Dismal Downtowns (Columbus, Savannah, Macon: theater, living, restaurants)

[lilmusket]

The downtowns of Augusta, macon and Columbus are very similar to me... lots of potential but not a lot happening. More vacant space then occupied storefronts, lack of pedestrians, etc..
Savannah has alot of tourists that help its downtown thrive. Athens has a major univerisity that helps its downtown.
Augusta has the First Friday event that draws a crowd, but for the rest of the month, the downtown area is pretty dead. Not sure what can be done.

[NewtownMacon]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

The downtowns of Augusta, macon and Columbus are very similar to me... lots of potential but not a lot happening. More vacant space then occupied storefronts, lack of pedestrians, etc..
Savannah has alot of tourists that help its downtown thrive. Athens has a major univerisity that helps its downtown.
Augusta has the First Friday event that draws a crowd, but for the rest of the month, the downtown area is pretty dead. Not sure what can be done.

Macon has had a first Friday event DT for years now and trigger into a whole city which several places not Dt has taken part. It has Mercer University, Georgia College & State Graduate Center DT and there are a lot of New developments and revitalization projects of several blocks converting Old buildings into loft apartment etc..

[lilmusket]

Originally Posted by NewtownMacon

Macon has had a first Friday event DT for years now and trigger into a whole city which several places not Dt has taken part. It has Mercer University, Georgia College & State Graduate Center DT and there are a lot of New developments and revitalization projects of several blocks converting Old buildings into loft apartment etc..

I've been to downtown macon many times and it reminds me alot of downtown Augusta.
Go down there on a normal Friday and saturday night and there just isn't that much activity... You see lots of vacant buildings and not many pedestrians

[lolo2]

On a normal Friday and Saturday in downtown Augusta. Its always a nice size crowd just not the 100,000 people and up like First Friday. The clubs, bars , restaurants on a normal weekend night are full. I also disagree about not alot happening. Unless you mean compared to cities like Atlanta. Several cranes are in downtown Augusta. I see more cranes in downtown Augusta. Than I saw in downtown Savannah on my last trip there.

[lilmusket]

Originally Posted by lolo2

On a normal Friday and Saturday in downtown Augusta. Its always a nice size crowd just not the 100,000 people and up like First Friday. The clubs, bars , restaurants on a normal weekend night are full. I also disagree about not alot happening. Unless you mean compared to cities like Atlanta. Several cranes are in downtown Augusta. I see more cranes in downtown Augusta. Than I saw in downtown Savannah on my last trip there.

No I mean compared with similar sized cities like Savannah, Greenville, and Chattanooga. And what do cranes have to do with active downtowns? You seem obsessed with cranes. Are they building a 30 story highrise in downtown Augusta that no one is aware of? Cranes can be used for pruning trees and fixing streetlights, they say absolutely nothing about how active a downtown is. 100,000 ppl in downtown Augusta on a First Friday? hardly, maybe 10,000 or 15,000 max. Yous ee more people in downtown Athens on any given Thursday or Friday night then you see in Augusta on a First Friday. the crowd at First Friday seems big because downtown is pretty dead on most other nights. They really need to figure out a way to get that kind of traffic downtown on normal nights, not just one night a month.

[lolo2]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

No I mean compared with similar sized cities like Savannah, Greenville, and Chattanooga. And what do cranes have to do with active downtowns? You seem obsessed with cranes. Are they building a 30 story highrise in downtown Augusta that no one is aware of? Cranes can be used for pruning trees and fixing streetlights, they say absolutely nothing about how active a downtown is. 100,000 ppl in downtown Augusta on a First Friday? hardly, maybe 10,000 or 15,000 max. Yous ee more people in downtown Athens on any given Thursday or Friday night then you see in Augusta on a First Friday. the crowd at First Friday seems big because downtown is pretty dead on most other nights. They really need to figure out a way to get that kind of traffic downtown on normal nights, not just one night a month.

Why would cranes be fixing streetlights or pruning trees? Cranes build things which bring people downtown. Downtown has several projects going on. Which makes a downtown more active. I don't think you have been to First Friday before. Either that or you don't live in Augusta. Im starting to think its the last one. You should visit downtown Augusta sometime. Its a lovely place.

Do you live in Athens?

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

The downtowns of Augusta, macon and Columbus are very similar to me... lots of potential but not a lot happening. More vacant space then occupied storefronts, lack of pedestrians, etc..
Savannah has alot of tourists that help its downtown thrive. Athens has a major univerisity that helps its downtown.
Augusta has the First Friday event that draws a crowd, but for the rest of the month, the downtown area is pretty dead. Not sure what can be done.

I very much agree with you. I spent a day in Augusta and the entire time all I was thinking was how potential there is for its downtown. I stopped by Macon's downtown a few years ago and thought it was a charming place also.

How to change it isn't really that complicated. Successful downtowns are simply neighborhoods - urban neighborhoods. Ideally these downtowns would become places where people live. Its difficult for a neighborhood to be vibrant when its losing population. As far as I know, Savannah is the only second tier city with residential growth in or near its downtown.

Other than that it would require the downtowns somehow becoming the entertainment or shopping destination for the region which we all know is a very difficult proposition given the focus on sprawl growth in GA.

[lilmusket]

Sprawl is the enemy of downtown development and revitalization.
This is the problem I see in Augusta, and I am sure it is similiar in places like Macon.
Sure there have been some new people moving into downtown lofts in recent years but if you compare the number of ppl living on or around downtown today to 1960, when downtown Augusta was a thriving commercial center, it is a much much smaller number. For those empty storefronts to be filled, more people have to return to living in downtown, of various income levels and ages... downtown is not going to be revitalized by just college students renting a loft.. it will take a wider range of residents, unless we are content with downtown being nothing more than a pub district.
But the trend in Augusta has been toward sprawl further and further out in Columbia County and Aiken County. These suburbanites will come downtown once a month for a festival, but they are not regular visitors to downtown.. you have to build a downtown renewal on ppl who actually LIVE there or want to live there. Augusta is not alone on this.. but for a city its size, it has a rather large amount of sprawl.. and sprawl just zaps life from the downtown.. everything is decentalised and scattered out in the burbs. One way to help is reform the school system.. have more magnet schools.. they seem to be popular, and having more magnet schools may make parenets feel more comfortable sending their kids to Richmond County schools. The biggest draw for Columbia County is its school system. Also there needs to be more of a police presence downtown and better lighting. If people don't feel safe in an area at night, they are not going to want to frequent it or live there.

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[NewtownMacon]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

I've been to downtown macon many times and it reminds me alot of downtown Augusta.
Go down there on a normal Friday and saturday night and there just isn't that much activity... You see lots of vacant buildings and not many pedestrians

I go though DT Macon every day which i can tell you have not been there in a while....Most of the vacant building in DT are Being converted into loft apartments, there is a boom for residential housing; most DT residential units stay 80-95% occupied..... and with more residents going DT that will increase traffic and make it even more vibrant with more various types of developments to meet the residential demands. Right Now Macon has 5 residential and 3 mix-used condo/residential/hotels projects about to break ground DT,including the several block of old vacant building being revitalized into lofts and commercial office space.

[NewtownMacon]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

As far as I know, Savannah is the only second tier city with residential growth in or near its downtown.

Macon is experiencing boom in residential growth downtown......Several blocks of DT are being redeveloped into mixed-use residential units, and several residential projects are breaking ground.

Here are the articles:
Developers say downtown Macon still a good spot for growth - Local & State - Macon (http://www.macon.com/198/story/567378.html - broken link)
Work on new downtown Macon lofts may start by summer - Local & State - Macon