06 Dec 2019 Millhouse Station Announced
Evans-based homebuilder acquires 4-acre tract on 11th Street for “class A” apartments.
Ivey Development said Friday it has acquired land in downtown Augusta to build a 155-unit “class A” apartment community.
The Evans-based homebuilder and developer, which has worked on versions of the proposal with city planning officials during the past year, said it closed on the 4.2-acre parcel at 636 11th St. on Thursday through an affiliated partnership company.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed and public records on the transaction were not immediately available. The land had been owned by a company affiliated with Jeff and Joey Hadden, whose Phoenix Printing business is just west of the tract at 601 11th St.
Ivey Development co-owner Matt Ivey said the upscale apartments will be called Millhouse Station and be available for lease by summer 2021.
Ivey said the finished product – two four-story buildings with a clubhouse, fitness room, pool and dog park – aims to be the city’s premier multi-family residential complex. Rents for one-bedroom units would be between $1,000 to $1,100 a month, while two-bedroom units will be in the $1,400 range, Ivey said.
“We think it will be the nicest project built to date in Augusta,” he said. “From an architectural standpoint, for sure.”
Ivey did not disclose its total investment in the project.
Situated northwest of the Augusta Judicial Center complex along the Augusta Canal, the complex would sit between the city’s downtown commercial zone and its medical district, a section of the urban core that has been slow to see revitalization.
“I really think this property could be a catalyst (for future development),” Ivey said.
The vacant, triangular-shaped tract was previously occupied by Augusta Iron & Steel. Ivey’s site-selection consultant, Davis Beman, vice president of commercial real estate for Blanchard & Calhoun, said in a statement the development will “elevate the quality of asset classes that are coming to the steadily growing downtown.”
“Millhouse (Station) meets the existing demand of higher-end, fully amenitized communities downtown dwellers have been starving for,” Beman said.
Ivey said the federal “Opportunity Zone” tax benefits, which were created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur investment in economically-distressed census tracts, helped make the project financially feasible. He said metro Augusta’s multi-family development costs are as high as other Southeastern markets, while its rents are comparatively low.
“The Opportunity Zone credits really helped get this thing over the hump,” he said.
Augusta-based McKnight Construction Co. will serve as Millhouse Station’s general contractor. McKnight President Will McKnight said in a statement the company was “proud to support the fantastic growth of our Augusta community.”
“This is an exciting time for our great city, and we look forward to working with the Ivey Development team,” McKnight said.