Focus on: Augusta, Georgia
Vacant Buildings Turned Into Downtown Assets
Downtown Augusta, Georgia is undergoing cosmetic surgery. Vacant commercial properties are being enhanced thanks to some local business leaders who banded together to renovate old buildings. In the process, downtown Augusta is also getting a vital new residential component.
Clay Boardman, CEO of Charter Triad Terminals, LLC and president of Enterprise Mill, LLC and Boardman Petroleum, spearheaded the recent formation of Augusta Renaissance Partners, LLC. The partnership’s name spells out its mission to preserve historic buildings and promote investment in downtown Augusta. Other partners in the development venture include Braye Boardman, senior vice president of Boardman Petroleum; Tom Blanchard, president of Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate; Turner Simkins, vice president of Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate; and Julian Roberts, president of Roberts-Augusta, a real estate investment firm.
Augusta Renaissance Partners, LLC plans to convert the five-story former JB White department store into 54 loft apartments and 20,000 sq.ft. of commercial space, including restaurants and shops and possibly some office space.
The group recently purchased the former JB White department store, which has been vacant since 1978. According to Clay Boardman, plans are to convert the building into 54 loft apartments and 20,000 sq.ft. of commercial space, including restaurants and shops and possibly some office space.
The JB White plan has received wide community support due to Boardman’s recent $15-million renovation of Enterprise Mill, an old textile mill on the edge of Augusta’s downtown that stood empty since 1983. The resounding success of that endeavor, which resulted in turning the 270,000-sq.ft. vacant eyesore into 56 loft apartments and 110,000 sq.ft. of commercial and office space, led to the formation of Augusta Renaissance Partners. It also earned Boardman the 1999 Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Award for Outstanding Rehabilitation.
In addition to residential apartments, professional offices, and retail space for a variety of shopping and dining facilities, Enterprise Mill also contains common public areas that feature exhibits on hydropower and machinery once used when the mill, adjacent to the Augusta Canal near the banks of the Savannah River, was in operation.
Now Boardman and his Augusta Renaissance partners are turning their attention to the JB White building. According to Simkins, the group bought the 83,000-sq.ft. building and a catwalk-attached 50,000-sq.ft. warehouse from Dillard’s for approximately $600,000. He estimates that it will take about $2.8 million to retrofit the space and says the group is looking to ally itself with a tax credit partner or lender.
“We did our homework,” Simkins says. “The building was constructed in the early 1920s. It is in the historic district and qualifies for federal and state historic tax credits, which we will use to help fund the project.” Additionally, the city of Augusta is expected to issue an 8-percent tax abatement and a local group, Main Street Augusta, promised a facade grant in return for restoring the outside of the building.
One of the chief construction efforts will be to add windows to the building while maintaining its historical integrity. “It had windows in the front, but none on the sides. We’re trying to preserve the facade while adding windows to the sides,” Simkins says. He also says that when construction workers were tearing out internal ceilings, they found beautiful old pressed tin ceilings that are now being preserved. As well, the age of the building has required environmental abatement of minor asbestos and lead paint problems.
If all goes as planned, Augusta Renaissance Partners will file historical applications this month and construction will begin in March or April and take about a year to complete. The renovation is being designed by David Green of Brock Green Architects, Atlanta (404-223-0404), and the general contractor is Mark Capers of Capers and Associates, Augusta (706-739-0095), who also did Enterprise Mill.
“This building is in a dynamic part of town with ‘small business pioneers,’ including restaurants, bars, art galleries and antique stores,” Simkins says. In addition to retailers for the new JB White project, Boardman says that he is still looking for a major restaurant for Enterprise Mills. “The downtown has seen a resurgence of ‘younger’ restaurants that are upscale, trendy and fun,” he describes. “That is what we are looking for.”
For more information about Enterprise Mills, contact Clay Boardman, president, Enterprise Mill, LLC, 706-262-4005. For more information about Augusta Renaissance Partners or the new JB White project, contact Turner Simkins, vice president, Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate, 706-722-7331. Retail leasing for Enterprise Mills is being handled by Ralph Kitchens of Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate, 706-722-5565.