A new development is in the works at the property that was once home to the Regency Mall, announced Augusta Economic Development Authority chairman and mayoral candidate Steven Kendrick in a media conference Tuesday morning at the entrance of the former mall where Deans Bridge and Richmond Hill Roads intersect.
“Initially, while I was serving as tax commissioner of Richmond County, I was approached by someone who was working with the Cardinale family,” Kendrick said. The Regency Mall property is owned by Cardinale Management, which is owned by Alan Cardinale, father-in-law of James McKinnon, also of Cardinale Management.
“I was asked to meet to provide some possible thoughts on what was being considered for the project. We’ve had those discussions over several months, and I soon realized this could be a real game changer for all of us.”
Kendrick went on to say that plans have been submitted to Richmond County to approve a development called Cardinal Town Square, which would include “hundreds of apartments,” a grocery store, a fitness center, several restaurants, a K-12 academic facility, a performing arts theater and greenspace.
“With the addition of potentially over 2,000 residents on the site, there will be hundreds and hundreds of jobs created from the spillover effect,” said Kendrick. “Businesses follow residents, and the result will be growth to serve the needs of the new residents of this community.”
On display at the site were plans drawn by Cranston Engineering and renderings by Booker + Vick Architects, both of whom Kendrick said he introduced to Cardinal Management’s team to see the project through. The plans shows 91,000 square feet of retail space, and 1,000 two-bedroom multi-family residential units, and a 160,000 square foot school for about 1,200 students.
Kendrick noted that Cranston expects the approval process will take six to eight weeks before the project goes before the Augusta Commission. Neither he nor representatives from Cranston Engineering had an estimated timeline for when ground would potentially be broken or when it might be complete, nor did they have an estimate of how much the development would cost. However, Kendrick did say that Cardinal Town Square would be “probably one of the largest mixed-use projects in Augusta history.”
He also said that Cardinale, at least so far, has not requested incentives from either the city or the Development Authority, or any other agency that he’s aware, and that it’s currently a private investment, though the developer reserves the right to make such request at a later time.
McKinnon and Cardinale Management remain the focus of an investigation by the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission over a pair of billboards that were put up in 2018 to sway voters to vote to move the James Brown Arena to the Regency Mall site in a non-binding referendum.
Richmond County voters overwhelming panned the idea of moving the arena to Regency Mall.
The commission contends that Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. conspired with McKinnon and others to use “dark money” to pay for the billboards. Attorneys for the commission say that McKinnon has not been cooperative in their investigation.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com. Scott Hudson contributed to this report.
