The White's Building

Today was an historic moment for Augusta. For years, we have worked to encourage growth in our downtown district. A renaissance, if you will. Downtown Augusta is a great place to be: skirting the Savannah River, it boasts of historic charm and natural beauty. The problem is that when the malls came in the 70s, downtown's energy died. Stores closed and moved to the 'burbs, leaving big vacant boxes behind.

The White's Bldg, once the site of one of Augusta's premier department stores, has been vacant since 1978. Several developers from Atlanta recently purchased the structure and have painstakingly transformed the 5 story building into elegant retail and residential spaces. They were careful to salvage and restore the building's historic architectural elements, to which they added the latest in green-building technology.

The result is stunning. The ribbon cutting today hosted over 200 people (my guess). Photos can be found here. The White's Bldg. represents the first multi-million $ project downtown has seen in over a decade. Work on White's has spurred a litany of other projects in the district, including landscaping, signage, boutiques, a new road, and tons of businesses relocating to the area.

After a long winter, Augusta's finally on its way back up. Watch out!