Downtown construction (Reynolds, Bethlehem, White: appointed, condos, crime)

[tckr83]

Life long Augustan of 27 years... and I am amazed at the effort that is being put into downtown. The lost decades of the 80's and 90's were a eyesore for the city. It looks like a promising new era for the downtown area.

I haven't seen or heard anything in a while about the "possible" baseball stadium/living/shopping center that was picking up steam in terms of support over the past few years. Anyone know of anything new on that?

And how big is this Hyatt Place hotel supposed to be? Just pulling up old stories off the internet... it started out at a 8-12 story, dwindled to 6 or 7 and last i heard they settled on 8. Just had a time finding exact plans on the building. I hope the new hotel has entrances to Broad, Reynolds and the Common if it indeed takes up as much room as its rumored to be. It would be unique.

Bottomline is, this city and it's leaders need to see the potential that this area has. Get things done and plan for the future. A baseball stadium downtown will bring so much more money to the area. In this case, whats good for some is good for all. I really dont see a drawback to this idea, it would bring more attendance first of all and after the game is over money will be spent in the downtown area. Tax money for all. Not to mention the shops and living area that would be adjacent to the stadium.

I'm sure the economy has slowed the actual further development of these ideas... but would be nice to see the city move skyward for a place this size.

[EastsideDave]

Great post...

To answer some of your questions, the latest I've heard about the stadium was an article that the Chronicle ran sometime earlier this year, asking the Commissioners what their stance on the stadium was, there were a few against it, but most were on the fence. I don't think there were any who were 100% for it though. I don't have a link to the article off-hand, but if you do a search of the forum or of the Chronicle website, you'll likely be able to find out more.

As far as the height of the hotel, the final plan is for an 8 floor hotel with an underground garage and a 3 floor office building and space for 'future expansion'. I'm assuming that the developer has purchased all of the land between the Commons and 9th Street, and that the buildings with Broad St. frontage will remain until the developer decides whether or not something else will be done with them. The WRDW website had a PDF of the final plans, you can search the forum for a link or go directly to WRDW.com and search, sorry, but again I don't have a link readily available.

You're right on the money about the economy slowing down a lot of development locally, but many of the leaders of our central city are still very backwards thinking and are focused more on personal gain as opposed to city-wide growth, but it seems that things are slowly improving with local leadership, but for many years, Augusta has been a medium sized city with a small town mindset.

[nortonguy]

Downtown construction: Excluding the Medical District, Paine College area, and East Augusta. They all have big developments going on too. The mayor has construction all over Augusta.

library: $25 million opens June 2010

Saint Sebastian connector: $30 million opens July 2010

Judicial Center: $70 million opens December 2010

Emporium Condos: $3 million under construction

Kroc Center: $100 million under construction opens June 2011

Laney Walker/Bethlehem: $37.5 million under construction

Martha Lester School: residential/commercial under construction

Broad Mill Village: 6 historic mill duplexes under construction

Tee Center: 40 million starts in May 2010

Hyatt hotel: $25 million 8 story starts construction in June 2010(along with $10 million parking garage and a 3 story office building. Opens June-July 2011

Holiday Inn Express: $5-10 million starts in September 2010 & opens July 2011

Broad street 13th-5th: $4 million street lights and lamps. Starts June 2010 and ends January 2011.

Sheriff's office: $10 million starts in June-August 2010

The finishing of the Whites Condos is supposed to start this year.

As for the new stadium development on the GGHF. Everybody agrees something is going to be built on the land. Some people like Sen. Hardie Davis want a mix-use development. Their are others like Jim Jacoby, Mayor Deke, Cal Ripken Jr, and Gov. Perdue who want a mix-use development attached to a baseball stadium.

Hardie Davis quote "The city of Augusta is ready to move forward on this," he said.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-...d?v=1269628106

[EastsideDave]

I hate to burst your bubble norton, but the mayor is neither directly involved nor responsible for most of those projects, most of them are either private projects or are government projects that have been in the works for years. But, at the risk of starting an argument, he is a major player in the ballpark and the TEE center projects, and I really like how he is a great advocate for downtown development, I only wish other leaders were as enthusiastic and/or optimistic as he is.

[nortonguy]

We both know you like Lori Davis. I like ADP, T-Mobile, ESI, South Georgia Tissue, BottleTek, Teleperformance, etc who came to Augusta.

[EastsideDave]

Umm, I don't know what that has to do with the subject at hand, but yes, I think that Lori Davis (someone who would focus on reducing crime and urban blight in Augusta) would make a great mayor, but she says she won't run, so Deke is the next best thing. Plus, Deke has done nothing but good things while in office, and I'm definitely not criticizing him, he's been a great mayor and I'll be the first to admit it. Also, you can thank the Development Authority of Richmond County for those jobs while your at it

[tckr83]

Augusta, GA - Official Website - News (http://www.augustaga.gov/index.aspx?nid=198 - broken link)

Sounds like another "major" business coming to Augusta, per Mayor Deke. Thats great news, anxious to hear what company were talking about and exactly how big of a project this will be. Hopefully some really good job coming this way for Augustans to provide for their families...

Seems like 2010 is the year that Augusta is setting the groundwork and 2011 is the year the game changes. Only difference is... this time the "talk" is over and Augustans wont be disappointed in the end, with much ado about nothing. They will see results and see them fast.

I hope the stadium is next on the list... Deke got the TEE center and Hyatt in a combo deal. With those two off the agenda, could it be next?

[Hot_Mike]

I bet it's those 1000 jobs from the tissue company.

[EastsideDave]

I wouldn't be very surprised if it was Augusta seems to be a great match for that project in virtually every way. The Augusta Corporate park is over 1700 acres (the company wants between 600 and 1000 acres for their project) and rail access is available. Earlier, I had disagreed with G-man who said they were going in the old Shaw Plan in Anderson. The company said that they were building a NEW plant, not retrofitting an old one! Plus, the Anderson site is landlocked and is just under 600 acres (the minimum the company wants).

Anywho, this would be great news, now if only they'd hurry up and tell us lol!

[Hot_Mike]

Im so ready to scratch Judicial Center, TEE Center, library and Kroc Center off the to-do list. IM just tired of hearing about them. Im ready for the next set of major project.