1736 Magazine - Vision for the Future

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By capturing and studying the movement of residents’ cellphones, Woodard said, interesting patterns emerged showing visitors’ habits. Some traits didn’t change despite the pandemic. Hourly visits to downtown still generally peaked at mealtimes, and daily visits peaked on weekends, according to NextSite. Most visitors still come from a 30-mile radius. There were about 1 million fewer visits to downtown in 2020 than 2019. But the average number of visits didn’t change much. In 2019, a customer would visit downtown 4.49 times a year. During the pandemic, despite a sharp drop in the number of visits between mid- March and mid-May, a customer averaged 4.07 visits, the NextSite report said. The number of visitors expectedly went down. While about 727,600 people came downtown in 2019, only about 558,100 did last year. There also weren’t the traditional spikes in visitor numbers, seen typically around St. Patrick’s Day, the Fourth of July, Christmas, and in the fall when the city plays host to its Ironman competition and the Arts in the Heart and Westobou festivals. “The traffic is still down, but not nearly as down as it was at the beginning of the pandemic,” Woodard said. “People are returning downtown but not just at capacity.” Another interesting aberration, Woodard said: In the first few monthly reports during the pandemic, downtown would see visitor spikes on Tuesdays, “because people were just tired of being at home,” she said. “They’d be sheltered in place, and they picked up curbside.” Curbside service was one of the tweaks to city ordinances designed to help keep businesses running. Other changes allowed more seating for customers on sidewalks. More recently, the Augusta Com- The new Hyatt House Hotel in downtown Augusta. [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE] 36 | 1736magazine.com
The Georgia Cyber Center in downtown Augusta. [SPECIAL] mission voted to relax requirements on alcohol licenses. Some business owners moved forward with downtown openings at various stages of the pandemic, taking advantage of Georgia’s policies on business reopenings that were less stringent than those in other parts of the nation. Pineapple Ink Tavern closed almost as soon as it opened in March, but reopened later in the year. Laziza Mediterranean Grill opened its second downtown location in November. Broad Street Bullies Grill opened on Broad Street’s 800 block. Florist Blanc Flora opened on the 500 block. Grantski’s Records and Southern Stone Imports, a countertop and tile retailer, opened on the 1200 block. Other businesses changed the way they did business. The Book Tavern, heavily reliant on foot traffic, began marketing and selling “surprise care packages” of books and other items targeted at people sheltering in place. Keen Sign and Graphics began manufacturing sneeze guards. At 2nd City Distilling Co., hand sanitizer went into production. Businesses even helped other businesses. The promotional products supplier Showpony helped start a campaign that produced T-shirts bearing local businesses’ logos, then sold the shirts to earn proceeds helping those businesses. “I think once everybody put their political views aside and said, ‘We’ve got to do this,’ I felt like there was a real esprit de corps,” Woodard said. “There was a group of people who were doing everything they could.” There are several projects underway to bring more apartments downtown, such as in the historic Commerce Building at Broad and Seventh streets, and in a Greene Street building dating to the 19th century that used to be a grocery store, Woodard said. “And we’re just now being able to start conversations again with outside developers who are looking at sites,” she said. “They’re starting to come back.” The city’s largest industry sectors and a growing residential community downtown afforded small businesses a further layer of protection, Woodard said. Medical, cyber, military – employers that didn’t or couldn’t shut down because of the pandemic – kept a window open for reliable consumer bases. Serious commercial hardship, she said, didn’t last very long. “This window here was very 1736magazine.com | 37
Page 1 and 2: WINTER 2021 WATERWAYS EDITION FINAL
Page 3 and 4: 62 A PRODUCT OF PRESIDENT TONY BERN
Page 5 and 6: The view of downtown Augusta, Ga.,
Page 7 and 8: The Broad Street Bullies Grill is o
Page 9: Jeff Gorelick and Bonnie Ruben are
Page 12 and 13: Dr. Benjamin Casella, left, and his
Page 14: Sean Wight, chef and owner of downt
Page 17 and 18: Jared Williams, left, and John Dunn
Page 19 and 20: Iconic local business By JOE HOTCHK
Page 21 and 22: Though Hildebrandt’s started maki
Page 23 and 24: The Hildebrandt family photographed
Page 25 and 26: Bob and Flo Morris check out the me
Page 27 and 28: All-Star Candidate Richmond Count
Page 29 and 30: Antoine Williamson opened Broad Str
Page 31 and 32: he noticed a lot of people would go
Page 33 and 34: Downtown Augusta expected to grow a
Page 35: We have a partnership agreement for
Page 39 and 40: An artist’s rendering shows the p
Page 41 and 42: WHILE NOT EVERY PROPOSED PROJECT MA
Page 43 and 44: next six or seven years. Three muse
Page 45 and 46: the McDuffie Museum in Thomson. Thr
Page 47 and 48: High-efficiency chiller. Improvedco
Page 49 and 50: Augusta’s plans to replace James
Page 51 and 52: Money to build a replacement for th
Page 53 and 54: Augusta riverfront, Lock and Dam fu
Page 55 and 56: The locks give manmade control over
Page 57 and 58: Guests and dignitaries stand on the
Page 59 and 60: The snagboat Macon docks at the New
Page 61 and 62: Jumpstart your business with energy
Page 63 and 64: Alex Griffin MANAGEMENT 2807 WYLDS
Page 65 and 66: ABOVE: “Invasive,” by Jen Garre
Page 67 and 68: “What a Wonderful World,” by Le
Page 69 and 70: “Popsicles,” by Craig Gray of K
Page 71: FINAL WORDS Time to experience the

1736 Magazine - Vision for the Future

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