Even before the Augusta Commission voted on a new adult entertainment ordinance in December, plans were underway to build a strip club venue on Gordon Highway across from Southgate Shopping Center.
The new strip club would be built on land currently owned by the city of Augusta and managed by the Augusta Land Bank Authority, according to emails obtained by an open records law request.
In the emails obtained, Shawn Edwards, executive director of the land bank referred to the project as a “personal endeavor” when writing to Carla Delaney, director of the Planning and Development Department.
Edwards wrote to Delaney on Dec. 13, “I am building an investment group interested in pursuing an adult entertainment venue in Richmond County.”
In a phone interview, Edwards denied he has any personal interest in the venture.
The city-owned property is at 1646 A Gordon Highway, and while it is directly across from a shopping center and about a third of a mile from the abandoned Regency Mall, it is zoned light industrial, which meets the ordinance requirements, as Edwards noted his email.
Edward’s emails included drawings of what the proposed venue would look like and included questions on whether the Planning Department could help with issues related to the property being in a flood zone.
Despite the emails and arranged meetings, Edwards says he was just following up on the project as a way to find a purpose for city-owned land.
“This is not something I am personally invested in. That would be a conflict of interest,” Edwards said.
Edward’s emails to the Planning Department went on to state, “Firstly, thank you for not bursting into laughter. I know the project and site could come across as comical….The property is secured, and the group is committed.”
Edwards admits the timing of the proposed adult entertainment venue and the ordinance change, which allows for advertising along highways leading to the venue, is suspect. However, he states that perhaps adult entertainment in South Augusta might be the way forward to redevelop the area, adding that Columbia, Savannah and Atlanta have strip clubs.
“It’s a potentially profitable market. Everyone coming here is not going to build houses,” Edwards said.
In an email on Dec 13, Edwards stated, “But the development planned at Regency Mall and south Augusta makes this location ideal.”
Robert Buchwitz disagrees. He has been working for a year with the Cardinale Group, owners of the Regency Mall property, to convert that property into a charter school that would be a supersized version of the highly successful Georgia School For Innovation And The Classics located in Hephzibah.
“I can’t believe they would even consider this. I don’t think this is a good idea at all and would likely not sit well with the state charter commission,” Buchwitz said.
Former Commissioner John Clarke says he was misled into voting for the ordinance change and says he had no idea that a project involving the Augusta Land Bank was in the works.
“I thought we were strengthening the ordinance by making it more clear on what was allowed and where. There was never any talk about allowing city land to be sold to create a strip club in that area. I thought we were limiting where adult entertainment could be located,” Clarke said.
Clarke’s successor as District 10 Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle says he can’t believe city employees moved along with such plans without any transparency.
Guilfoyle has long been an advocate for redeveloping the South Augusta corridor but says the entire scenario reeks of possible corruption.
“We need to reassess this. We may have the wrong people in the wrong place putting personal gain over what is best for the citizens of Richmond County,” Guilfoyle said.
Augusta Tax Commissioner Chris Johnson sits on the board of the Augusta Land Bank Authority and says he was unaware of the project but says the final decision will rest with the board.
“No such project has been brought before the board at this time,” Johnson said.
