The off-market sale of a historic mixed-use building at 1246 Broad Street in Downtown Augusta has been announced. The property, home to upscale retailer Fireside on the ground floor and residential tenants upstairs, was purchased by an investment group represented by Meybohm Commercial.
Downtown Augusta is currently experiencing a wave of new developments, including The Standard on Greene Street and the Lamar Building. These projects, along with upcoming streetscape improvements and the recently announced funding for a new James Brown Arena, are expected to increase foot traffic and make downtown living even more appealing.
As ABD reported on Monday, an incubator project between Augusta Tech and the Downtown Development Authority will be utilizing the former iconic building designed by I.M. Pei at 600 Broad Street. The former home of the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce will serve entrepreneurs and other businesses as a microenterprise center, to be called Accelerate Augusta.
John Eckley, Jonathan Aceves, and Dustin Wright at Meybohm Commercial represented the buyers, and Ben Harrison at Blanchard & Calhoun Commercial represented the seller in the transaction. Trotter-Jones, LLP served as the closing attorney.
John Eckley, commercial real estate broker with Meybohm Commercial, added, “We’re seeing a surge of interest in Downtown Augusta, with investors recognizing the potential of our historic buildings and all that is coming to the downtown area, including the exciting streetscape project and funding announcement for the JBA. This sale is another positive sign of the ongoing revitalization of our downtown district. The off-market nature of this transaction speaks to the desirability of well-located, mixed-use properties in our downtown area, specifically investment properties.”
Margaret Woodard, Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority said, “It is so exciting to see the continued investment in real estate in the Historic Downtown, especially on the Broad Street corridor. Lots of good things are happening on the 1200 block, including the recent sale of the Sunshine Bakery building. Yesterday, we launched our microenterprise center in partnership with Augusta Tech, and other projects are on the drawing board. We’ve had an amazing year Downtown, and the future looks bright as well.”
“There’s a lot of excitement around Downtown Augusta right now,” said Jonathan Aceves, Commercial Real Estate Broker at Meybohm Commercial. “The multiple offers on recent properties prove that there is demand for high-quality space, like this one. This building has a high-quality successful retail tenant and is of historic significance on the 1200 block of Broad.
Many investors have speculatively bought space downtown or are holding space waiting for prices to rise, and are unwilling to invest to improve space—leading to a perception that there’s a lot of vacant buildings and a lack of demand–which is simply not true.”
Greig McCully, owner of Fireside, said, “We have found downtown Augusta to be a great center point for Evans, Martinez, Augusta, and Aiken and are excited to see significant growth and change in the 15 years we have been a part of this community.”
The new owners currently have no plans to make changes to the Historic 130-year old building or the tenant mix and are excited to have Fireside Kitchens as the anchor retail tenant in the building.
Editor’s Note:
Mitzi Oxford is a veteran broadcaster and features writer who also worked at the same television station in Columbus, Georgia as Augusta’s Brad Means! If you have a South Carolina story idea for Mitzi, please email her at mitzioxfordcreative@gmail.com.
