Albany | Dougherty County: Living the Good Life

Good things are happening in the Good Life City. Conversations leading to consensus among community stakeholders across Albany and Dougherty County are creating transformational change throughout the region as city and county leaders increase economic development opportunities, expand quality of life amenities and grow the local workforce pipeline.

Downtown Designation: Albany Mayor Bo Dorough. Photo credit: David Parks

“We are on the precipice of over $100 million being invested in downtown Albany,” says Mayor Bo Dorough. The projects honor the city’s past while forging its future.

The historic St. Nicholas Hotel is being converted into a 26-room hotel that will feature a restaurant on the first floor and lodgings on the second and third floors, Dorough says. The roughly $6 million project is expected to be completed sometime next year.

“Long-range plans include restoring a bar to the basement, where historically there was a bar,” he says. “We have three buildings downtown on the National Register of Historic Places, including the St. Nicholas Hotel.”

Another downtown building on the National Register of Historic Places is the Davis Exchange Bank Building. The mayor says the 42,000-square-foot, eight-story building is being converted into apartments.

Each of these projects received tax benefits as a result of its historical designation. Dorough says in May, the designation was also bestowed upon the former Belk department store building downtown, donated in 2019 to the Albany Museum of Art, allowing for further revitalization in the heart of the city.

“We were elated to learn the Albany Museum of Art was successful in getting a historic designation for the old Belk building, which has been vacant for more than 20 years,” Dorough says. “The museum’s relocation to the Belk building was contingent upon receiving the tax credits associated with that historic designation.”

Hub Community: Dougherty County Board of Commissioners Chair Lorenzo Heard. Photo credit: David Parks

The move will allow the museum to double the size of its exhibit area and provide “sufficient space for storage of its collection,” Dorough adds.

Meanwhile, the city is seeking to have all of downtown designated as a historic district to spur further investment, Dorough says.

“The advantage of having downtown designated a historic district is the tax credits would be a crucial funding source for the Hotel Gordon project,” he says. “The Hotel Gordon is a 96-room hotel, and across the street is the Rosenberg building, where the second and third floors would be converted to [hotel] rooms with commercial on the first floor.

“The importance of the Hotel Gordon project and the other developments downtown is you’re bringing several hundred people each night to within a block of The Flint, which is a restaurant, within a block of Pretoria Fields, a local brewery, and the Flint River Aquarium.”

Investing in the Future

Intown Apartments: The c. 1920 Davis Exchange Bank Building. Photo credit: contributed

While downtown redevelopment is a key strategic priority for the city, Dorough says improving residents’ quality of life is also top of mind.

“We are moving forward with a tennis/pickleball complex. We have invested $8.5 million in Driskell Park,” he says. “We will be investing another $8.5 million in Henderson Park, which is historically Henderson Gym, but we’re developing a whole park with walking trails, playground equipment and community rooms. And we’ll spend $3 million renovating Carver Gym. All three of these facilities are in south Albany, in an area that has really suffered disinvestment for generations.”

As the hub community for Southwest Georgia and the economic engine of the region, what’s good for Albany and Dougherty County is good for its neighbors, says Dougherty County Board of Commissioners Chair Lorenzo Heard.

Good Investments: the St. Nicholas Hotel. Photo credit: contributed

“Albany and Dougherty County are working together to make great strides in the region,” Heard says. “We’re having conversations with the Marine base, which is our second largest employer, about housing and getting more housing for the Marines who move to this area. I think it is those kinds of conversations that have been lacking. Now, we’re all coming to the table, looking at what is needed and coming to a consensus on how to make it happen.”

The city is home to the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany (MCLB – Albany). The Marine Corps Logistics Command operates two Marine Depot Maintenance Command plants: one in Albany and one in Barstow, California. The Albany depot, where the mission is to rebuild and repair combat vehicles and support equipment, uses on-demand printing of parts for vehicles and other weapons systems, utilizing polymer plastic and metal 3D printers. The base is also home to the Marine Corps’ Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence.

Driskell Park renovations under construction. Photo credit: contributed

Last year, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger and Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics Lt. Gen. Edward D. Banta recognized MCLB-Albany as Small Installation of the Year for Installations & Logistics.

Addressing the Nursing Shortage

In addition to community-wide conversations among county leaders, residents and employers, community collaborations are also propelling Albany and Dougherty County toward success, Heard says.

“More than anything, I am proud of the conversations we are having with the entire leadership of the community,” he says. “The only way we’re going to help move Albany and Dougherty County forward, and do it well, is to do it together.”

Building a Pipeline: Phoebe Putney Health System President and CEO Scott Steiner. Photo credit: contributed

A prime example, Heard says, is a collaboration between Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and Albany Technical College (ATC). The healthcare provider and ATC have teamed up to address the critical shortage of nurses in the community. Together, they’re working to create the Living & Learning Community that will consist of residential space and classrooms for ATC’s nursing school, eventually allowing the school to quadruple the size of its nursing program.

“There [are] more than 2 million vacancies in nursing, and Georgia has a shortage of 30,000 nurses today,” says Phoebe Putney Health System President and CEO Scott Steiner. “The Living & Learning Community is a partnership that we envisioned about two years ago to address the critical shortage of nurses here and in the U.S.”

Phoebe is investing around $45 million to transform a former Albany public school building near the hospital into a facility comprised of nearly 50,000 square feet of learning space, 80,000 square feet of living space and 80 apartments.

Nursing Partnerships: Emmett Griswold, president of Albany Technical College. Photo credit: David Parks

“We’ll have these students living and learning here [in the nursing community], which statistics show is an environment where students perform better and graduation rates are higher,” Steiner says. “And when they graduate in two years, I want to hand them a job. The goal is to produce more nurses not only for Phoebe, but for all of Georgia and especially the more rural areas.”

Phoebe is investing in not only the physical space for the Living & Learning Community, but it’s also boosting its investment in ATC’s nursing program, allowing the school to hire more faculty so it can accept more students and dramatically expand the pipeline of new nursing graduates, according to ATC President Emmett Griswold.

“Our goal is to enroll 200 [nursing] students per year,” he says. “This facility will include not only the nursing school but all nursing-related programs, including practical nursing, nursing aide and phlebotomy. With those four programs transitioning to this new location, you’re talking about 300 to 400 students on site.”

For perspective, in 2022, ATC had 54 students in its associate of nursing program.

“During the pandemic, Phoebe was spending millions and millions of dollars on contract nurses,” Griswold says. “If we can graduate 200 licensed nurses a year, the facility will pay for itself in one year.”

Griswold says while other schools are engaging in similar partnerships, ATC’s collaboration with Phoebe is unique because of the facility’s location.

Transformative Project: The 130,000-square-foot Living & Learning Community will be located across the street from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. Photo credit: contributed

“The facility is located on the campus of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, across the street from the hospital,” Griswold says. “Another important aspect is its proximity to downtown Albany. It’s going to add to the economic development of Albany and Dougherty County.”

According to Griswold, 85% to 90% of ATC graduates go to work for Phoebe in the nursing field. The new Living & Learning Community complex is scheduled to open before classes begin in August.

Albany State University (ASU) also partners with Phoebe to increase the pipeline of nursing, allied health and medical graduates. According to the university, one-third of its degrees are conferred in the fields of nursing and allied health.

Cutting Edge Education: Albany State University’s new Nursing and Health Sciences Simulation Center opened in July. Photo credit: contributed

In July, ASU opened a 16,300-square-foot nursing and health sciences simulation facility in time for the 2024-25 school year, according to former President Marion Fedrick. The construction of the one-story building was approved in 2020.

“We invested right around $12 million in that building,” she says. “It’s so exciting. It will be a mini-hospital on campus. The mannequins simulate illness and birth; it scared me a little bit!”

Lawrence M. Drake II became the interim president of ASU on July 1. Fedrick was appointed executive vice president for administration and chief of staff at Georgia State University as of July 1. She is also serving as a senior advisor to University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue on historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) initiatives.

Exciting Times: Bárbara Rivera Holmes, president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and Albany Area Chamber Foundation. Photo credit: David Parks

Opportunities Abound

Next-Gen Entrepreneurs: FLEX ABY program participants with county officials including the Albany Chamber’s Bárbara Rivera Holmes, center. Photo credit: contributed

Workforce development is also the No. 1 concern among businesses, according to Bárbara Rivera Holmes, president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and Albany Area Chamber Foundation.

“It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Albany Area Chamber and the Albany community,” Rivera Holmes says. “Communities and businesses face a lot of challenges across the board, but there are also incredible opportunities.”

These opportunities are being created through partnerships between the business community and local educators. One example is the Foundational Leadership and Entrepreneur X-perience (FLEX) program, a youth entrepreneurship competition held in 11 communities throughout the state.

In Albany, students from the Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy (4C Academy) connect with local business partners who provide workshop content and mentorship during the competition, which has three rounds during the school year. The winner from each local competition attends the state finals in April. Albany launched its program, FLEX ABY, in 2022.

“FLEX ABY is helping create the next wave of entrepreneurs and small business owners while also working on key employability skills,” Rivera Holmes says. “We are strengthening the fabric of the local business community.”

The program is an integral piece of the chamber foundation’s Talent Development 2.0 Strategy, but it’s not the only chamber initiative situated at the intersection of education and business.

Propel+ is a youth talent development effort focused on young women students at 4C Academy that brings the business community into the school. Another program, Thrive, empowers students with a range of employability skills. Last fall, it held an event connecting local employers with students with disabilities who were seeking employment.

The Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission (ADEDC) also has a deeply vested interest in workforce development, especially as the community’s industrial base grows and diversifies.

Workforce Development: Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission President and CEO Jana Dyke. Photo credit: David Parks

Last year, ADEDC welcomed its first Tier 1 automotive manufacturer and first foreign industry – Spanish company GRUDEM – to town. The company, which makes automobile components for luxury vehicle makers like Maserati and Range Rover, made a $5 million investment and hired 65 employees. ADEDC had a site located near the airport that fit the company’s needs.

“GRUDEM chose us because of our proximity to several of the auto manufacturers in Georgia and Alabama,” says Jana Dyke, ADEDC president and CEO. “They became fully operational at the beginning of the year.”

In addition to GRUDEM, Texas-based Diamond Door Products, manufacturers of commercial and industrial steel doors and frames, windows, specialty items and hardware, is also up and running, Dyke says. The company invested $5 million in a 41,000-square-foot space located on Industry Drive.

According to Dyke, the company was drawn to the community because of its location, as well as the high demand for metal for use in the agricultural industry and in the manufacture of cargo trailers.

In 2022, AMADAS Industries, a Virginia-based manufacturer specializing in harvest systems for peanuts, purchased a facility in Albany, and now the company has brought two new production lines to the city as part of a $10 million expansion, Dyke says.

“We’re excited about this because we know that agriculture and supporting the agricultural community is one of our target industries,” she says. “We beat out Virginia for that project! They chose us because the majority of their customers are within a 100-mile radius.”

The expansion created eight new jobs initially and that number is expected to increase to 17, according to Dyke.

In another recent development, Albany Southwest Georgia Regional Airport put $1.3 million in CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act funding toward constructing a hangar complex and a general aviation terminal for private jet travel. Altogether, the airport upgrades cost $15.6 million. The general aviation terminal opened in the spring, according to Mayor Dorough.

Urban revitalization, new and expanding industry and local solutions to community challenges are fostering a multitude of positive changes in the Good Life City.

Local Flavor

Reclaiming a Region

Historic Revitalization: City Commissioner Demetrius Young at the new $11.5 million multimodal transportation center in Albany’s Harlem District. Photo credit: David Parks

City Commissioner Demetrius Young remembers well the once-thriving Harlem District in Albany. The area was bustling with Black-owned businesses, including restaurants, grocery stores, salons, barbershops and a drugstore complete with a soda fountain. In addition to being a social and economic hub for Southwest Georgia, the district was also the birthplace of the Albany Civil Rights Movement.

Before the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement in 1963, Albany was the site of the first mass movement in the modern civil rights era to have as its goal the desegregation of an entire community. Martin Luther King Jr. was drawn into the Albany movement in December 1961, spending eight months in the city where the lessons he learned helped pave the way for the success of the Birmingham movement.

Fast forward six decades, and the Harlem Renaissance Project in Albany is working on a revitalization plan to help return the district to its former glory, as part of a public-private partnership between the city, the Harlem Renaissance Corp. and Mount Zion’s Community Reinvestment Corp.

“I represent part of the district, which was a big part of my childhood,” Young says. “It’s absolutely a dream come true and is going to be a sea change for that area.”

For its part, the city built a new $11.5 million multimodal transportation center near the site of its historic bus station, which played a pivotal role in Albany’s Civil Rights Movement. Part of that history includes the late Ola Mae Quarterman, who was arrested in Albany in 1962 for refusing to move to the back of a city bus after paying her fare. A statue of Quarterman will be erected at the site.

Another piece of the revitalization plan being undertaken by the city is the restoration of the Ritz Cultural Center. The center opened in 1930 as a movie theater for Black patrons and was once the site of after-school activities focusing on the arts.

Meanwhile, the Harlem Renaissance Project will spur further economic development in the district with new apartments and townhomes and through business recruitment, Young says. First up, a reimagined food hall at the site of the old Carter’s Grill.

“Carter’s Grill was the famous, historic soul food restaurant that Dr. King and other luminaries would eat at when they were here in town as part of the Albany Civil Rights Movement,” he says.

An homage to the original Carter’s Grill, the food hall will feature seven restaurants. In addition to more residences, plans include 14,000 square feet of retail and office space, as well as an event pavilion, courtyard and stage. The Albany City Commission pledged $2 million in loans to the project.

“The revitalized district will be an attractive piece of Albany that will bring tourism in along with the Civil Rights Museum, he says. “The Harlem District is directly adjacent to downtown, which is also undergoing a significant transformation, and all of it will be coming together to support tourism in downtown Albany.”