North Augusta Plans $5M Land Purchase for Cyber Office Building Near Fort Gordon

North Augusta officials approved negotiations to purchase land at Riverside Village. The deal is $5 million for a one-acre plot west of the Center Street roundabout and stadium parking deck. They'll construct a cyber-focused office space there.

The project taps into $15 million set aside by South Carolina's General Assembly. This cash came from a $37 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy over plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site. State lawmakers earmarked these funds for cyber infrastructure supporting Fort Gordon operations across the river in Georgia.

"We have wanted the community to have a cyber footprint for years," said Mayor Briton Williams, according to The Post and Courier. "Fort Gordon is the Cyber Command for the entire U.S. Army; it's not going away."

Fort Gordon houses the U.S. Army Cyber Command. The command relocated there in 2014. Their new headquarters opened this fall.

Jim Clifford serves as the North Augusta city administrator. He's also a former garrison commander at Fort Gordon. Clifford explained the building would support Georgia's Cyber Center in downtown Augusta, not compete with it. Georgia poured more than $100 million into that center, which spans 330,000 square feet.

"But I think there's a lot of partnership opportunities with the state of South Carolina, with the academic institutions that are here locally and that have expressed an interest in establishing a footprint in North Augusta," Clifford said.

An engineering survey shows the land could accommodate a building approaching 80,000 square feet. The municipality would own the structure. They'd lease space to cyber tenants, aiming to stay revenue-neutral at a minimum.

Decisions will arrive within three to four months. Both the planning commission and council must weigh in. City Council needs to vote on any purchase agreement.

Walter Goldsmith is CEO of First Tryon Advisors. He serves as the municipality's financial consultant. Goldsmith described consolidating all parking ownership in the development as "an ancillary benefit" to the cyber investment. Parking revenues have been the sole area falling short of projections at Riverside Village, while other revenue streams exceeded targets.