The Downtown Development Authority unveiled a new logo and gave a presentation to the Augusta Commission touting recent success in opening new business and enlarging current businesses in the downtown area as the pandemic begins to wane.
According to the organization’s director, Margaret Woodard, more than 45 new businesses have sprung up in downtown Augusta over the past year despite the pandemic, and other businesses such as Keen Signs and Graphics, Art on Broad and Alison South Marketing have expanded and moved into larger spaces.
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Woodard lauded the owners of Bee’s Knees, which struggled during the pandemic, but bounced back with a new business model as a coffee house and curio shop.
Augusta’s most prolific local restaurateurs, The Frog Hollow Group, recently opened the Asian fusion restaurant, Pho-Ramen’l, on Broad Street and plan to have another concept, Taco Cat, open by Masters Week.
According to Woodard, the growth has translated to $81.5 million in investments pumped into the local economy.
A bid package has been sent to the Augusta Procurement Department to begin work on several wrought iron arches, lit with LED lights, to be placed at Eighth Street and Tenth Street to guide out-of-towners to the Riverwalk area.
“Everything has been just stopped for two years, but we are moving forward with the arches and that will be a great addition to downtown,” Woodard said.
While the Authority has changed its logo, it has not changed its mission. It helps prospective investors secure loan guarantees at below normal interest rates through the Georgia Cities Loan program, she said.
“Banks love this too. When you show you’ve been approved by Georgia’s Cities Loan Foundation, the bank will go ahead and approve the construction loan and when you get the loan from the Foundation, you can pay the bank back and you always have a low interest rate,” Woodard said.
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The Authority also has long tried to help ease parking woes in the downtown area with studies and proposals and Woodard says she and her team are working closely with the Augusta Engineering Department and its project to transform the Broad Street corridor using Transportation Investment Act funds and says that parking will be a major part of the overall plan.
After the presentation Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. tried to bring a complaint about parking downtown. District 10 Commissioner John Clarke countered him and said that he had a wonderful weekend attending a downtown concert recently and found parking not to be much of an issue.
“I parked in the Municipal Garage, and there were plenty of spaces available, and then I walked a short ways and got to where I was going, it wasn’t a problem,” Clarke said.
“I have a leg injury,” Davis said.
The Commission applauded the Authority’s efforts amid a difficult several years where the Covid pandemic could have spelled doom for many downtown entrepreneurs.
“It was great to go downtown and see it packed, people were strolling along and going into the restaurants. Everything felt safe and everyone was having fun,” Clarke said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
