Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

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Phase 1 also includes renovating the depot, where 16,000 square feet will be up-fitted to house retail for $3 million, similar to Atlanta’s Ponce City Market. Another 5,000 feet of new retail space will be built for $1 million. Retail parking in Deck 1 will include $2.1 million for 80 depot spaces and $666,000 for the new retail’s 25 spaces. Due diligence documents for the project was set for June 30. Bloc Global met the deadline but request a 60-day extension to ensure the deal protects their interests. “They probably didn’t need to (get the extension) because they weren’t late on anything,” Woodard told the Augusta Chronicle “But in order to protect their investment, they went ahead with the extension because they’ve invested half a million dollars so far in the due diligence documents.” The Depot project will be the largest downtown investment since the construction of the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center and the adjacent office building housing the Morris Museum of Art. The Depot project is eclipsed only by the $200-plus million public-private investment in the SRP-Park anchored Riverside Village development in North Augusta. 66 | 1736magazine.com 0818_T_64_AM____.indd 66 7/29/2019 4:26:59 PM
GRADING DOWNTOWN Community service officers are welcome addition By DAMON CLINE 6.5 5 6.5 3 PUBLIC SAFETY Previous score: 6.5 GOVERNMENT Previous score: 5.5 HOUSING Previous score: 6.5 PARKING Previous score: 2.5 For the most part, there are few good reasons – but plenty of bad ones – for unsupervised minors to be on downtown streets between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The city has a curfew law, but enforcement appears to be less-than-stringent; many are unaware the law is on the books. It would behoove law enforcement officers to be more diligent at investigating apparent violations, as any juvenile willing to break a curfew law is capable of committing a much more serious infraction. The presence of additional community service officers downtown are a welcome sight. 8 DEVELOPMENT Previous score: 8.5 The city is preparing to turn the old train depot property to the Alabama-based developers of the Riverfront at the Depot mixed-use project, clearing the way for work to commence at the long-anticipated east-end site. But why are city leaders seemingly giving a lukewarm reaction to a local developer proposing an even larger proposal to extend the Augusta Common northward to the riverfront? Does the city lack the bandwidth to handle another major public-private project, or are politics at play? Augusta’s government is a constant mixed bag. The good – such as the city’s code enforcement department adding two new downtown-dedicated officers – always seems to be offset by the bad – such as an Augusta commissioner’s 11th hour attempt to obstruct the Riverfront at the Depot project over a 60-day request to extend the due diligence period. The county coliseum authority is back on track to expand James Brown Arena, but it has been in stasis since an impractical alternative was politically forced upon it in 2017. And we’ve still yet to see any elected official who could qualify as a “champion” for downtown. 5.5 INFRASTRUCTURE Previous score: 5.5 Augusta’s laudable indoor smoking ban has produced an unpleasant byproduct – more cigarette butts on city streets and sidewalks. Downtown bar and restaurant owners would do themselves, and everyone else, a favor by ensuring their establishments offer ample outdoor ashtrays and cigarette disposal units to keep Broad Street from looking trashy. What good are streetscape improvements if they’re covered in litter? Lack of maintenance in downtown’s public spaces remains subpar at best. Multiple multi-family developments are in the works in the urban core, but until they come to fruition, downtown’s housing inventory will continue to trail the pent-up demand for urbandwelling young professionals whose disposable income would attract much-needed commercial businesses – namely grocery stores and general merchandise retailers. The fastest way to improve a downtown is to get people living downtown. 7.5 ARTS & CULTURE Previous score: 7.5 It was perhaps unrealistic to assume the Miller Theater could sustain the breakneck pace of its inaugural-year programming. Hopefully, the venue’s second- and third-phase renovations will usher in more “experimental and experiential” performing arts opportunities. Meanwhile, Augusta’s other historic theater, the Imperial, is preparing to embark on a $4 million capital campaign for much needed-improvements. And while the recently-opened Pexcho American Dime Museum might not be your cup of tea, the sideshow-themed attraction certainly widens downtown’s entertainment spectrum. Progress, though glacially slow, is being made. City officials have identified a vendor to run downtown’s long-overdue parking-management program, which is needed to keep all-day parkers from inconveniencing business patrons. New signs that prohibit vehicles over 18 feet long – about two feet longer than a full-size SUV – from Broad Street’s sunken parking bays is also a step in the right direction; commercial vehicles and work trucks belong on side streets. 7.5 COMMERCE Previous score: 7.5 A slew of new eateries and offices have opened in recent months, and more appear to be on the way as young professionals and students gravitate to the central business district’s uniquely urban environment. Time will tell, however, if the energy of upper Broad Street will spur development at downtown’s larger vacant structures and “cross the tracks” past the 600 block once the Riverfront at the Depot project starts going vertical. OVERALL SCORE: 6.18 Previous quarter: 6.25 1736magazine.com | 67 0818_T_67_AM____.indd 67 7/29/2019 4:27:16 PM
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EDITION ISSUE 4 | SUMMER 2019 THE R
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64 A PRODUCT OF CONTENTS 45 4 PICTU
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Augusta banker and amateur photogra
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LEFT: Vacant buildings on the 900 b
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ON THE STREET DOWNTOWN IS AUGUSTA
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Loop Recruiting co-owners Jason Ken
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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 39 and 40: The ‘other’ downtown North Augu
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: Other parking concerns are being ad
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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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