Downtown and inner-city Augusta going to another level (Bethlehem: hotels, townhomes)

[g-man430]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

Yes, plenty of times.... Do you know who Jim Jacoby is?

'' Mayor Copenhaver said it would be a public-private partnership and that when he submitted a proposal to the state, Jim Jacoby, the developer of the Atlantic Station in Atlanta, was on board as a partner''.

Okay, now I see you changed your post to ''size diffrence''. Of course it won't be the same size as the one in Atlanta.

Ahh...gotcha. Yeah, I was referring to size which I thought you were referring to also but you weren't. lol.

[EastsideDave]

Originally Posted by g-man430

Have you ever been to Atlantic Station? No harm against this development in Augusta but it will be NOTHING like Atlantic Station. Not even close. It will be lucky to even be 10% of the size of that development in Atlanta.

Yes g-man, I already got nortonguy to change it from 'the Atlantic Station development' to the 'development similar to Atlantic Station'...I figured that was better than nothing lol. About the ONLY similarity between these two projects is that they are both 'mixed-use'.

But anywho, I won't beat the horse anymore, I just hope the mayor can get the commissioners on board with this project. The new stadium could greatly benefit downtown. Only time will tell.

[nortonguy]

I hope it has a movie theatre like Atlantic Station.

[EastsideDave]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

I hope it has a movie theatre like Atlantic Station.

Umm, I seriously doubt that, there's no room for one, unless they tore down the entire gardens.

Have you even seen the plans Ripken Baseball created for the mayor's proposal?
They include:
-The stadium
-An extension of 12th street to the levee
-Street level retail along Reynolds 'under' the stadium (not that much square footage, just enough for some small stores or restaurants, nothing very big)
-A building along the extension of 12th street on the gardens side that would include a parking deck, 2 mid-rise buildings, one for condos, the other for office space, a possible street level space for an actual golf hall of fame (like what was originally supposed to be at the Golf & Gardens in the first place), and a themed restaurant along the levee at the stadium.

The current plan isn't the tear down the whole gardens, it is to incorporate them into the design, keeping the current planted gardens and building upon the unused land on the site.

Now expanding the Shoppes at Port Royal space and including a movie theater would be great, I personally think that space should be used for retail/entertainment/dining like a mall again, but they should expand the building all the way to Reynolds and have on-street access in addition to Riverwalk access. Think of something like Jacksonville Landing, only on a slightly smaller scale, the introduction of many popular mall based stores would make downtown the destination for shoppers like it once was.

[g-man430]

I went to Jacksonville Landing last year and thought it was pretty lame/boring. Half of the retail spaces were empty and the other half were full of these stupid tourist trap places. The only good thing they had was Hooters.

[EastsideDave]

Originally Posted by g-man430

I went to Jacksonville Landing last year and thought it was pretty lame/boring. Half of the retail spaces were empty and the other half were full of these stupid tourist trap places. The only good thing they had was Hooters.

Don't be a downer man! I was talking about the basic design/idea of Jacksonville Landing. So, I guess I'll give another example, I'd like to see Port Royal redeveloped and expanded into something along the lines of River Park Square in downtown Spokane WA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Park_Square

[nortonguy]

Anything is better than what's there presently.

[Augustabuckeye]

We will take this...Something to start...Anything to start.

[heckkle]

I support the plans for the golf and gardens. We have big time developers involved.

[nortonguy]

New homes in Laney Walker. This is the real hood too but it has gone through gentrification in certain spots.