It’s a six acre parking lot right now, but there’s a lot more in the works for the depot property downtown.
“It’s projects like this that will transform our community. It’s been a long time coming and it’s certainly something we are excited about,” says Mayor Hardie Davis.
They’re calling it Riverfront at the Depot
And an animated video shows what developers have in mind.
140 upscale apartments. A big office building. 800 plus parking spots, green space, retail space. Something for everyone.
“The apartments are going to be a great place to live. Like I said, walk here, live here, work here, play here. You can have it all in this wonderful development,” said Rodney Barstein of Retail Specialists, a partner in the project.
A key component is the old freight depot, developers see it as a future entertainment venue to attract people to the site.
“Oh big time, it will be the landmark. It will be the logo,” said Barstein.
Augusta Commissioners haven’t been all on board, voting to first put conditions on the project before retracting that. But the developer says there’s a commitment now to the Riverfront at the Depot.
“What we saw at the end of the day, the community came together in collaboration to support the project. That’s why we’re still here,” said Michael Carpenter. of Bloc Global Group, the developer of the project.
“It’s going to be a great project for Augusta. It’s going to change, it’s going to expand the boundaries of downtown Augusta,” says Commissioner Bill Fennoy.
The project is moving forward but a lot of work remains. Developers have the go-ahead to get their finances and engineering in place for commission approval. That’s going to take nine months.
View the full animated video of the project below:
