The facade renovation at Daniel Village shopping center will also include landscaping and sidewalk improvements. [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE] ▲ An artist rendering depicts the future Ace Hardware store planned for the soon-to-be-renovated Daniel Village shopping center on Wrightsboro Road. [SPECIAL/LYNCH ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS] ▲

Daniel Village, one of Augusta's oldest suburban shopping centers, will get a new look and a major new tenant early next year – an Ace Hardware store.

The 9,100-square-foot store, scheduled to open in early February next to T-Mobile, is one of several changes the property's owner is pursuing to inject new life into the 172,000-square-foot retail center off Wrightsboro Road.

Jason Long, a vice president with Augusta-based Southeastern Development Brokerage Consulting, said the face-lift will give the property a more contemporary look. Its last facade renovation was in the mid-1990s.

"Right now we have the original brick, pink stucco and blue metal awnings," he said. "So it needs a fresher look."

Anchored by Bi-Lo and Rite Aid, the 60-year-old retail center will get coats of white and light gray paint on its bricks as well as bronze-colored awnings and wood-backed portico signs to replace the plastic glass.

Daniel Village is owned by a Southeastern-affiliated investment group. Long was unable to estimate the value of the renovations because Southeastern was still awaiting bids from contractors. He said the investment would be "significant."

Roughly a quarter of the center is vacant, including a 27,000-square-foot space on the east end formerly occupied by a medical office, and several small storefronts ranging from 850 to 4,200 square feet.

Mike Hubert, owner of the Daniel Village Ace Hardware, said he believes the owner's renovations – and his store's presence – will attract more business to the shopping center.

"I saw the plans and what it is supposed to look like; it's one of the reasons I went in there," said Hubert, who also owns the Ace Hardware store in Grovetown. "When I go in, I'm hoping to draw some other people because Ace is such a well-known brand."

The Illinois-based co-op lets store owners individually tailor their merchandise. Hubert said the 10-employee Daniel Village store will mostly carry the same products as his 10,000-square-foot outlet in Grovetown, which opened in 2016.

He said the new store will stock traditional hardware and home-improvement goods as well as Big Green Egg outdoor cooking products, collegiate merchandise, Georgia Boots and Simply Southern apparel. The back side of the store will have a lawn and garden section.

Hubert said Ace Hardware's market analysis showed the surrounding neighborhoods are underserved from a retail hardware standpoint.

Danny Newman, a Summerville resident who frequents Daniel Village, said he was pleased to see new investment in the retail center.

"It will be nice because right now if we need any sort of hardware stuff we have to go to Bobby Jones Expressway," he said, referring to Lowe's and Home Depot. "We sort of prefer to use businesses that are locally owned anyway."

Long said the renovation will be completed in two phases, with the first being the section occupied by Rite Aid, Village Deli and the future Ace Hardware store; the second will be the Bi-Lo building. He said the facade renovation will include landscaping and sidewalk improvements.

Hubert said he expects the store to do well.

"I actually think it's going to outperform my Grovetown store, to be honest with you," he said.

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