The company planning to redevelop Augusta's historic train depot property into a $94 million mixed-use complex said the project is moving ahead on schedule, and that a microbrewery will likely be among its first commercial tenants.

Mike Carpenter, a principal with Birmingham, Ala.-based BLOC Global Group, said during a briefing to the city's Downtown Development Authority that his firm has a letter of intent from a microbrewery to occupy space in the development's first phase – the renovation of the 16,000-square-foot historic depot building into a retail-and-restaurant bazaar similar to Atlanta's Ponce City Market.

"We're quite excited about the prospects of filling up the depot building with the tenants that we need," said Carpenter, adding that he expects to ink a similar deal with a "food-service company" in the coming weeks.

He did not disclose company names, citing confidentiality agreements.

BLOC Global announced its plans to redevelop the riverfront property in October, nearly two years after it began negotiations to acquire the 6-acre, city-owned tract at the corner of Sixth and Reynolds streets. It's long-range plans for the property, which it calls Riverfront at the Depot, includes construction of 100,000 square feet of “class A” office space, 140 upscale apartments and two parking decks with capacity for nearly 850 cars.

When asked how negotiations with the city were proceeding, Carpenter said "everything is going well" and that he expects to close on the property by June as agreed.

"At the moment, we have no concerns about that. The city seems to be very cooperative," Carpenter said. "Projects like this take a lot of time and they have a lot of hurdles – a lot of challenges. We truly would not still be here working on this project after the amount of time (we invested into it) if we didn't see the commitment from the community."

Carpenter said the Riverfront at the Depot's financiers include debt and equity investors, including an "institutional investor" and "a life insurance company."

In a separate briefing to the authority, Jeff Sommer, portfolio director for Birmingham-based Retail Strategies, a BLOC Global-affiliated retail recruitment firm, said the addition of major downtown employers such as Unisys and TaxSlayer has stoked interest among regional retail and restaurant chains.

"It makes our job easier," Sommer said. "Obviously, everyone in the country knows what Augusta is, but now we have the jobs to back up our recruitment efforts."

The authority has contracted with the company since 2013.

"This is the most activity and most interest we've seen in downtown since we've been engaged with you all," Sommer said.

Authority Executive Director Margaret Woodard told authority board members real estate transactions in the central business district in recent months have been "phenomenal," which has made it challenging to market space to companies interested in establishing operations in downtown.

"Property is going fast, and when you have someone hot, you don't want to give them something that has already been filled up," Woodard said, adding she has been working with a Charleston, S.C.-based company seeking 8,500 square feet for a steakhouse.