Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

CHURCH continued from 23
An intricately designed window is seen from inside
the old First Baptist Church of Augusta building at
the corner of Eighth and Greene streets.
“I think that’s a great price,” Edge said. “It
would cost you $15 million to replicate this.”
Edge is unsure how much money will
be tied up in the building’s renovation;
architectural and structural engineering
reports are still pending, as are applications
for state and federal historic-preservation
tax credits, which Edge’s firm had never
used before.
“This is our first go at it,” Edge said. “Go
big or go home, right?”
For now, Edge is working on a new roof to
protect the building from further moisture
damage and is cutting back the vines creeping
up the exterior walls. He’s also removing
the old pews and cleaning out an accumulation
of trash brought in by transients, who
had been cleverly accessing the building by
tethering a pull-rope through a space in the
front door to the inside doorknob.
Edge said the property will be protected
by a security system once power is restored
to the building, which over the years has
been a target of burglars searching for
copper wiring. A utility room housing
the church’s electrical switchgear has a
wall marked by the outline of a man-sized
indentation.
“We were told by an electrician that the
panel must have arced while the guy was
stealing copper and it threw him into the
wall,” Edge said, pointing out the cracked
wall during a building tour. “That had to
hurt.”
Though Edge eventually expects to reap a
return on his investment, he said his primary
intent was to save the historic property from
being razed or collapsing on itself – something
historic preservationists refer to as
“demolition-by-neglect.”
Although the building is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, the
designation does not prohibit the owners
of listed properties from demolishing the
structures.
The historic church was facing demolition
just five years ago when city officials condemned
the building after inspectors found
homeless people sleeping under the portico
and plaster falling from the ceiling.
Edge said he had been negotiating the
purchase for the past year to get what he
considered to be a fair price for the unique
but dilapidated building. Edge said the seller
purchased the building to keep it from being
demolished, but had no near-term plans to
renovate the property to stave off further
deterioration.
“It took a little pushing to get him to sell
it. I think he was banking on getting a little
more (money). That’s the problem with a lot
of things down here – you’ve got to take the
risk and spend the money,” he said.
Edge said the property’s significant
architecture and historic lineage makes it
more than a typical commercial real estate
investment.
“Normally, if we came across something
like this, we would fix it, sell it and make a
buck,” Edge said. “But we’ll never sell this
building. I fully expect my kids and grandkids
to own this one day.”
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