MCG Foundation Making Moves on 15th Street
12/11/17, 5:00 PM
MCG Foundation making moves on Kroger Lot on 15th Street
Originally from https://www.wrdw.com/content/news/MCG-Foundation-making-moves-on-Kroger-Lot-on-15th-Street-463496943.html
Monday, December 11, 2017
WRDW News 12 at 5 O'clock
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The Kroger lot off of 15th Street in Augusta has been nothing but a pile of rocks and dirt for months. But now the MCG Foundation said they're making moves on the property that they said looks more like a liability. They want it to look like an asset.
The property backs up to the historic Harrisburg neighborhood, and a lot of neighbors relied on the Kroger within such close proximity. Neighbors like Cathy Cooper.
When the Kroger closed, she had to find another option for her food shopping. She's disabled, so she turned to her neighbors to help her out. That meant carting her to and from the Dollar Store. Cooper said shopping at the Dollar Store is far from ideal.
The MCG Foundation is hoping to fix the problem that Cooper and so many others face, while still holding onto curb appeal of a new complex where the Kroger used to be.
They want to flip the property and make it a destination for Augusta University students and staff, hospital visitors, and community members alike.
At the start of the year, they hope to demolish the buildings still left at the lot. And we could see Phase 1 starting to take shape in about a year.
"Amenities...hospitality...potentially office space...certainly want to try to get a grocery store here with the food desert situation," said Ian Mercier, President and CEO of the MCG Foundation.
When the Kroger was demolished a few months ago, Mercier said they had a plan. But now that plan is moving from mere speculation, to something more concrete.
The Foundation is working with Daniel Communities, LLC, a development firm that's built up properties all over the Southeast. The project is a long term one - and has a price tag of more than $120 million. But not all the money will come from the Foundation. They say they'll need investment from the city, university, and Daniel Communities for the project to press on. If everything goes according to plan, and the Foundation experiences few hiccups on the way, they hope to see the area redeveloped within the next three years.
"It's our responsibility for this site here," said Mercier. "We want it to be better. To be much, much better. So upscale is certainly a word that we would want to use,"
The Foundation feels a responsibility to the community neighboring the project site, but their main concern is creating a development that the University is proud of, and can attract more folks to live, work, and play in the area.
The Foundation said the ideal property would feature a hotel, housing, office space, retail, and a grocer. They're not in any rush to land on a particular grocer, they said, because they want it to be the right one. But whoever they choose, they hope reflects the vision for the property.
"We're creating something special and attractive to the school to make this a destination campus," said Mercier. "If we can do that AND benefit the community, I feel like we're getting pretty close to doing our job,"
Neighbors said they need updates to the area, but hope that it doesn't push them to live beyond their means.
"We need the new development but we don't need the rent and utilities to go up," said Cooper. "Most of us are on a very tight and fixed income. So a lot of us can't do any better than we're already doing,"