1736 Magazine - Vision for the Future

An artist’s rendering shows the proposed new James Brown Arena and Bell Auditorium entertainment complex. [IMAGE COURTESY OF PERKINS & WILL]
Arena, deck, depot on
downtown SPLOST 8 list
By SUSAN MCCORD
The projects aren’t
all glamorous, but
nearly 30% of special
purpose, local option
sales tax 8 project
funds will go into downtown
Augusta.
After planning was postponed
last year due to COVID-19, the
$250 million sales tax package
appears by itself on the March 16
ballot, with advance voting starting
Feb. 22.
The priciest downtown item is
$25 million for a new James Brown
Arena at the site of the current
arena on Seventh Street.
The funds will go toward
Augusta-Richmond County
Coliseum Authority’s plan for a
$228-million-plus complex able to
seat more than 10,000, with a wing
connecting it to Bell Auditorium.
Adding a parking deck would cost
another $18.5 million, project planners
said.
“While not every proposed
project made the cut, I believe that
SPLOST 8 represents much-needed
projects that will move Augusta
forward,” Mayor Hardie Davis said
of the package.
Another $16.5 million from the
1% sales tax will go to an existing
facility, the Georgia Cyber Center
parking garage. The city built the
deck as its contribution to the
Cyber Center and the $16.5 million
will retire debt on the project.
The package includes $14 million
to redevelop the riverfront “Depot”
property, a historic train station at
Fifth and Reynolds streets.
The site was eyed by the Augusta
Downtown Development Authority
for a large mixed-use complex of
apartments, retail and office space,
but a deal negotiated by the DDA
with Alabama developer BLOC
Global fell through early last year.
Not included in the package were
requests by Augusta Museum of
History for a James Brown wing,
Augusta Jewish Museum and a
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