Housing/Construction Industry

Consumer Stories

One year later, recovery from Helene

Columbia County is getting ready for the design, RFP, and construction phase in renovating the Savannah Rapids Pavilion. In the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 2024, Metro Augusta experienced something it had never had before: a direct hit by a hurricane. The extent of damage was being tallied across the region in the days that followed. One of the most popular venues for meetings and events was among the heavily damaged buildings. Savannah Rapids Pavilion, noted for its large, glass windows, sits 80 feet high on the bluff overlooking

Read More »
B2B Stories

SPLOST project can help grow part of CSRA

Augusta-Richmond County Commissioners are preparing to finalize the list of projects for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) 9. The initial wish list of projects totaled more than one billion dollars. County Administrator Tameka Allen whittled it down to $426 million over seven years, and the tax will be collected. One of the projects that made Allen’s list would have a substantial impact on developing South Richmond County. The Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) is requesting $25 million to extend residential, commercial, and industrial sewer capacity through South Augusta.

Read More »
Consumer Stories

Progress on the new Augusta Arena

The old James Brown Arena is no more, and crews continue the step-by-step process to prepare the site for the construction of the new arena. News crews were given a walk-through at the now-empty tract where the new arena will be built. John Rawlins, project manager with Nations Group, said the current step is using engineered backfill materials in what used to be the old arena’s basement. The material has a better compaction rating. Rollers are then used to help complete the process. “We’ve got a special inspection sub (contractor)

Read More »
B2B Stories

The Walls are Tumbling Down at JBA

The Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority is settling into a new location for its meetings, the Grand Lobby at the newly renovated Bell Auditorium. The location gives authority members and staff a front-row seat to watch the demolition of the James Brown Arena. Well, you can see a building torn down right now. The insides don’t look like what I thought they were going to look like,” quipped Mike Harvey of Nations Group, the owner’s representative for the construction of the new JBA and concourse connecting it to the Bell. He

Read More »
Consumer Stories

Hospital Construction Passes the Halfway Point

Construction on Columbia County’s first-ever hospital is slightly ahead of schedule, despite some problems in the wake of Hurricane Helene. The ground was broken for the hospital, being built on the Gateway to Grovetown, exit 190 off Interstate 20, in April of this year. Construction crews “topped out” the hospital, that is they reached the top of the structure, in June. Construction includes a separate building providing space for medical offices beside the main hospital. It was topped off in July. “So, since the summer, we’ve really been working on

Read More »
B2B Stories

$3 million project building for the future

Construction on a project that will help young adults prepare for their future and contribute to the economy is underway on Merry Street in Augusta. Demolition has started on a building at a former Augusta park, clearing the way for a tiny homes community. It is for young people who are aging out of the foster care system with little or no ability to transition into society. Spearheading the project is Bridge Builders Communities, Inc. (BBC). Penny Wasden with First Citizens Bank is on BBC’s Board of Directors. She told

Read More »
B2B Stories

Hiring boom for construction workers

Metro Augusta will have roughly 1,300 new job openings within the next 18 to 36 months. That’s based on recent economic development announcements in Richmond and Burke Counties in Georgia and Aiken County in South Carolina. Some, including Meta in the Sage Mill Industrial Park, GF Casting Solutions in the Augusta Corporate Park, and TMC Transformers in the Burke County Industrial Park, plan to build new facilities for the approximately 500 employees the three of them will hire. “All of them have construction-related jobs,” Cal Wray, President of the Augusta

Read More »
B2B Stories

CSRA Construction Boom!

Economic development leaders in Metro Augusta are celebrating the recent series of major companies coming to the area, creating hundreds of new jobs. While those jobs have been in the spotlight, there is a quieter, even larger, job growth bubbling just under the headlines. Augusta Business Daily spoke with Cal Wray, President of the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA), Will Williams, President and CEO of Western SC Economic Development Partnership, and Austin Stacy, Executive Director of the Development Authority of Burke County (DABC), about the thousands of jobs that will

Read More »
B2B Stories

Bracing for demand of skilled workers in building trades

A new program launched at Aiken Technical College, envisioned as a short-term way to address thousands of construction jobs at the Savannah River Site, could turn into a regular offering. “My expectation is that’s going to be short term for the immediate need, but that need is so great that we’ll probably be running these courses for quite some time,” Dr. Steven Simmons, Dean of the School of Technical and Continuing Education told ABD. “One of the benefits is that the state of South Carolina has allocated a lot of

Read More »
B2B Stories

New program to boost CSRA construction workforce

There are more than 400 construction worker job listings in the CSRA and a new program at Aiken Technical College (ATC) is gearing up to help fill them. The pre-apprenticeship program offered this fall will prepare students for careers in construction. The Savannah River Site and more than 15 local trade unions have partnered with Aiken Tech for this initiative. The program is being offered at no cost to South Carolina residents, thanks to state-funded grants. The program tuition for out-of-state residents is $1,000. Free tuition for South Carolina students

Read More »