City leaders and an Alabama development group on Friday unveiled details of the long-awaited mixed-use complex at the corner of Sixth and Reynolds streets, a $94 million residential, office and retail project considered downtown's largest private investment in more than a quarter-century.

The development, called Riverfront at the Depot, will bring 100,000 square feet of "class A" office space, 140 upscale apartments and two parking decks with nearly 850 spaces to the long-vacant, city-owned property along the Savannah River at the east end of Riverwalk Augusta.

"Today we have a unique opportunity to set the course for what will become a transformative development project that brings people to what we call the lower end of Broad Street," Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis said during the unveiling at the Augusta Museum of History.

The Depot development is the culmination of three years of work between city officials – primarily the Downtown Development Authority – and Birmingham, Ala.-based BLOC Global Group, a firm specializing in large-scale public-private partnerships.

Renderings of the project depict a four-story apartment building sitting atop a three-level parking deck whose ground floor opens to the Riverwalk Augusta levee. West of the apartment structure is a similar deck with a four-story office building on top. An out-parcel tract at the corner of Sixth and Reynolds depicts a stand-alone restaurant building. Facing Reynolds is the renovated historic depot building, while a fountain and small amphitheater overlook the Savannah River.

"You can see why we're excited about this," BLOC Global Principal Mike Carpenter said. "We think this is a transformational project for downtown and we're pleased to be a part of it."

Carpenter said he became interested in the 6-acre site the first time he ventured downtown in the spring of 2015. BLOC and its sister company, Birmingham-based Retail Specialists, is developing the property through a venture called Augusta Developers LLC. Rodney Barstein, Retail Specialists' executive vice president, said the company considers downtown Augusta under-served from a retail standpoint.

Barstein envisions the historic 16,000-square-foot historic depot building being redeveloped in a manner similar to Atlanta's Ponce City Market, which operates in the city's historic Sears, Roebuck & Co. building.

"We want to try to make it more of a destination place where people want to come with their families," he said. "Maybe a beer garden. Maybe a brewery and different types of restaurants and shops."

The project’s first phase will begin during summer 2019 with construction of the residential building and the redevelopment of the train depot. Construction of the office building will begin once an anchor tenant is identified, possibly a national or international cyber-defense company. Barstein said he anticipates many future residents will be people already accustomed to urban living.

"Our motto here is going to be sleep here, eat here, walk here, work here, play here," he said. "We offer all those things to people that are working in the office building and living in the apartment complex."

The Depot would be downtown’s largest infusion of private capital since the 1992 opening of the Radisson Riverfront Hotel (now the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center) and adjacent Augusta Riverfront Center office building. That was a $40 million public-private partnership with the city of Augusta.

The Depot project includes includes $14 million in public support from the city, primarily for parking infrastructure, as well as state and federal historic tax credits.

Formal negotiations that began in the summer of 2016 nearly fell apart over last-minute concessions city leaders requested in July to ensure the developer delivered both phases of the two-phase project. After Augusta Developers partners said they would walk away from the deal, the Augusta Commission approved the original agreement and $14 million bond issue on Aug. 14.

Downtown Development Authority Director Margaret Woodard joked with the developers that "we've been dating you for three and a half years."

"Today, we got engaged," she said. "Hopefully in 270 days, we'll be at the altar to get married."

The depot property has sat unused for more than 60 years but has been the subject of numerous proposals. In 2009 a South Carolina company backed out of a plan to turn the property into a mixed-use development that included a hotel. Nearly a decade later, Augusta Commissioner William Fennoy said, "the stars have aligned."

"The economy is good and downtown Augusta is thriving," he said. "If you don't believe downtown Augusta is thriving, come down here one afternoon after 5. You can hardly find a place to park."

Earlier this year the Augusta Economic Development Authority spent more than $500,000 building a parking lot on the property as part of a pre-existing agreement to provide employee parking space to Unisys, which operates a 74,000-square-foot service center in the nearby Port Royal building. The parking lot will razed as part of the land's redevelopment, which includes turning the space between the historic depot building and the apartment and office complex into public greenspace that could be used as event venues.

Augusta Development LLC said construction of Riverfront at the Depot will create 784 construction jobs and 230 permanent jobs.

Reach Damon Cline at (706) 823-3352 or dcline@augustachronicle.com.