A panel of Atlanta developers met with city officials, Wednesday afternoon, to discuss the revitalization of 401 Walton Way, the former site of the city’s old Law Enforcement Center.
The Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) coordinated a meeting at the May Park Community Center in which Augusta Commissioners Wayne Guilfoyle, Jordan Johnson, Tony Lewis, Stacy Pulliam and Francine Scott, along with Mayor Garnett Johnson, sat with a technical assistance panel of the Urban Land Institute’s Atlanta chapter.
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The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a community development nonprofit and think tank, comprised mostly of real estate developers and industrialists, as well as other professionals such as architects, academics, urban planners and engineers. ULI-Atlanta alone has more than 1,400 members.
The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) is a ULI initiative in which multidisciplinary panels of experts advise local governments, public agencies and other nonprofits regarding redevelopment and land use issues.
Last year, ULI-Atlanta produced TAP reports for Rabun County, Ga. on how to address housing needs for its workforce, and for Alpharetta, Ga. on redeveloping that city’s Windward Parkway Corridor.
The 3.69-acre tract where the former jail once stood is now mostly a vacant lot. Thompson Wrecking Co. began dismantling the building in 2022. The Augusta Commission voted to demolish the Law Enforcement Center in 2020, by which time it had been decommissioned for some six years.
Guilofyle and Lewis, commissioners for Districts 10 and 6 respectively, highlighted an aim to build something “attractive” in the space, becoming of its location near the entry point for travelers from across the river.
“Being the gateway coming to Augusta from South Carolina, that was the first thing that you saw, a high-rise jail,” said Lewis. “I think it’s important that what we do with that piece of land, and how we go about developing it, is very appealing coming into the city coming into the gateway.”
Pulliam, commissioner for District 2, expressed interest in the possibility of a mixed-use development largely devoted to affordable housing.
“There’s so many people that don’t have anywhere to live,” Pulliam said, also making sure to emphasize that market-rate housing should be considered to attract more potential residents. “I also feel like retail would be good, if we had something kind of like Beacon Station [Apartments on Wrightsboro Road]… where there’s just retail on the bottom.”
Johnson, District 1 commissioner and native to the area, stressed the number of children living in the vicinity and posited something more “family friendly.”
Mayor Johnson echoed this sentiment, noting the area was historically a “center hub for recreation for youngsters.”
The technical assistance panel is expected to report back to the city within six to eight weeks.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
