Augusta...Downtown, Medical District, Old Towne

[augga706]

families get new homes in inner city rebuilding effort

Two families get new homes in inner city rebuilding effort

The families moving in these homes are first time homeowners. It's an effort to rebuild historic inner-city Augusta and today is the start. Two families move into two new homes, the first two homes of up to 20 homes.

And here's the plan: Antioch Ministries -- the developer -- plans to build some of those other homes between R.A. Dent and Wrightsboro Road.

Those homes cost between $100,000 and $150,000.

Edited January 19, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Board of Regents supports MCG expansion

MCG expansion plan moves forward

10th street project downtown growing pains

socaguy try again. it should take you to the article. Its about downtown business owner's that want the project done by april in time for the master's.

But here is another article that talks about the growth downtown

Sluski Building, woolworth building, whites building, the old remodeled Gilbert Furniture Building, Green Building, and even the home of the departed Blue Horse Music Hall are undergoing significant improvements.

''These developments in Augusta's central business district point to our growing reputation, both regionally and nationally, said Mayor Copenhaver in a phone interview, adding that there are several developers in Atlanta who are keeping a watchful eye on Augusta as a promising place to invest.''

http://www.metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=1...4&Year=2007

Edited January 26, 2008 by augga706

[socaguy]

augga706, I wasnt able to pull up the very last of those 3 links. What was it about?

Thanks!

[augga706]

Mayor Copenhaver Comments On Dog Park Plans Edited January 29, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Augusta commissioners tackle public transportation

Progress in Hyde Park; still a ways to go

Edited January 30, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Deal to clean up, patrol downtown

Sidewalk cleaners, hospitality ambassadors and safety patrols will be roaming downtown Augusta streets later this month.

Downtown will be on another level this year and 09.

Martin Luther King Memorial planned for downtown

http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_i...01-31-0001.html

Edited February 3, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Hospital projects gear up with 300 million dollar investment

DOCTORS HOSPITAL

Includes: 90,000-square-foot front tower housing a 24-bed intensive care unit; powerhouse relocation; additional operating room; renovations for the Joseph M. Still Burn Center

Investment: $55 million

Scheduled completion: Mid-2010

MCG HEALTH

Includes: 59,000-square-foot outpatient cancer center; renovations to women's health, neurology, cardiovascular, waiting rooms; equipment additions and upgrades

Investment: $135 million

Scheduled completion: Late 2009

UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Includes: 199,000-square-foot cardiovascular center for all heart services; outpatient center; renovation and expansion of operating rooms

Investment: $94 million

Scheduled completion: Early 2009

[augga706]

Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History plans for expansion

"Our long term goal ... is to acquire a state of the art expansion. It is our vision to make the Lucy Craft Laney museum a museum that one can come to and really enjoy."

[augga706]

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/020908/bus_186789.shtml

Five banks coming to metro augusta. 2 in augusta, 2 in martinez, and 1 in evans

The Columbia-based banking corporation First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. will have two of those locations open by Feb. 20. The other three will be ready in 2009. Mr. Mobley said more branch locations in the Augusta area are being considered.

Edited February 12, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

J.B. Whites building will be open for business at the beginning of April

[augga706]

Horizon Group Investments in Atlanta

White's Building confirms tenants

In early April, a restaurant, coffee shop and professional offices will throw open their doors on the ground floor. Residents will begin moving into the 17 condominium units on the third floor. The commercial floor will include the Downtown Development Authority, a sheriff's substation, a Meybohm Realtors sales office and a tax-preparation office. Developers are also negotiating with a tenant who would open a European-style market with fresh produce and some groceries in the adjacent Doris Building. All condominium units on the second and third floors should be completed by August. The building will have 51 condominiums. A connected building on Ellis Street also will be redeveloped. When finished, it will hold another 30 condos.

Mr. Loudermilk said Horizon has its eyes on other downtown properties, including a boarded-up, two-story building on the southwest corner of Ellis and Ninth streets. Horizon will soon have a contract to purchase the building, which might become townhomes with garages, Mr. Loudermilk said.

"There's nothing like that downtown," Mr. Loudermilk said. He said the townhomes might be built as "smart homes," with remote controls for all the appliances and features.

Edited February 12, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Medical Community to benefit from downtown expansion

[augga706]

They are being called goodwill ambassadors, and they are coming to a street near you. One by one they came in looking to take on the streets of downtown Augusta as part of the Cadi, or Clean Augusta Downtown Initiative.

The idea is to clean up Augusta streets. Local business/ property owners opted to raise their taxes. It means over $400,000 a year for the next 5 years to help put a lid on trash. The grand opening is scheduled for March 24th.

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/15954372.html

[augga706]

Augusta's landfill is sitting on a natural treasure! Since 1998 a private company has managed methane gas produced by trash at the city landfill.

But this year city leaders purchased the rights to the gas for $4,000,000. Now they're looking to make the investment pay off.

They say the gas could be used to run city buses and help power city buildings. They've started the bidding process and we'll find out what companies have applied in the coming weeks.

http://www.nbcaugusta.com/news/local/15997492.html

[augga706]

Historic Augusta gets $120,000 grant

Historic Augusta is getting a $120,000 matching grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.The grant will be used to provide expanded field services in the greater Augusta area that incorporate preservation into community planning and development.Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is getting a $140,000 matching grant.

The president of Historic Augusta Inc., Tennent Houston, said, "In recent years the Augusta area has enjoyed a remarkable groundswell of concern for historic preservation. This grant and the matching funds that we are raising will enable Historic Augusta Inc. to expand significantly its field preservation efforts and to provide assistance to those individuals and organizations with an interest in historic

Edited February 28, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Augusta can reach its full potential in its central city

Discussing some of the new projects in the central city.

Watermark condominiums, the renovation of the J.B. Whites building, Enterprise Mill, Multi-Use stadium facility.

Downtown Business Improvement District launched in February

Edited March 13, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Plan for kroc center moving forward

"It will likely be a single building with common halls," he said. "There could even be a dining facility with decks overlooking the Augusta Canal -- and walking trails where people can go for a walk in the park."

Plans include a 12,444-square-foot, indoor aquatics center, meeting space for art exhibits and weddings, a glass enclosed atrium with views of the re-landscaped Chafee Park and Augusta Canal, classroom space and a "teaching kitchen," in addition to a "one-stop" social service center. 600-seat theater and 350-seat chapel has been amended to create a 500-seat theater that could be used for church services. The change was made to accommodate the aquatics center, which is a requirement of the Kroc Foundation.

Discussions are under way to possibly involve the Sibley Mill project across the Augusta Canal in Kroc Center programs, although those discussions are preliminary and the mill's renovation into housing and other uses has not yet begun.

[augga706]

Downtown residents growing

The J.B. White building which is projected to open in early April and the Watermark mixed-use project, set to begin construction this year on the Savannah River at Fifth Street, will increase residency downtown by 30 percent.

[augga706]

The members of Clean Augusta Downtown Initiative, or CADI hit downtown augusta

Businesses within that district, which encompasses 30 downtown blocks, will pay an additional tax assessment to fund the cleanup and safety services. The service will cost $370,000 a year. The assessment will bring in approximately $400,000 annually.

"The feedback from the merchants and the people downtown has been excellent," Mr. Wiggins said.

The grand opening will be held in Augusta Common at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Mr. Wiggins said people will get a chance to ride the Segues.

Cleaning, safety crews get welcome downtown

Zhivago Ramsey, a worker for Clean Augusta Downtown Initiative, operates a sidewalk sweeper called Green Machine down Ellis Street. Two tons of trash have been swept up.

[PJA]

A new hotel, condo and retail development could come downtown. A national developer wants to build a hotel at the intersection of Ninth and Reynolds street that would extend the the corner of Broad Street. It would include condos and street level retail as well as a parking garage. It would be aproximately 6 to 7 stories high. Currently and old police station and some warehouses are sitting there. A public hearing will be held next week to discuss demolishing the old buildings.

[socaguy]

Thats excellent news! I think Downtown is getting ready to boom.

[augga706]

Yeah here's the article on the hotel coming to downtown. This is great news.

Hotel developer eyes downtown augusta

a national developer wants to build a six- to seven-story hotel with underground parking, condominiums and retail space on five parcels at Ninth and Reynolds streets.

Edited March 23, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

It's Augusta's bid at a better downtown. City officials were at the Augusta Common for the kickoff of the new Business Improvement District (BID).

The most visible part of the program is the "Clean Augusta Downtown Initiative," or CADI.

Green-shirted ambassadors are already on the streets in the district, cleaning up and helping visitors.

Augusta CADI Kickoff Held Wednesday

[augga706]

Is Downtown Augusta Becoming Overcrowded By Condos?

Three projects bring over 300 condos to downtown augusta this year.

the White's project will bring 80 new condos to downtown, with many more on the horizon. At the site of the old city jail, an out-of-town developer is planning a hotel/condo project with 60 new places to live, and down the street, there's the Watermark, 150-200 high rise units. A condo boom downtown, but is this an overdose of dwellings for the area?

E.G. Meybohm, "I think what you see is market-driven. What we have in Augusta, I think, renaissances taking place, obviously we've got different types of projects." This week, some Augusta Commissioners were expressing condo concerns, but downtown officials say the new homes are the first step to new stores and businesses.

Margaret Woodard, Downtown Development Authority: "People say to us, 'bring a grocery store, or bring good retail downtown.' We won't get those things until we have rooftops, people living downtown."

Developers are planning to get people living downtown, hundreds of them, but is that more than the market can bear? Mayor Deke Copenhaver "We've been behind the curve so long, as a city. No, we're not oversaturated by any means, and we can see that in the interest and the quality of the investment, downtown."

Augusta will benfit, by the buildup downtown, and for now, there's no worry this is too much of a good thing.

Edited March 27, 2008 by augga706

[augga706]

Coming developments will put almost 500 new hotel rooms downtown

"It is obviously market-driven," said Barry White, the executive director of the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Developers are seeing opportunity. That's a good thing. People are taking note of all the changes and improvements going on in downtown right now, what they see on the horizon in terms of residential, the TEE Center, talks of a stadium."

A 88-room Holiday Inn Express between the canal and 100-room Comfort Inn-Medical Center on Walton Way across the street from the medical district

The developer behind the Watermark on Augusta Riverwalk is planning for two 125-room hotels for the project on Reynolds Street at the Fifth Street Bridge.

Planning is also under way on a hotel-condominium tower at the Augusta Common that could add 140 rooms.

Mr. White said he wouldn't be surprised if more hotel projects surfaced before the TEE Center -- the 50,000-square-foot trade, exhibition and event center -- is finished on Reynolds Street in 2010. "I've always said that alone would spur additional hotel development," Mr. White said.

About 900 of the market's 6,000 hotel and motel rooms are already downtown. "There are hotels that are appropriate for downtown that are under the price point of the Marriott," said Harry Kitchen Jr., the South Carolina-based developer behind the Watermark. "Those are the ones we've been discussing, but we haven't landed one yet."

Mr. Kitchen said previously that Hilton was among the groups in discussions.

Details emerge on hotel rooms

Edited March 27, 2008 by augga706