
seeded a maintenance program with
WYNN continues on 69
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