PJA

The governor and our mayor met with Cal Ripken Jr to discuss relocating the Greenjackets stadium downtown next to the Botanical Gardens and Golf hall of fame. Of course this would help out the gardens a lot since funding was cut and Cal Ripken and the mayor are very optimistic. If this goes through downtown will definitely be booming again with library and the condos coming and other residential develpments as well as the Village at Riverwatch a few miles away. I'm glad to see some developments happening along the river and the canal. Here's an article from the chronicle...Article

New Ellenton and Belvedere are already a part of the Augusta MSA. The South Carolina portions of the msa include all of Aiken and Edgefield Counties and belvedere and New Ellenton are both in aiken county.

Here's an article about the James Brown Arena and that Flash Gordon believes he can still turn it around. I sure hope so.

Pillsbury is right..definitely check out Modjeska...i was just there thursday night and it was great

Here's an article about the Flowing Wells Rd project. Anyone who travels that road knows that at certain times it can be a mess. I think many people use it as a detour to bypass the Washington Rd/Bobby Jones intersection (I know I do) but sometimes it can be just as bad. the article

Two more hotels are coming to the area...Mainstay Suites and Cambria Suites both owned by the same company. They will be located on Claussen Rd between I-20 and Washington Rd. Of couse as you all know several other hotels are already in the area with some currently being built. They are scheduled to be finished before the 2008 Masters.

^^ That looks kinda nice

The local franchise Wife Saver will open it's eight location on the corner of Furys Ferry and Bel Air Rd. The plans are for it to be opened by Masters.

According to Channel 12 News, the mayor has stated that another major announcement on the same scale as ADP will be made this Friday which will mean a lot of new jobs for the area.

The current owners of the old JB Whites Building downtown have almost reached a deal with Atlanta developers who want to turn the building into upscale apartments. This was oringinally the current owners plan for the building but other projects that they are involved in took precedence.

As for the Evans Town Square, they are looking at several restaurants and businesses but no confirmations...so Home Depot may not be there. Site work is set to begin in April once the demolition is complete.

In case you're wondering whats taking so long for the SPLOST projects (Conference Center, Library and Judicial Center) to get built check out this article. The public voted to approve these projects in 2005 yet they are still in planning stages.

There was an article in the Metro Spirit talking about bringing big name businesses downtown. The Downtown Authorit is set to send out recruitment packages to 400 businesses but I may be wrong in thinking that they are a little to late. With the Augusta Mall expanding and the addition of the Villages at Riverwatch and the lifestyle center on Walton Way a lot of businesses are going to be taken. Sure there will still be some businesses that could come to downtown but the pool will be much smaller. This should have been thought about 4 years ago. Here's the article.

Here's an interesting article about downtown. It talks about how the city isn't taking care of the basic needs of downtown and how they should start to do so in order for downtown to continue to prosper. article

Here's an article discussing some things going on with downtown from the Metro Spirit. the article

I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier..but another Starbucks is coming to the area..this time in the Augusta Exchange Center where the Razzberry Cool was. It's going to be expanded to make room for the new Starbucks basically right across the street from Target and in front of Ashley's Furniture.

Here is an update on the new Augusta Library.

Firehouse subs will be included in the small strip plaza that was formerly Pier One in front of the Augusta Mall. As noted previsouly this plaza will include Starbucks and Cingular Wireless as well.

Augusta's medical image is set to get a little brighter with the additon of the a spine center in the area. Here are the details.

Here's an article on the job forecast for Augusta in 2007. The article.

The Georgia DOT has reached a shortfall and has pushed several projects back. They created a website that details the projects that have been pushed back or are still on schedule for each county. Here are the main delays for the Augusta metro. The main projects that have been pushed back indefinitely in Richmond County are the widening of Windsor Spring Rd to Hephzibah and the widening of Wrightsboro Rd from Jimmie Dyess to Bobby Jones. The widening of Bobby Jones from Deans Bridge Rd to Gordon Hwy has been pushed back from 2009 to 2010. In Columbia Co. several small Washington Rd projects like some bridgework and a widening near Pollards Corner have been delayed. There were no major delays in Burke County.

Downtown Augusta has a new logo....here.