North Augusta leaders extend Riverside Village agreement for 1 year

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Riverside Village near the amphitheater is growing, and more shops and homes are expected within the year.

Back in 2015, North Augusta agreed to a five-year master development agreement with Greenstone Properties, but that agreement expired in 2022.

Monday night, the city council agreed to extend the agreement with the developer for one more year.

More shops, more activities, and more homes are the future of Riverside Village Mayor Britton Williams says North Augusta is ready for.

“We’re excited about Riverside Village. I mean, it’s our live, work, and play. A lot of things happening. We’re going to be putting a boat dock there, which is exciting. Hopefully, that will happen in the next few months,” he said.

Williams says most of the new developments are across the street from the Crowne Plaza Hotel near the Sharon Jones Amphitheater.

He tells us the developer is confident about what the area could soon look like.

“Retail, you know, on the bottom and some townhomes up top. So that would be exciting,” said Williams.

But some are skeptical. Fred Ilardi posts on North Augusta 2020: “What is the guarantee that he will perform now? Shouldn’t we ask him to offer the city some financial benefit if he defaults? Why would we now grant him the ability to extend the master development agreement without some performance guarantee?”

City leaders feel confident the developer is ready to put more shovels in the ground, and they have another year to start.

“We’ve got parcels we need to get developed, and we feel good that our developer is ready to do that now,” said Williams.

He says we could see new developments starting as early as the next few months to the end of the year.

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