Andy Jordan, owner of his own bicycle store at 527 13th Street works on reconstructing his store after it burned down three months ago in May. Jordan picked up his merchandise and temporary moved down 13th street to a vacant BP Gas Store. JEFF JANOWSKI/STAFF

Putting roots into downtown

Mainstay bicycle shop, new businesses keep downtown going

Web posted August 19, 1998

By Kevin Bonsor
Staff Writer

Andy Jordan never thought of moving his business that he ran on 13th Street for 24 years until a fire on May 30 nearly destroyed his store.

Following the fire, Mr. Jordan began exploring his options as to where he would reopen Andy Jordan's Bicycle Center. He chose to stay downtown, where he believes a period of revitalization is occurring, and began renovating his 13th Street store.

``The opportunity for us to move was there; it's not like we couldn't have,'' said Mr. Jordan, who is temporarily working out of an old gas station at the corner of Broad and 13th streets. ``We didn't have to stay here.''

After looking at more than 200 pieces of property from West Augusta to Martinez and near Augusta Mall on Wrightsboro Road, he concluded 13th Street was where he would stay. He stayed because his roots were downtown, opening a business in West Augusta or Martinez was too expensive and he found inspiration in the growing number of new businesses coming downtown.

``It's absolutely the best thing I've seen in 24 years, and I've looked at that,'' Mr. Jordan said. ``These are all young guys who are in love with downtown Augusta, so I feel like if I didn't see the younger people being enthused and passionate about what they're doing, maybe I would have a different attitude.''

Drew Jordan, 22, Andy Jordan son, helps his father maintain their family bike shop that now resides on the corner of 13th and Broad Street after their store burned down last May at 527 13th Street.JEFF JANOWSKI/STAFF

Mr. Jordan is one of many business owners who think downtown is being renewed as a viable business center. While Mr. Jordan is staying downtown because of his history in the downtown area, other entrepreneurs say they are moving in for the low rent, the central location of downtown to the Aiken-Augusta area and the hope downtown will be a bustling retail center again.

Fifteen new restaurants, gift shops, antique stores and other businesses have opened downtown in the past year, according to a list compiled by Main Street Augusta Association, the city's downtown-revitalization organization. Ten of those 15 businesses are located on Broad Street.

When looking for a second location, restaurateur Henry Scheer saw downtown as the perfect setting to put another Malley's Bagels `n' Grits, which is also located on Washington Road in west Augusta.

``It's a few years away from being real big, and I just wanted to be there before it did,'' said Mr. Scheer, who will celebrate his first anniversary at his Broad Street location today.

He feels downtown has such great potential that he just signed a two-year lease with option for 15 more years.

``Downtowns all across the country are coming back into vogue,'' said Allison May, former executive director of Main Street Augusta. ``We have a new set of entrepreneurs coming downtown and opening new businesses.''

Coco Rubio, co-owner of The Soul Bar on Broad Street, is one of those entrepreneurs. He and his partners opened their nightclub in 1995 with a vision of what downtown should be.

``We kind of felt that there's no one downtown because there was nothing downtown,'' he said. ``Now, if you step out, any night, and you see a bunch of people out.''

Mr. Rubio said that in 1995 he was attracted to downtown because of the cheap rent and unique architecture of Broad Street's historic buildings.

``There's a certain atmosphere downtown that you can't have anywhere else,'' he said. ``There is a certain atmosphere you can't create on a Washington Road, Wrightsboro Road or anywhere else.''

Bryan Halterman, president of Haltmerman Partners Inc., an Augusta real estate development company, said rent downtown tends to be lower than areas such as West Augusta and Martinez.

``It's going up some because if you look up and down the street (Broad Street) there are very few small to medium real estate space for rent,'' he said. ``The small retail has improved, and I think downtown as an entertainment district has improved.''

The cost of retail space per square foot is about 25 percent cheaper downtown than in locations near Augusta Mall or the new shopping center anchored by Target on Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway, said Ralph Kitchens, sales manager with Blanchard and Calhoun Commercial Corp.

``Retail is driven by anchors and something pulling you in, like location and accessibility,'' Mr. Kitchens said.

He said downtown lacks those three elements, keeping retail rent lower downtown. Many former downtown anchor stores, such as JC Penney, moved from Broad Street to Augusta and Regency malls when they opened in the late 1970s.

Pat Johannsen, owner of Johannsen's Sporting Goods, said rent would be about three times higher in west Augusta for the same amount of space he found on Broad Street.

Johannsen's moved from Reynolds Street to Broad Street last November to make room for the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. Mr. Johannsen said he never considered moving from downtown, where Johannsen's has been a fixture for nearly 29 years.

He said it's a good central location to the Aiken-Augusta area and that downtown is looking better than it has in the past.

``I think it's revitalizing itself. You can look up and down the street and see it,'' he said. ``You can see that there are a lot of new viable businesses opening up.''