Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

BLIGHT continued from 43
attending downtown shows because of
criminal activity.
“We didn’t have crime,” D’Amico said.
“We had problems with panhandlers, but
as far as crime, there was no crime down
there. Nobody was getting robbed when
they left. When they would go out to the
parking lots, their cars were still there.
“So when he said that, especially being a
public official, now everybody thinks there
is a crime problem,” D’Amico said. “How
do we get past that to convince folks that
their perception is wrong when you’ve got
a public official saying that?”
The key is making people “feel” safe by
making downtown appear less vacant and
abandoned.
PROPERTY POLICE
Some cities enforce codes much more
aggressively as a tactic to spur business
owners into action, either to make their
properties attractive to occupants or sell
them to investors who will.
Chicago, for example, requires vacant
buildings be registered with the city every
six months for a $250 fee. The registration
requires the owner have $300,000
in insurance liability coverage for vacant
residential structures, and $1 million for
commercial buildings.
Plywood can be used only to cover
broken windows and doors for a sixmonth
period. All property vacant for six
Ed McMahon, a fellow with the Urban Land
Institute, has written more than 15 books
about downtown revitalization and historic
preservation. [SPECIAL/URBAN LAND INSTITUTE]
months or longer must have lighting at
entrances and exits from dusk until dawn.
Woodard, whose organization has
shifted its focus from business recruitment
to retention because of the pandemic,
sought to reassure residents already
unnerved by COVID-19 that downtown is
safe.
Working with the city and private property
owners, she created a binder of photos
and descriptions of more than 150 graffiti
marks on public and private property
during August.
The city removed graffiti from public
AND CONTRAST...
Building: Lowrey Wagon Works Apartments
Address: 912 Ellis St.
Owner: Mark Donahue, Augusta
Size: 14,652 square feet
Year built: 1860
Tax-assessed value: $1,883,476
Condition: Occupied, fully renovated
History: The 160-year-old wagon works building, developed
by J.H. Lowrey, was confiscated by the Confederacy during
the Civil War and later served as a school for free black
children. In 1925, J.B. White's purchased the building to
serve as a warehouse for its former store at 936 Broad St.
It entered a decades-long period of neglect after the store
closed in the late 1970s and regularly appeared on Historic
Augusta's annual "Endangered Properties" list.
Donahue acquired the property from a local real estate
partnership in 2015 and converted the historic property
into 19 loft apartment units.
The Lowrey building at 912 Ellis St., vacant for nearly 40 years, now houses 19 loft
apartment units.
1736magazine.com | 47