Augusta, GA
Augusta arena work brings hope to ailing Broad Street businesses
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Work is moving along for the Augusta Arena, with less than two years remaining until the project is finished.
Funded by a half-penny sales tax approved by voters, the former James Brown Arena was torn down to make way for a space to hold more than 10,000 seats and eventually host hockey in the Garden City once again.
Officials said they have finished pouring the third level of concrete where the suites will be and are now working on the fourth level, the upper concourse.
Brad Usry, vice chairman of the Augusta Richmond County Coliseum Authority, said the progress is great after years of planning.
“In one word, it’s satisfaction. I mean, we’ve been working on this thing for over 10 years. So to finally see it going up and people seeing the fruits of our labor, it’s really nice,” Usry said.
The new Augusta Arena is starting to take shape as crews pour concrete, with the steel frame coming in a few months.
“We’re talking 900 feet long, three football fields long. The old arena was 50 feet tall. This arena is going to be close to 100 feet tall,” Usry said.
The arena’s impact could extend beyond entertainment, according to businesses on Broad Street.
Richard Sanders, manager of the Downtown Corner Store that opened this summer, said business is struggling, but the new arena could breathe life back into the area.
“A lot of the businesses that focus on either foot traffic or people just come at like, whether it’s a bar, restaurant. I mean, they’re all struggling right now,” Sanders said.
Sanders said events at venues like the Bell Auditorium already help local businesses.
“Once it opens, I mean, even when, I mean, even when they do stuff at the Bell, it helps. When they did stuff at the old Civic Center or James Brown Arena, it helped,” Sanders said.
Michael Weldon, owner of Psychotronic Records on Broad Street, said major acts bring new customers to his store.
“The first show I went to was Alice in Chains. And the last show that we went to, there was Cheap Trick and ZZ Top,” Weldon said of the former arena.
“When there’s a good show by a name artist in town, no matter where they’re playing, we get people in here that maybe are here for the first time,” Weldon said.
Usry said the project remains on time and on budget.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.
Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.
Campaign priorities
Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.
“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”
Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Prep student was arrested on a charge of terroristic threats over a picture of a LEGO gun he posted on social media.
It happened Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Eric Hedinger, the principal of Augusta Preparatory Day School, told deputies a student had uploaded a picture to Snapchat of a “pistol” with the caption “shooting up the school so I don`t have to take the stats exam tomorrow. Don`t come yall!”
The principal said he spoke to the student and his father about the photo.
The principal also provided deputies with the student’s address in Grovetown.
A deputy went there and was told by the student that the “pistol” was a LEGO set that he had built.
He also said the comment he made was supposed to be a joke because he was not looking forward to taking his Advanced Placement statistics test this week.
The student showed the deputy the box that the LEGO set came in, and how the set was already disassembled.
The deputy also looked in the boy’s room to make sure he was not in possession of any weapons.
The mother advised that there was one firearm in the residence but it was locked up.
The deputy contacted Judge Leslie Morgan and she issued a warrant for terroristic threats.
The student, age 18, was taken into custody and transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.
News 12 is not reporting his name or publishing his photo since the LEGO gun could not have actually harmed anyone.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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