AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – You may have noticed several new buildings going up off Riverwatch Parkway in Augusta. 

New development at the Village on Riverwatch Parkway calls for new shops, fun activities, and the best: food. 

“The Village at Riverwatch is such a great central location. It has a regional draw because it is centrally located right there off of I-20 and Riverwatch Parkway, which are both corridors that bring you right into Augusta,” Director of Marketing at Jordan Trotter Juli Means said.

Just a few years ago, what is now Riverwatch Parkway was just trees and land. 

“You start with Costco, you start with the movie theater, you start with the Cabela’s, and now, it’s grown. You have TopGolf announced, you had Dave and Busters, and you’ve probably had six or eight businesses start construction and grow over the last two years. You have the new apartments that were originally built, and now they’ve expanded at the specialty vet clinic. So, that whole area is an up-and-coming area with some great locations for Augusta,” President at Augusta Economic Development Authority Cal Wray said.

But over the course of time, this area has become a place where people can live, work, and play.

“That area has sort of become the tourism hub, to me, of this area. You know, you have everything from shopping and dining, and you have self-care,” Means said.

New dining options like Olive Garden and Crumbl Cookies will soon be added. 

“Residential growth: more people here, more money to be spent, which then drives the retail which makes it a more livable city. Obviously, what we do with the industrial recruitment and the large job creators, it just adds those amenities to make Augusta a better place for companies to locate because now, you have places for people to be entertained, you have places for people to eat, and then, you have places for people to live,” Wray said.

And if you’re someone who’s moving into the nearby apartments, there’s something for everyone.

“It’s important to have developments like the Village at Riverwatch because you need something that caters to everybody: families, businesspeople. People live there. So, you can shop and dine. You can do a little bit of everything you need in that area,” Means said.

Some speculate that more land means more construction, which means more retail centers.