Lake Olmstead Stadium no longer looks like a field of dreams, but city officials are optimistic that progress is being made to make the venue suitable and safe for entertainment events.
C4 Live Entertainment, the only tenant subletting the building, commissioned an engineering study of the grounds after it was discovered the soil underneath the bleacher seating was unstable and could cause the seating to collapse.
The company had promoted events during the 2022 Masters Week featuring top-tier acts Jimmy Buffet, Tim McGraw and Blake Shelton, but the concerts had to be canceled out of safety concerns. C4 Live faced a public backlash when it took the company months to issue refunds for advance ticket sales.
According to Cal Wray, director of the Augusta-Richmond County Development Authority, the engineering report found it would cost between $500,000 and $600,000 for the problems with the soil to be remediated.
Wray says that C4 Live has sent the development authority a letter asking for help in paying for the repairs, however, the development authority is not in any way financially responsible for the facility.
“We are merely a conduit between (C4 Live) and the city. Our master lease only tasks us with finding a tenant for the building,” Wray said.
The master lease and the sublease to C4 Live do not seem to agree with who may ultimately be responsible for the soil remediation. The master lease between the city and the development authority clearly states that any company entering into sublease must accept the building “as is.”
However, the sublease has a specific list of 20 capital maintenance and repairs that are C4 Live’s responsibility. Soil or foundation repair is not among the items on the list. In fact, the “as is” provision vaguely seems to only apply to the stadium itself, reading “Sub-Lessor hereby acknowledges and agrees that it has accepted the Stadium in an AS-IS, WHERE-IS condition.”
The same sublease also states that the city is only responsible should the stadium or a part of it actually collapse.
Wray says despite the problems with refunds from the hastily canceled concerts, C4 Live has, so far, stuck to the agreement which grants the company 80 dates at the venue per year. In lieu of monthly rent, C4 Live has agreed to make $1.6 million in capital improvements over the 10 year span of the lease.
“They have sent us the proof that they have already spent $600,000 on the stadium, so they are invested in it,” Wray said
District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight said that considering the city is responsible for the facility 285 days throughout the year, then the city is likely going to be responsible for the soil remediation.
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“What’s the alternative? We can’t let a sinkhole open up and swallow the stands, and we certainly can’t have it open to the public when we know the soil is unstable,” McKnight said.
McKnight says that while the soil issues at the stadium are no one’s fault, she does take issue with how the city has maintained the building over the years and the fact the city’s parks and recreation department, which is in charge of grounds maintenance, hasn’t cut the grass all summer.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s like the Boathouse and other buildings that aren’t being taken care of. How can we expect companies to invest millions of dollars when we can’t seem to take care of them?” McKnight said.
Messages left for representatives of C4 Live were not returned by news deadline Tuesday.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
