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Station 3 may soon no longer be valuable as a fire house but it’s location right next to the planned cyber training facility could make it a valuable piece of land in the future, though no requests yet from the state for it.
“We’re hoping that if it is they don’t need that piece of property we’ll be able to put it on the open market and have some interested buyers who want to develop that as well that is prime property on the riverfront,” said City Administrator Janice Jackson.
Four years ago the city put station three up for auction but rejected a 250 thousand dollar bid, but with the cyber center coming the next offers should be better.
“I would personally presume that with the growth downtown the property maybe worth more now than it was several years ago,” said Chief James.
Chief James says once the new stations are ready number three will be re-assigned to the new fire station going in the Dyess parkway area near Fort Gordon gate one.
I agree with the Augusta Chronicle editorial board. The old Trinity Church would make an excellent cultural and welcome center for the Laney Walker area.
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The Augusta Canal National Heritage Area has taken a strong interest in saving Mother Trinity, not least because a channel of the canal flows less than a block away from the church. Canal officials have been consulting with the national nonprofit Partners for Sacred Places, which specializes in helping preserve and repurpose old places of worship for new community uses. Dozens of community leaders met last month at the Canal Authority to brainstorm potential new uses for Trinity.
There are myriad possibilities for the old church. Just look at Sacred Heart Cultural Center. After it closed in 1971 and was deconsecrated as a Catholic church, it fell victim to vandals as Trinity did and faced destruction. But Augusta’s Knox Foundation spearheaded its rescue in the 1980s and renovated the grand old building into an absolute jewel of an events center that today is a community treasure.
There’s little reason why Trinity shouldn’t gain new life in a similar fashion. The brainstorming group in December certainly gets points for creativity for some of its ideas. Trinity could be a welcome center; a recreational trailhead because of its canal proximity; or even a stylish business incubator.
Given its prominent place in black history, it could be a superb arts and events center with an African-American theme and mission.
But there’s one opponent to be worried about in saving Trinity – time.
The Canal Authority said in a December press release that AGL “has consented to move the church to an uncontaminated nearby parcel, provided a reuse plan, funding mechanism and responsible organization to take possession of the church and land are identified by April 2017.”
“Every place I’ve been too talked about how downtown’s are vital to any city and downtown is vital to Augusta,” said Commissioner Bill Fennoy whose district includes the downtown area.
The Downtown Development Authority wants to put more vitality downtown.
Georgia Power presenting the DDA a 15 thousand dollar check.
This will be used as Grant money to help jump start the renovations.
Property owners will be eligible for a fifty percent match, up to five thousand dollars ,on the cost of rewiring their empty building.
“it’s not a loan it’s a thank you for your investment and this is just seed money to start the program it’s our hope that it will be successful and we will continue to fund it,” said DDA Executive Director Margaret Woodard.
The Georgia Power money is a one-time donation but the company isn’t ruling out more later.
“We love putting our money and seeing good things come about when we see the good things this brings about we’re very happy continuing taking a look at supporting it even further,” said Georgia Power Regional Vice President Fran Forehand.
I really like the ideas for bike lanes and underpass artwork for Telfair and Greene Streets...
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The projects are funded by the Transportation Investment Act or TIA. All of the tax dollars go to transportation and infrastructure improvement projects. Some of those can include things like fixing sidewalks, putting in benches and trash cans, and fixing utilities including stormwater problems.
The group Cooper Carry is helping design the projects. They're looking at the projects based on public input including things the public says they like and dislike about the city.
A Cooper Carry representative says they are working with the city to plan for maintenance of the projects. They want to make sure all of the projects they are proposing would have the proper up keep from the city. They are working to put together a plan for the city to help with that.
The big idea for 5th Street is to improve the connection to the river and add protected bike lanes.
For Telfair Street the main goals are improving sidewalks, add shared bike lanes, create underpass artwork, and to create a boulevard.
The plan for Greene Street is to create an area with a lot of artwork, enhance the promenade in the area, and improve the drainage.
The commission tasked the Parks and Recreation Department with 19 things to get done along the Riverwalk from 8th to 10th Streets. That list has grown to 32 items now. 13 of those are 100 percent done, like fixing landscaping at 8th and planting at Hero's Overlook.
But the more crews they have on the Riverwalk doing these projects, the less crews they have to do other projects. For example, at the Lock and Dam they have to replace or repair the railroad ties at the picnic benches before the peak season.
Crews have also been moved off work at Diamond Lakes, where they have to get some projects done in the winter.
Work at the Riverwalk will take more time too. Some items should be done next month including more stump removal and adding mulch. In March there will be more tree work and pressure washing. By July, there should be shade structures, and in September they expect wrought iron gateway arches.
Other tasks like putting in handrails at the amphitheater and replacing the canopy are o be determined because they require bids. It's all work to improve what many call Augusta's gem.
"Yes it is and we're just so glad we found downtown Augusta, it's what made us fall in love with Augusta, being here," she said.
The Riverwalk projects tie into work and ideas for the Common and more of downtown. Next week the Parks and Recreation Department will have a more comprehensive report on how all of these projects will be combining to create a better Augusta.
Owner Brian Cliatt said he “felt like this was the best decision for the business,” and said he is open to opening another location in the future but is not actively looking.
Escape Outdoors opened its downtown location in June 2015, hoping to capitalize on the riverfront location with its kayak rentals. Cliatt noted the incredible growth and development downtown but reiterated that the best thing for his business was to reduce to one store.
The owner of the downtown building Escape Outdoors leased is Fred Daitch. Daitch tells Buzz on Biz he has restored the building and that it is in great shape. He said prospective tenants that have looked at the building include a restaurant and brewery.
Escape Outdoors sells major apparel brands like True Grit, Patagonia, North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Arc’teryx, Chaco and Olukai, as well as outdoor equipment such as kayaks, water bottles, backpacks and more. Kayak rental will still be available as well.
Tourism officials on Thursday unveiled a long-range plan that calls for linking the Augusta Common to a riverfront marina, increasing public artwork in the city center and allowing visitors to tour downtown in rented golf cars.
Those proposals, and a half-dozen others, were pitched to community leaders as part of a strategy to make the city more attractive to visitors during the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau’s annual “State of Tourism” event.
“This is our roadmap – our blueprint – for the next 10 years or more,” CVB President Barry White said in an interview before the plan was presented during a luncheon at the Legends Club.
Called “Augusta’s Blueprint,” the plan had only been seen by small groups of city officials and business leaders.
White said the blueprint’s recommendations were heavily influenced by ideas and concepts already identified in several downtown studies , including 2009’s Westobou Vision Urban Area Master Plan and the more recent Augusta Downtown Concept Plan by Cooper Carry, the Atlanta-based firm designing the city’s transportation tax-funded downtown streetscape projects.
“A lot of our ideas are not new,” White said. “We didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. We looked at every master plan we could find and identified every tourism-related project in them.”
With the help of Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, a Minneapolis-based tourism firm, the CVB blueprint identified the following priorities:
• Augusta Common extension: The plan calls for the downtown park to be expanded north across Reynolds Street to the levee, where a gradual incline would form a plaza at the top that connects to a floating riverfront marina where visitors could rent canoes or bikes, take boat rides or simply enjoy drinks and snacks in the heart of downtown.
“The idea is that it’s got to be something on the water that will let visitors engage with the river,” White said. “North Augusta is building its destination point with Project Jackson. Right now, our only destinations would be downriver at the (city) Marina or the Boathouse.”
Most of the property the expanded Common would occupy is vacant and owned by Morris Communications Co., parent company of The Augusta Chronicle. The CVB’s artist renderings depict a tree-lined promenade extending across the property lined with various commercial and residential buildings.
• Defined downtown districts: The plan would delineate sectors based on how they have naturally developed over the years. The “Hospitality District,” for example, would encircle the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center and its adjoining properties, while the “Arts & Culture District” would encompass sections of lower Broad Street where the Augusta Museum of History and historic theaters such as the Miller, Imperial and Modjeska are clustered.
Several blocks of upper Broad Street, which has most of downtown’s bars, restaurants and art galleries, would be the “Dining & Entertainment District” while the “Medical District” would denote the health care cluster formed by University Hospital, the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center and the Augusta University Medical Center at the corner of Walton Way and 15th Street.
• Increased public art: Public sculptures and statues in Augusta is deficient compared to peer cities, White said. The plan says downtown Augusta has 13 public art examples in a one-mile radius compared to Greenville, S.C.’s 53. Asheville, N.C., White said, has 30 examples of public art within a half-mile radius of its downtown.
“If you think about great destinations and what they’re delivering, we’re a little behind,” he said.
The plan suggests creating a pedestrian connection between the Springfield Village Park and the Augusta University Riverfront Campus to promote the properties’ potential for public art gardens.
• Golf car transportation: To leverage Augusta’s standing as the world’s golf car capital – about 85 percent of production is concentrated here – street-legal, GPS-equipped electric cars would be made available for visitors to rent for downtown “micro tours.”
“The target is the ‘last mile – distances that are too far to walk, but not far enough for a taxi or Uber,” White said.
The golf cars would be housed near the CVB’s downtown visitor center, which is expected to open at 1010 Broad Street in 12-14 months. The vehicles would be operated by a third party vendor, such as Nashville, Tenn.-based Joyride, which operates in that city as well as in Knoxville, Tenn., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Panama City Beach, Fla.
White said the company plans to launch service in Birmingham, Ala., and Athens, Ga., this year.
• Family entertainment development: White pointed to the Columbus, Ga.’s Chattahoochee River Park, which offers urban whitewater rafting and ziplines, as an example of an “adventure park” that could be developed along Augusta Riverwalk.
• Urban trail completion: The plan says the city should concentrate on finishing the final trail sections to connect to the network that extends up the Augusta Canal to Columbia County and across the Savannah River to North Augusta.
• Creation of an international music festival: Though previous uses of James Brown’s name for festivals have been met with mixed success, the plan recommends creating an international soul music festival whose business plan forecasts profitability within five years.
“You’ve got to realize the first year or two you’re not going to make money,” White said. “But hopefully after that, it catches on and becomes self sustaining.”
• Addition of “rectangular” sports fields: Compared to peer cities, metro Augusta is deficient in sports fields that can be used for soccer, lacrosse and Quidditch, a new co-ed contact sport adopted from the Harry Potter series of fantasy books.
Aside from analyzing previous downtown studies, White said the CVB received input from from groups such as the Georgia Forward-Young Gamechangers, the city’s recreation and parks department, the Greater Augusta Arts Council and from individual responses to 25,000 surveys to residents, visitors and travel writers.
“It could be the most collaborative effort that I’m aware of,” White said. “We tried to cover all our bases.”
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Tourism group unveils downtown visitor plan
