Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

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38 | 1736magazine.com 0818_T_38_AM____.indd 38 7/29/2019 4:21:56 PM
The ‘other’ downtown North Augusta leaders seeking downtown destination status OPPOSITE PAGE: Avery Spears- Mahoney is the executive director of North Augusta Forward, which is focused on creating a unique identity for North Augusta’s traditional central business district. [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/ THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE] By DAMON CLINE Avery Spears-Mahoney bristles a little bit when she hears North Augusta described as a “bedroom community.” “I think North Augusta is more sophisticated than that, it just doesn’t present itself as such just yet,” the executive director of North Augusta Forward said. “I think we can be more of a complement to downtown Augusta, and vice versa, if we can have our own identity.” Creating that unique identity in North Augusta’s traditional central business district is her organization’s No. 1 task. The public-private nonprofit group is forging ahead on plans to make the sleepy downtown as vibrant as the city’s newer Riverside Village district, where a host of development has sprung up around the SRP Park baseball stadium. The North Augusta native acknowledges revitalization efforts in the city’s downtown proper have been on the backburner in recent years. “It wasn’t anything intentional on anyone’s part, it was just by default,” said Spears-Mahoney, who was hired to head the organization last year after serving for five years as director of the Aiken Downtown Development Association. “It took a laser focus to accomplish what they accomplished over there (at Riverside Village). But it did leave downtown kind of with its hands in the air saying, ‘What about us?’ ” North Augusta Forward’s renewed focus on downtown comes after the city was recently accepted into the Main Street South Carolina program, a statewide initiative that arms communities with technical support and subject-matter experts to assist in revitalization efforts. Earlier this year the program’s staff unveiled a strategic plan that calls for everything from increasing downtown’s connectivity to Riverside Village and The Greeneway urban trail system to streetscape improvements and redevelopment of downtown buildings and vacant lots. A top priority is beautifying the gateway to downtown by redeveloping the former North Augusta Carpet Shop on Georgia Avenue, a property the organization purchased in 2018. The building, which once housed a roller-skating rink, and its adjacent tract of vacant land are envisioned as 1736magazine.com | 39 0818_T_38_AM____.indd 39 7/29/2019 4:22:04 PM
Page 1 and 2: EDITION ISSUE 4 | SUMMER 2019 THE R
Page 3 and 4: 64 A PRODUCT OF CONTENTS 45 4 PICTU
Page 5 and 6: Augusta banker and amateur photogra
Page 7 and 8: LEFT: Vacant buildings on the 900 b
Page 9 and 10: ON THE STREET DOWNTOWN IS AUGUSTA
Page 11 and 12: Loop Recruiting co-owners Jason Ken
Page 13 and 14: FACES OF DOWNTOWN 1 Joe Edge [DAMON
Page 15 and 16: FACES OF DOWNTOWN [DAMON CLINE/THE
Page 17 and 18: FACES OF DOWNTOWN [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/
Page 19 and 20: FACES OF DOWNTOWN [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/
Page 21 and 22: FACES OF DOWNTOWN 5 Rob Wynn TAKING
Page 23 and 24: CASE STUDY: PERRY, N.Y. Rick Hauser
Page 25 and 26: appraised value; owners of vacant p
Page 27 and 28: IN FOCUS The J.C. Penney Building O
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Page 31 and 32: VER Springfield Village Park Crysta
Page 33 and 34: RIGHT: Edkesha Anderson, program ma
Page 35 and 36: An Operation Clean City sign posted
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Page 41 and 42: An artist rendering depicts a re-la
Page 43 and 44: A downtown North Augusta property r
Page 45 and 46: I.M. Pei displays a large-scale mod
Page 47 and 48: The building at 600 Broad St. that
Page 49 and 50: The cubist James Brown Arena is the
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Page 55 and 56: By DR. ANGELA D. PRINGLE Superinten
Page 57 and 58: Downtown Augusta’s John S. Davids
Page 59 and 60: Thanks to Unisys Tech firm was a ca
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Page 63 and 64: “CHAIN” IS NOT A DIRTY WORD: On
Page 65 and 66: Other parking concerns are being ad
Page 67 and 68: GRADING DOWNTOWN Community service
Page 69 and 70: MARTIN continued from 19 nonprofit
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Page 73 and 74: The estate “is not going to win a
Page 75 and 76: 1736 LOVERS LANE ▲ Price: $1.8 mi
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Page 81 and 82: 531 JAMES BROWN BOULEVARD Rental ra
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