Down but not out: Downtown Albany sees new life after decades of inertia

Editor’s Note: First in a series about the past and present of historic sections of Albany.

ALBANY – With all the pomp of an old-style marching band, in 1976 a ditty invited southwest Georgians to visit the newly opened Albany Mall. While catchy, the tune that announced northwest Albany’s emergence as the major retail center for the region also was in effect a death knell for downtown Albany.

A number of the “new” stores at the indoor attraction actually were not new. They included national chain stores previously located downtown, like Belk and Sears, that packed up and moved to the mall, as well as the departures of local retailers such as Johnston Men’s Shop and Rosenberg’s Department Store, which closed its doors downtown after opening a second store at the mall.

At the time, “white flight” was already well under way and had already started eroding the downtown economic base.

How It Started

When thinking about downtown Albany today, we remember the buildings that have sat vacant for years. The Belk building at the intersection of North Washington Street and West Broad Avenue was largely unused for decades, as was the Davis Exchange Bank building that sits across it on West Broad. Those buildings also are part of the latest revitalization effort, one that has perhaps had more potential for success than any that has been hatched since the 1970s.

But once upon a time, before there was an Albany, Connecticut-born Nelson Tift had a dream in 1936 of a commercial center on the Flint River, whose waters provided access to the outside world via steamboat. His name of Albany, based on its namesake city in New York, stuck, as did his Bridge House, built in 1958 along with a covered bridge.

Having later served as a blacksmith shop and auto parts store, the Bridge House remains one of the oldest buildings in the city and today is the home of Visit Albany, formerly the Albany Visitors and Convention Bureau, on North Front Street.

As Tift intended, his development attracted cotton farmers, who brought their slaves with them in the 1830s, to the lands from which the native inhabitants had been forcibly removed a short time earlier.

Businesses and houses were built out in the central district, but little of that original architecture remains. Eventually the steamboat gave way to the steam locomotive, which itself would later be replaced by the automobile. 

Low water flow and shoals hampered river transport on the Flint, so in 1857 Tift opened a new railroad station, named for himself, and again got the desired response as the city was established as a rail stop. That opened the city to rail transport to and from Savannah, shortening the distance shipped cotton had to travel to reach Europe and the northern United States. 

Albany’s dominance in the region was cemented as the Union Station that replaced the original became the hub for seven railroads with dozens of departures and arrivals daily.

That role as a railroad hub cemented Albany’s place as the retail center of the region. Cotton’s central role gave way to other crops like peanuts, and at one time the city was a meat-packing center. Through all that time, the downtown area was the place where the streets were packed on Saturdays as residents from unincorporated Dougherty County and throughout southwest Georgia joined those in the city for shopping and entertainment.

Into the 20th Century

Passenger train traffic began to fall after World War II and continued its decline into the ensuing decades. But one Albanian remembers when arriving trains, often containing Marines stationed at the facility that later became Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, were a big deal for him in 1963 when he was 8.

“I was selling peanuts for 15 cents a bag,” Albany businessman Omar Salaam said. “I went downtown after school, and the railroad station, that was one of my main selling areas. The military used to come in on the trains.”

Salaam, who later established O&S Fashions in downtown Albany, made his first business investment based on the trains.

“I would have to run back to the store (on Roosevelt Street) to get more peanuts before the next train,” he said. “I missed so many trains because it had to be 10, 12 blocks, so I decided to buy me a bicycle. I think it was at Otasco. I put up a bicycle with $2 on layaway, and I think the bike was $20. I didn’t miss no more trains from that point on.”

Downtown Albany was a busy place back then, including stores like Keenan Auto Parts that was located in the building now occupied by Visit Albany. A short distance away on Pine Avenue, Bobs Candies, which for a time put the city on the map as the largest maker of candy canes in the world, made its confections. 

“We used to get the candy that they threw away,” Salaam said.

Other businesses he remembered, and sold peanuts to each weekday, included restaurants and the Albany Theater, which opened in 1927 showing silent films. The theater remained in operation into the late 1970s.

“I remember the 10-cent store, the silver store,” Salaam said. “I remember the Churchwell building (North Washington Street). (At) the Churchwell building, they always had an elevator operator, a black man with white gloves and a black suit. That’s what he did all day. I remember seeing water fountains there, one for whites and one for ‘colored.’”

After The Mall

In 1980 Salaam cast his lot in the declining downtown area, opening O&S Fashions on West Broad Avenue in the block on which the C.B. King United States Courthouse now sits. He had been making buying trips to New York and selling his wares in the Harlem area, and the West Broad location gave him a permanent base.

Salaam also worked for the construction company that built the mall and laid the flooring in the facility.

“All the businesses downtown had committed to moving to the mall,” he said. “They left downtown and it was like a ghost town, vacant.”

Talking to the owner of a shoe store, Salaam discovered he managed an empty building next door.

“I told him I’d like to rent it,” Salaam said. “To my surprise, I could afford it. I was crazy. There was nothing down there. One hundred and seventy-five dollars a month.”

Shortly after opening Albany State University’s Homecoming weekend brought a rush of customers, and the combination of the newest New York fashions and a professional window display meant big sales.

A few years later the business would become a casualty in Mayor James Gray’s vision of redeveloping the area, one that included the demolition of a block in the heart of downtown with the idea of rebuilding. The project died with Gray in 1986.

The block that was razed now houses the federal courthouse building, the Dougherty School Board, the Albany-Dougherty Government Center and parking decks, all built in the space left vacant by the demolition.

One bright spot was the opening of the Flint RiverQuarium in 2004. The $30 million facility, which gives visitors a fish-eye view of a blue hole spring, has brought visitors to the area on Front Street.

Decades of Plans Going Nowhere

Idea after idea to revitalize the once-thriving area have been brought up since the 1970s, beginning with Gray’s big plans that fizzled out. There have been studies, and consultants have been hired to reimagine the downtown area, and mayors and city managers have come and gone with no big boost to the area.

“For 30 years we’ve struggled with rebuilding,” Salaam said. “There was nothing going on in downtown for a long time. It was all in the northwest. They just let it decay. They had no idea how to redevelop this downtown, but they’ve spent a lot of money on plans. We didn’t have the type of leadership to put it to work.”

Salaam, who is a member of the Downtown Development Authority board, said he is planning to open another retail store and thinks the area has a brighter future.

“I think (with) this new administration and our new city manager (Terrell Jacobs), I feel a whole lot better about downtown development,” he said. “I haven’t felt like this in 35 years. I’m one of the ones who came in the ‘80s and stayed. I’m still going to do my part to help bring this to reality. I want to give my support to bring this back.”

Getting Better

Over the past seven years or so, the downtown area has seen starts and stops. A brewery opened but later closed. Two developers took a shot — and failed — at turning the former Water, Gas & Light and Davis Brothers Department Store/Albany Herald buildings into a hotel project. A third company is currently giving it a shot.

Albany businessman Bob Brooks donated the Belk building to the Albany Museum of Art, which is working on plans and raising money to move to that location, and across the street the former Davis Exchange building is being turned into an apartment complex with an addition.

Up North Washington Street from that location, the St. Nicholas Hotel opened in February 2026. Across the street, K. Fuller Marketplace, operated by Matt Fuller, one of the three partners in the development project, has opened. A bakery is coming soon in the block across the street from the hotel, a restoration of the original building completed in 1908.

The hotel facility includes Harry’s bar, named for Harry James, a big-band leader who was born at the hotel to circus performer parents. 

Fuller has plans for projects a block to the north of the hotel and businesses.

“There’s just so much (that’s) positive, and there’s so much opportunity,” he said of downtown. “It’s kind of ‘You build it, they will come.’ I think this will continue as time moves forward and we continue to add more quality business. I think more people will come.”

A former Albany City Commissioner, Fuller said he thinks he sees something now he hasn’t seen in downtown – momentum.

“I think by far this is the most momentum I’ve seen,” he said. “I think now is more positive momentum than we’ve seen downtown in my 47 years. The art museum is going to be great. That’s going to bring people downtown and big groups.”

The reception at the hotel has been great so far, Fuller said, with bookings for rooms, meeting rooms and hosting retreats and events like wedding rehearsal dinners and rooms occupied by members of wedding parties.

“It looks like September and October are filling up,” he said. “The restaurant and bar have been well-received. Once people have stayed, we’ll have repeats. We’ve just got to get those initial visits.”

Like Salaam, Fuller said he is rooting for the area’s success, but from a business and personal perspective.

“Being from Albany and going off to college and coming back and opening our business here, it was very important for us to see downtown succeed,” he said. “So we are certainly making every effort.”

The Birth of a Museum

Public discussion of the art museum has only shifted into high gear over the last couple of years, but the desire to move downtown has been there for some time, AMA Executive Director Andrew Wulf said.

“The museum has (considered) that idea off and on for a couple of decades,” he said. “With the donation of the Belk building by Bob Brooks, that was the catalyst, but we always believed it would be advantageous. Downtown has always been the heart of the city.”

The renovated building will include a cafe and outdoor statue garden. The 58,000 square feet will more than double the museum’s current Meadowlark Drive location, where the lack of space is starting to limit the ability to bring in new art.

The extra space will allow for more room for exhibits, storage and educational activities, Wulf said. The fundraising efforts for the planned $31 million project are far enough along to allow for drafting plans and to begin interior demolition in a few weeks.

“The Belk building is a landmark,” Wulf said. “It’s been a very involved process with our architects and designers to find a way to turn a 20th-century store into a 21st-century museum.”

Part of that process includes working with state and federal officials to ensure the preservation of historic features. 

“We’re just delighted to take that space and give it to our Albany residents and all visitors to Albany,” Wulf said. “We believe in total accessibility. We want every person who visits here, whether they’re from here or not, to feel ownership.”

That includes plans to keep admission and children’s activities for area public and private schools free of charge.

“We feel like we’re in good company, and downtown is transforming for the better, and we’re honored to be a part of that transformation,” Wulf said. “I think it’s great being downtown and being part of that beating heart again. We are building a museum in the heart. There is so much interest in downtown. Being a part of that is important to us.”

Wait, There’s More

A number of other projects are in the works downtown, including an overall streetscape project. Along Front Street, the Commodore Conyers College & Career Academy and the second Georgia Department of Agriculture Georgia Grown center are slated to move into a building being renovated.

The Flint restaurant has been joined downtown by Bee Smoothie, and running shoe store Albany’s Best Running. Nearby, on Pine Avenue, the city of Albany is working to find a tenant for the vacant brewery.

The holy grail of a hotel development has not been cracked, but there has been movement as hotel development company Woodmont Lodging, based in Bethesda, Md., is drafting plans and moving to get a firm cost estimate on the renovations.

Another project on tap is in the 100 block of North Washington Street, a concept that would include several currently vacant buildings for a project that would include apartments and a restaurant space for Albany Technical College culinary students.

What happened with the demise of downtown Albany in the 1970s is a story that has been told in hundreds of cities across the country, Albany Downtown Manager Lequerica Gaskins said. 

What malls and outlying shopping developments cannot duplicate is the sense of place and familiarity that downtown brings, she said. 

“What people are finding is that downtowns create memories,” she said. “You remember the Christmas parades little Joey was in. You remember the fireworks on July 4. You remember Turtle Grove (park). … All those memories we have. We are creating memories.”

The revitalization effort also is helping to preserve buildings that have fallen in disrepair along with disuse, the downtown manager said. 

Much of downtown is now in a recognized historic district. That will both ensure that historical architecture is kept in its original appearance and provide the opportunity of state and federal tax credits for developers.

“We are retaining and protecting our historical character and our historical buildings,” Gaskins said. “Our goal is to make sure we’re protecting our history and creating a platform for economic development … and also creating that sense of place.”