18-03-2025
Bus tour highlights downtown Albany revitalization efforts
ALBANY – A busload of sightseers donned hard hats and vests on Friday to take part in a tour of what's happening in Albany's downtown, a journey that took in a large area and a number of diverse projects.
The group saw renovations in progress at the historic St. Nicholas Hotel and the transformation of a former bank building into a health and wellness clinic. The tour, hosted by Downtown Albany, included stops in the heart of downtown like Front Street and Pine Avenue, as well as the city's Harlem and Sandy Bottom districts.
'We're really excited we were included in this,' Core Group President Latoya Cutts told a Herald reporter. 'It validates the fact this was part of downtown. This is an opportunity for people to just know about us. This is an opportunity to build excitement about it.'
The Harlem area was once a thriving center of black-owned businesses and the historic Ritz Theater. The Harlem Renaissance Project being spearheaded by the Mt. Zion Community Investment Corp., will invest some $20 million in the area, with the first phase, a health and wellness center, well underway.
The center, the former Renasant Bank location on Oglethorpe Boulevard, will be anchored by the Samaritan Clinic and a dental office, and will include a physical therapist's office, mental health provider and more.
A pharmacy with extended hours is part of the mix as well, a development that will be a convenience for shoppers who need to shop after other pharmacies are closed, Cutts told the tour group.
The Samaritan Clinic has been in operation, serving the under- and uninsured, but will expand to accept patients who have health insurance.
'The pharmacy will have after-hours, even after the 9 p.m. hours,' Cutts said. 'You're going to have a full-service health and wellness center here.'
Phase 2 of the project will include residential, retail and an event space, and Phase 3 will be a townhouse development.
The first stop on the downtown tour was at the future site of the 4C on Front Street project, which will bring students from the Commodore Conyers College & Career Academy downtown. The project will transform two old office buildings at 215 and 221 Front Street into a space where students can sell fresh vegetables grown in the school's greenhouse facility. But it will be a lot more than that.
'We want to support downtown Albany, our community and bring traffic of all ages to Albany,' 4C CEO Chris Hatcher said. 'That's what this space is all about.'
Participants in the Georgia FLEX entrepreneurial program will have a space to sell their products, and 4C plans to expand FLEX to all county high schools.'
'They're making incredible stuff,' Hatcher said. 'The problem is they don't have a place to sell their stuff. This will be a retail space to sell their products on consignment. It's going to look nice and be professional. We want it to be just a great vibe.
'I think with our young folks, we're at the point we have some really talented young people.'
The entrepreneurial focus won't be just for youngsters, however. Part of the facility will be used as an incubator center for the state's Advanced Technology Development Center.
The ATDC will assist budding entrepreneurs from the idea stage to developing a plan to make that idea a reality, Bishop Clean Care owner Jud Savelle, who will serve as startup catalyst, said.
'We're going to bring in innovation at the earliest stages of the process,' he said. 'We want to help through the process.'
Inside the former Belk building participants got a glimpse of the future home of the Albany Museum of Art, a projected $28 million project that will include greatly expanded display space, room for children's activities and a statue garden outside.
It will also include a family room and space for college students to hang out during the day.
'Long-term, we've been talking about being part of downtown,' AMA Executive Director Andrew Wulf said. 'We believe in the revitalization of our downtown. We really see the museum as a regional asset. We really want to be that cultural center, not just for Albany, bur for southwest Georgia.'
Other stops on the tour included: the Davis Exchange Building, Silvers-Churchwell Buildings on North Washington Street, the St. Nicholas Hotel, Ritz Cultural Center (former Ritz Theater), the former Rosenberg/Albany Herald building and a presentation updating the city's downtown streetscape and sidewalk project.
